Day -540. WorldCup2018
Irony, good timing with a little dose of fate. That was the day that played out in front of me today. Or just ironic timing.
But first, my disclaimer. As ridiculous as it has sounded to many people who have known me over the years I was, am, and will continue to be a supporter of Maltese football. It will sound repetitive to whoever has read me writing this before, but for the sake of what is to follow I have to say it again. I spent many hours in Malta watching football of questionable quality. Some of it was downright boring and it was necessary to look for alternative entertainment within the stadium. The young boys playing football between the stands and the fence very often caught the eye more than what was happening on the pitch. The mindless banter of the people sitting around me was more inspiring than the athletic ability of the footballers. And the tricks played on the taste buds by the hot water disguised as coffee or hot chocolate made up for the lack of any magic on the pitch. But despite all this, and because of all this, it is what I loved, what I grew up with. I can go to Wembley, or the Nou Camp and it will never feel as unique as Ta' Qali on a sunny, winter's afternoon with the smell of cigarette smoke wafting through the air. And I was watching players I knew, some personally, but all of them because they were Maltese like me. There was a connection and I could live with the incredulous comments from friends who couldn't understand why I wouldn't rather be sitting at home in front of the TV watching Man United against Liverpool.
That background should ensure that I get some understanding of my frustration at what is going on in Malta and it's football now.
Today is 33 years to the day that Malta suffered it's biggest loss ever, 12-1 to Spain. It was the match that seemed to signify that Maltese football had hit absolute rock bottom. And it started a 33 year long catalogue of conspiracy theories surrounding bribery and that match. All allegations, I must stress. Nothing was ever proven. It could just have been an incredible Spanish performance on that day that they needed to win by 11 goals and they did it despite the score only being 3-1 at half-time.
Today, a Maltese newspaper (Malta Today, Matthew Vella) reported on the presence of a company in Malta that was used to facilitate transfers of football players "on paper". They never really happened, but commissions and fees were still paid.
One year ago today, I wrote about another Malta based company that had third party ownership of Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo when he was transferred from Sporting Lisbon to United. Sporting claimed they were owned a bigger portion of the transfer fee but the Court of Arbitration for Sport decreed that Sporting had to pay a large sum to Doyen for the transfer. It raised questions about the ownership of footballers and who was benefiting from their transfers between clubs.
Today the continued saga at Birkirkara FC, one of Malta's most successful clubs in recent years, was in the local newspapers again. Last summer Birkirkara were celebrated for the best result ever by a Maltese club in Europe. Their 2-0 win in Scotland, against Hearts, saw them qualify for the third qualifying round of the Europa League. For the past two weeks or so the team have been battling with a terrible run of results, the firing of their coach, the arrest of their Croatian goalkeeper on suspicions of match fixing and the allegation of the goalkeeper that he was kidnapped by the club president and other players. Apparently the president marched into the team's dressing room and demanded to know what the players knew about the match fixing allegations. Yesterday the president made an emotional speech at a meeting of the Malta FA Council where he vowed to fight what has made Maltese football so rotten (as reported in The Times of Malta). Fighting words, but what effect will they have when the MFA's integrity officer has said in the past that many of the clubs, whose presidents and owners were in that room, generate most of their revenue from bribes received for throwing matches?
There are a lot of other stories being written about the allegations surrounding Birkirkara (Maltawinds.com, Gerald Fenech). It is hard to really know what is true. And in a small county it is not easy to determine whether a connection between certain individuals, club owners, businessmen, football officials, is just a small island coincidence or planned convenience.Third part ownership companies, fake transfers, bribes for match fixing, foreign investors in Maltese clubs: is all the money connected?
Last week the Toronto Star ran a story about the infiltration of Eastern European gambling syndicates in the Canadian Soccer League. This is a league where matches are played in front of crowds of a 100 people, some of whom as the author wrote, are out walking their dogs. The league is seen as an easy target, just like those in countries "like Malta and Albania". There we have it: Malta's semi-professional league, looking to become more professional and raise the profile of football in Malta, is on an equal easy-target-for-criminals level as a part time league in Canada watched accidentally by dog walkers.
What today could be seen to signify is that Maltese football has come full circle in 33 years. How much lower can we go, again?
Irony, good timing with a little dose of fate. That was the day that played out in front of me today. Or just ironic timing.
But first, my disclaimer. As ridiculous as it has sounded to many people who have known me over the years I was, am, and will continue to be a supporter of Maltese football. It will sound repetitive to whoever has read me writing this before, but for the sake of what is to follow I have to say it again. I spent many hours in Malta watching football of questionable quality. Some of it was downright boring and it was necessary to look for alternative entertainment within the stadium. The young boys playing football between the stands and the fence very often caught the eye more than what was happening on the pitch. The mindless banter of the people sitting around me was more inspiring than the athletic ability of the footballers. And the tricks played on the taste buds by the hot water disguised as coffee or hot chocolate made up for the lack of any magic on the pitch. But despite all this, and because of all this, it is what I loved, what I grew up with. I can go to Wembley, or the Nou Camp and it will never feel as unique as Ta' Qali on a sunny, winter's afternoon with the smell of cigarette smoke wafting through the air. And I was watching players I knew, some personally, but all of them because they were Maltese like me. There was a connection and I could live with the incredulous comments from friends who couldn't understand why I wouldn't rather be sitting at home in front of the TV watching Man United against Liverpool.
That background should ensure that I get some understanding of my frustration at what is going on in Malta and it's football now.
Today is 33 years to the day that Malta suffered it's biggest loss ever, 12-1 to Spain. It was the match that seemed to signify that Maltese football had hit absolute rock bottom. And it started a 33 year long catalogue of conspiracy theories surrounding bribery and that match. All allegations, I must stress. Nothing was ever proven. It could just have been an incredible Spanish performance on that day that they needed to win by 11 goals and they did it despite the score only being 3-1 at half-time.
Today, a Maltese newspaper (Malta Today, Matthew Vella) reported on the presence of a company in Malta that was used to facilitate transfers of football players "on paper". They never really happened, but commissions and fees were still paid.
One year ago today, I wrote about another Malta based company that had third party ownership of Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo when he was transferred from Sporting Lisbon to United. Sporting claimed they were owned a bigger portion of the transfer fee but the Court of Arbitration for Sport decreed that Sporting had to pay a large sum to Doyen for the transfer. It raised questions about the ownership of footballers and who was benefiting from their transfers between clubs.
Today the continued saga at Birkirkara FC, one of Malta's most successful clubs in recent years, was in the local newspapers again. Last summer Birkirkara were celebrated for the best result ever by a Maltese club in Europe. Their 2-0 win in Scotland, against Hearts, saw them qualify for the third qualifying round of the Europa League. For the past two weeks or so the team have been battling with a terrible run of results, the firing of their coach, the arrest of their Croatian goalkeeper on suspicions of match fixing and the allegation of the goalkeeper that he was kidnapped by the club president and other players. Apparently the president marched into the team's dressing room and demanded to know what the players knew about the match fixing allegations. Yesterday the president made an emotional speech at a meeting of the Malta FA Council where he vowed to fight what has made Maltese football so rotten (as reported in The Times of Malta). Fighting words, but what effect will they have when the MFA's integrity officer has said in the past that many of the clubs, whose presidents and owners were in that room, generate most of their revenue from bribes received for throwing matches?
There are a lot of other stories being written about the allegations surrounding Birkirkara (Maltawinds.com, Gerald Fenech). It is hard to really know what is true. And in a small county it is not easy to determine whether a connection between certain individuals, club owners, businessmen, football officials, is just a small island coincidence or planned convenience.Third part ownership companies, fake transfers, bribes for match fixing, foreign investors in Maltese clubs: is all the money connected?
Last week the Toronto Star ran a story about the infiltration of Eastern European gambling syndicates in the Canadian Soccer League. This is a league where matches are played in front of crowds of a 100 people, some of whom as the author wrote, are out walking their dogs. The league is seen as an easy target, just like those in countries "like Malta and Albania". There we have it: Malta's semi-professional league, looking to become more professional and raise the profile of football in Malta, is on an equal easy-target-for-criminals level as a part time league in Canada watched accidentally by dog walkers.
What today could be seen to signify is that Maltese football has come full circle in 33 years. How much lower can we go, again?
No comments:
Post a Comment