Malta, oh Malta.

Day -605 #WorldCup2018

I resolved that I wouldn't go on about the latest report of suspected match fixing linked to Maltese football. I would try not to express my dismay that there was "overwhelming evidence that Malta would lose the game (against Lithuania) by at least two goals." This on top of the disappointment of the 2-0 loss. However, despite me having a completely different idea in mind today, I cannot escape this.

I was warned many years ago that Maltese football is one big fix, that the local league is won not on the pitch but through the brown envelopes exchanged in bars and possibly in clubhouses. I always refused to believe it, to not let it spoil my childhood enjoyment of Sunday afternoons at The Stadium. The 12-1 against Spain should have set alarm bells ringing, not just for me, but also for the Malta FA. Instead everybody just went merrily along, denying anything was amiss. Today the MFA President said that he was upset that the Fifa commissioner in Lithuania warned the Maltese players about the suspicious betting patterns before the match. The Times of Malta reported that he "thought it was unwarranted, as it distracted players from the match ahead." So that's what you take from this, Mr President? Maltese football used to be a laughing stock among Maltese people for all the suspected match fixing. Now it is happening on the international stage and the MFA President worries about the players being distracted by a Fifa commissioner doing his job.

Nowhere in The Times of Malta report does the President come out and strongly condemn the possibility of any untoward actions committed by any Maltese players. Nor does he threaten to take any action against any players if they are found to have been involved in any match fixing. The MFA's integrity officer delivered a damning report earlier this year on the amount of match-fixing in local Maltese football.

He said, "Maltese football was infested by people who grade the game’s sporting spirit at the lowest grade, if any."

And, "Some clubs finance their entire operation by manipulating matches, betting on them and the winnings going towards the club whilst also lining their own pockets."

Evidence of this disease has been around forever, regardless of my denial of it. Ally Dawson. Spain v Malta 12-1. There are two stories there that should not have ended when they did. I will return to Ally Dawson another day but it's fair to say it was a case of the foreign whistle blower being punished for having the gall to speak badly of Maltese football.

There is going to be a lot more about of all this to come. Still I hope that no Maltese player was guilty of anything in Lithuania. And I will still support them and wish that something good can come of the rest of this round of World Cup qualifying, because I always believe in hope.