FORZA MALTA!

Back in time, I was an official with the Malta Football Association and formed part of a delegation to look after the visiting Italian ‘Azzurri’ national football team that was in Malta to play a World Cup Group One qualifying match at Ta’ Qali.

Naturally, they were lodged at a Five Star Hotel and that is where we went from the airport. I was in the hotel foyer watching a group of obviously Maltese women waving Italian flags and shouting the names of Italian players, being held back by the Police.

Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca came and stood by me, watching the frenzied women.

“Are those Italian women?” he asked me.

“No, they are Maltese”.

“Maltese? Why are they waving Italian flags and shouting our names? They should be encouraging your Malta footballers”.

In disgust, he sadly shook his head and walked away.

Malta will today be playing against Belarus at waterpolo in a second leg qualifier for the 2018 European Championship at the National Pool having lost the first leg by the slender margin of one goal, 8-7. We need to win today by a clear two-goal margin.

So, FORZA MALTA, because in the words of our former great Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, “Malta comes first and foremost” – and that applies to EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING, and not just sports, but EVERYTHING.