The Veeran Cup in Goa is the only tournament we've ever pulled out of midway — and, strangely, one of the best trips we've ever had. Both things are completely true.
The tournament
It was, to put it plainly, completely mismanaged. The second day's games couldn't even be played — because there were no footballs. That wasn't the only thing: the food, the hotel rooms, the size of the ground, the quality of it, the scoring — all of it somewhere between chaotic and random.
And it wasn't just us. Teams had travelled from all across the country — Siliguri, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Delhi — and left disappointed. Somewhere in the middle of it, we decided it wasn't worth it, and withdrew.
The flip side
And yet. For the boys, it was a brilliant few days — beach football, staying together, pool time, beach time, restaurants and dining out. The football fell apart; the experience didn't.
For us, it turned into something we hadn't had in a long time: a whole week together, out of Bangalore, as a family. Roma was unwell for three of those days, but even so — an amazing South Goa, and a first stay at the Taj on the final day to round it off. We went for a tournament and came back with a holiday.
We keep this one because it's the cleanest example of a truth that runs through the whole site: the scoreline and the experience are two different records, and they don't always agree.