If you ask anyone in Belgaum what Royceton means to them, the two most likely words will be “football” and “heavy rain”, and despite having a few dry days in the Tournament this year, the rains lived up to their expectation with one of the heaviest downpours we have seen this season. In heavy rain that did not seem to stop anytime soon, the finals match function began at 3:30 PM with Lt. Gen. Dilip N. Desai as Chief Guest. The Chief Guest was escorted to the ground where he met both the finalist teams. He then hoisted the flag to full mast which was lowered to half-mast by Mr. Joe Gomes in memory of his son, Royceton, amidst bugles blowing.
Amid continued and unceasing downpours, the match began at 4:00 PM. Both teams came to this match with past reputations in the Tournament of scoring within the first fifteen minutes of their matches. But both team put up a good fight with both schools taking good shots at the goal and both teams defending well. The pressure seemed to be on St. Xavier’s with the ball mostly on their side. St. Paul’s took a number of shots at the goal but they were well defended by St. Xavier’s. However, in the 20th minute, Niegel Vaz of St. Paul’s managed to break open the score of the match. The score at half time was 1 – 0 with St. Paul’s leading.
The second half began well with the pressure on St. Xavier’s to equalize but they could not stop Aman Latif of St. Paul’s from scoring a goal in the 37th minute and shortly thereafter, Kasif Khan from scoring the third goal for St. Paul’s in the 40th minute. Even though St. Xavier’s tried hard to score but they could not break through the formidable defence of St. Paul’s. In the last few minutes of the game, Gourav Malavi of St. Paul’s scored the final goal of the match. St. Paul’s won the match 4 – 0.
After the match, Lt. Gen. Dilip N. Desai addressed the people gathered and presided over the prize distribution ceremony. The best goal-keeper of the Tournament went to Suraj Kotabagi of St. Xavier’s High School. The highest goal-scorer of the Tournament went to Harsh Desai of KLE International School and the best player of the Tournament went to Atik Chinchanikar of Phoenix Public School. St. Xavier’s were presented the Runners-Up trophies and St. Paul’s were presented the Winners trophies as well as the Royceton Gomes Memorial Rolling Trophy.
This is the 25th time St. Paul’s High School has won the Memorial Cup in the history of the Tournament. At the end of the prize distribution ceremony, the founder of the Tournament, Mr. Joe Gomes, awarded the Royceton Gomes Memorial Rolling Trophy to St. Paul’s High School in recognition of this great and impressive achievement.
The final scoreline must’ve been mentioned 4-‘1’
What is the story behind royceton gomes memorial football tournment?
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https://allaboutbelgaum.com/sports/history-of-the-royceton-gomes-memorial-football-tournament/ may be missed out this post