Neville Steven Joseph D'Souza (3 August 1932 – 16 March 1980) was an Indian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. During the "golden era of Indian football" under legendary coach

Syed Abdul Rahim Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963), popularly known as Rahim Saab, was an Indian football coach and manager of the India national team from 1950 until his death in 1963, and a former player. He is regarded as the architect of m ...

, he was recognised one of the finest strikers of India national team having perfect eye for goal. He appeared in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

, and finished the campaign as joint top scorer of the tournament with four goals, inducing a hat-trick in the quarterfinals against the hosts Australia. D'Souza was also a

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player, having represented various teams in both domestic and international tournaments.

Hockey career

In his playing career, D'Souza choose

first and represented the teams of both St. Xavier's High School and St. Xavier's College of Bombay. He later moved to Tata Sports Club and appeared in prestigious Beighton Cup, and won 1953 and 1954 editions in Calcutta. With the club, D'Souza toured to

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

in 1952 and scored 34 goals in 17 matches. He then represented Bombay state hockey team in National Hockey Championship between 1953 and 1955.

Football career

Club career

D'Souza began his club football career in Goan SC, before moving to Tata SC. In 1958, the club clinched

Nadkarni Cup The Nadkarni Cup is a football competition in Mumbai, India, which was first held in 1908. From 1908–1913, it was known as Junior Rovers Cup which was contested by school and college teams of Bombay (now Mumbai), with the trophy originally pr ...

title. In the same year, he joined Hardwood League side Caltex SC. With the Bombay-based club, he played alongside noted Goan footballer Catao Fernandes. The club had honor of becoming the first local team in 1958 to win

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. Incorporated in 1890, it was the third oldest tournament in India after Trades Cup. History Rovers Cup was incorporated by s ...

, one of the oldest football tournament in the world, in which he was part of the team led by Anthony. In that final, they defeated renowned Mohammedan Sporting 3–2. Beside Caltex, D'Souza also appeared with both Tata and Goan Sports Club.

International career

D'Souza played club football for Bombay. In the 1953 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament in Rangoon, he scored the winner for India against arch-rival Pakistan. They also won the tournament in 1954 and 1955. He represented his nation at the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and reached the semi-finals, before going down 1–4 to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, which is still considered India's greatest ever achievement in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. Under the coaching of

, D'Souza played alongside J. Krishnaswamy,

Samar Banerjee Samar "Badru" Banerjee (; 30 January 1930 – 20 August 2022) was an Indian association football, footballer who played primarily as a striker for the India national football team. He captained India at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, wh ...

P. K. Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), striker for the India national football team. He also captained the nationa ...

, and achieved fame worldwide. He became the first Asian player to score a hat-trick in an Olympic Games. D'Souza finished the tournament as joint top-scorer, with 4 goals in 3 games, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 4–2 win against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Between 1956 and 1962, D'Souza scored eleven goals for India.

Post-playing career

As a player, D'Souza retired in 1963 and began his coaching career. He later became a member of the selection panel of

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

(AIFF).

Personal life

D'Souza was born in Assagao,

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, on 3 August 1932. He moved to Bombay (now known as

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

) to complete studies. He married Lyra and they had a son named Nigel and two daughters, Liesel and Fleurel. Neville's brother

Derek D'Souza Derek D'Souza is an Indian former footballer. Career D'Souza is known for scoring the first ever goal for the India national football team in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in the 1960 qualifiers in which he scored the only goal in India's 1–0 ...

was also a footballer, who represented India internationally and later managed NFL club

Mahindra United Mahindra United Football Club (formerly known as Mahindra & Mahindra) was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1962, the club competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system, bef ...

. D'Souza died of a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on 16 March 1980, in Bombay.

Legacy

The Mumbai Football Association began organizing U-17 Neville D'Souza Trophy for teenagers from seventeen districts in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, which is named after him. In 2018, Neville D'Souza Football Turf (also known as 'Neville D'Souza Ground') was installed within the sports complex in

Bandra Bandra ( æːɳɖɾa is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai, the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The area is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi, which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district. It ...

, which is named after him, and it was inaugurated by Aaditya Thackeray, then chairman of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA).

Honours

Hockey

Tata Sports Club * Beighton Cup: 1953, 1954

Football

India * Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament:

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Caltex *

: 1958 Bombay *

Santosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), th ...

runner-up: 1958–59 Individual *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

top scorer:

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

Accolades * Independence Day Award by the

Government of Goa The Government of Goa is a state government created by the Constitution of India and has executive, legislative and judicial authority of the state of Goa. It is headquartered in Panaji, the capital city of Goa. History The governor's is large ...

: 1990

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

*
Neville D'Souza
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:D'souza, Neville 1932 births 1980 deaths Footballers from Mumbai Indian men's footballers Indian Roman Catholics India men's international footballers Olympic footballers for India Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Men's association football forwards Footballers at the 1954 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for India Maharashtra football team players Mumbai Football League players