She is now 68. She is in the oblivion of the Indian football fraternity for long 42 years. Still, the spark and fluency in her speaking style do not prove that Yolanda D'Souza is not aware of how Indian football, especially the latest trends in Indian women's football.

That is why, on the day on Wednesday, the country's only women's franchise football league, the Indian Women's League (IWL) is commencing in Ahmadabad, Yolanda did not hesitate to quip, "I read newspaper reports recently that the AIFF has asked the participating clubs in IWL to give their premier footballers the minimum wage of Rs 3.2 lakhs. I am extremely disappointed with the AIFF announcement. The country's premier women footballers deserve the wage nearer to the men footballers who play in the ISL. In a bid to promote the country's women's football, the Federation must increase the number of competitions for women in both junior and senior levels. The AIFF must think of offering grants to the IWL clubs so that the clubs can increase the wages of its premier footballers. If competitions are not increased then how can a club register a footballer at the cost of lakhs of rupees for only two months for the IWL?"

Incidentally, Yolanda divulged they were not given money during their playing career. Only 'the best player' in an international match was presented with Rs 50! Country's one of the most prolific strikers of 70s and 80s smilingly says, “I could have scored a bit of goals if I had opportunity to take part in such a franchise football league.” 

Yolanda is a professional painter for the last 40 years. Her painting has already earned fame and repute across the world through exhibitions. But she has a glorious past with football. She is the only lady in Indian women's football who struck the 'international hat-trick' against the Swedish club BET in India's women's friendly matches against Sweden, held at Lakhimpur and nick-named 'the hat-trick queen'. Yolanda still relishes every sweet memory of her luminous football career that spanned from 1975 to 1981. Yolanda was also instrumental in Indian women's World Cup participation in Taiwan and one of the key members of the silver-winning national women's team in the Asian Cup, held in Kozhikode (then Kalicut) in 1979. As a part of her glorious career where she had scored goals galore in both international and national competitions, Yolanda was voted 'Player of Decade' by the Women's Football Federation in 1980.

The World-Cupper asserted, "I have fully enjoyed my football career, given the best every time. I knew I would not be able to maintain the same standard while growing older. I studied at Art College in Mumbai when I was playing and gradually I became passionate about painting. Now, for around the last four decades, I am disconnected from football. That is why, despite the fact that women's football has developed a lot from our time, even though women's football has developed in Goa, nobody from the football fraternity in Goa or outside contacts me generally as they know I am now a professional painter." 

Yolanda who hails from Calangute, Goa revealed, "If you ask me about a little bit of regret in my football career that is we did not have an experienced coach in the World Cup. We forced the champion Germany to make a draw in our opening match by exhibiting wonderful football. We won against Hong Kong easily. But the man who went to Taiwan as coach continued to field the players who became even more exhausted and injured. Among the 14 participating teams we lost in the quarter-final."