And The Band Played On

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When I first came up with the idea of the Malta trip, it won't come as a great surprise that the possible football was an integral part of the advance planning. I was reading an excellent article about groundhopping Malta by the man from The Ball is Round website and the guy knows a thing or two about obscure football in the far corners. The BOV - Bank of Valletta to give it the full title - Premier League in Malta was recorded as having the 2nd worst average attendance in Europe. It seems a bit harsh and is partially down to nobody having a clue who goes to football in Andorra and the fact that Litchtenstein clubs play somewhere in the Swiss league system. Anyway, there it was in black and white - average attendance 224, beaten only by Estonia. Been there, done that, so Malta appealed even more. The only snag with the plan is that means we have to tackle Moldova next, as the 3rd worst attendance venue. Know any cheap flights to Chisinau anyone?

I appear to have gone off at a tangent, but getting back to the point the football crowd of yesterday at 824 with a spot of flag waving, violent gesturing by FC Mosta and a full scale scrap between the players seemed to suggest that we would comfortably get past the 224 mark with the big game of the trip - Valletta v Hibernians at the National Stadium. As our Floriana man said the day before, with Valletta - "you can expect anything, they make up their own rules". We presumed he was taking about the supporters and not the players. We had a culture morning before the football and were duly up early, as had become the custom on the trip.

Industrial toast production was in evidence as usual. Today we were joined by the Piped Piper and his friends, who provided the breakfast entertainment by following each other around in close proximity examing in great detail all the offerings. We made for our 2nd home on Malta, Valletta Bus Station, in search of the route to Mdina. Mdina is the ancient capital of Malta. The fortress town high on a hill that still sits within it's well preserved walls. It is apparently referred to as the Silent City and on this Sunday morning before 10 am, this was a fair description. The population of a mere 300 is not likely to be that loud in fairness, even if they were all out of bed by then. The horse drawn buggy men were up and about. Mdina is not a match for a modern car. The summer tourism must flood this place, but it was all calm and "silent" as we headed through the Mdina Gate in to the town.

The walls offer a vista over much of the island. You can see why it was chosen as the ancient capital. Valletta shimmered in the early morning sun. A sign on the walls warns of danger. It was a long way down. We spied our afternoon target of the National Stadium, which appeared depectively close from the elevated position. St Paul's Cathedral - not that one - wasn't open for morning service and a sign on the door, suggested that most of Sunday wasn't for visitors. An antique Bedford van advertising a local cafe caught our attention. There wasn't a great deal going on and few businesses were open. A shop caught the eye of the Man in the Middle, as he was still in pursuit of the trip souvenir for the folks back home. The appetite of a VW dealership for obscure fridge magnets has no bounds it seems. The price in a tourist mecca was inflated. He declined and waited for a better bargain like a coiled spring. After our morning stroll, we descended into the old moat for photograph opportunities before making for the suburbs. Rabat.

Rabat is Arabic for suburb. The suburb dwarfs the town. Population Mdina 300. Population Rabat 11,000. Rabat offered the price friendly fridge magnets required. It also offered the real world, where folk were going about their everyday business rather than pandering to the needs of the tourist market. Santa was flogging his pumpkins in the main square, a scary lady looked like she was heading home after a night on the tiles and the old guys sat in the sun drinking their bottles of Cisk. The best named bar - Beer Belly - was suprisingly empty. It was clearly Saturday night territory. We sat with old guys with the headquarters of Rabat Ajax above our heads. Rabat Ajax - home of Total Football? We relocated indoors into the Mdina Labour Club. A large bar area - the Top Club of Mdina - was dominated by the large ceiling motif. Bar service was halted temporarily as chairs were rearranged for the arrival of Juventus on the TV in the corner. Juventus and the two Milan clubs have the local favour. The lure of Palermo or Catania just across the water was clearly not the draw it could have been. I wonder what the Luton Town man at Hibernians ground would have made of it all?

The centre of Rabat was devoid of ATM cash machines. We located a batch of them near the bus stops and we replenished the funds before hunting a bus to the National Stadium. The National Stadium is the showpiece centre of the Ta' Qali National Park, which rather bizarrely also houses the National Vegetable Market. There is an opportunity for an allotment somewhere near Wembley that somebody has been overlooking! The bus dropped us off after the other Ta' Qali Craft Village and it was a about a 15 minute walk to the ground. There might be a small average crowd at Maltese football games, but the national sport of picnics is very much alive. The Sunday afternoon gang were busy emptying their hampers in the adjacent area. All this entertainment in an old RAF base!

There was no significant crowd heading towards the stadium for the 1st game between Qormi and our "local" club, Sliema Wanderers. We went past two burger vans and despite feeling hungry, passed on both. A lesson in selling... always display your prices. The Headquarters of the Malta Football Association 1900 stood before us in the Millenium Stand. An underground car park declare spaces. It would do, as the gates were firmly locked. The Centenary Stadium was to the right of the complex. We could have chosen the Rabat Ajax fixture there on Friday night, but the risk of possibly no bus back put us off. Despite possibly one of the finest bus services in Europe in the island, the buses to the door of the National Stadium are best described as random. Perhaps only sufficient for the 224?

The entry for the double header was again 7 Euros. The 1st game ended 3 - 1 to Sliema, but was a sleepy affair. The officials tried to enliven proceedings by giving Sliema the first goal even though there was more than a significant doubt that it ever crossed the line. The game featured the UEFA idea of having extra officials behind each goal line and one of them was determined to make a name for himself or he had been on the carrots. We watched the TV replay later in the pub. Sky Sports would have struggled with proving it crossed the line. In truth, nobody was interested anyway. 95% of the people present were here for the big event. Valletta v Hibernians. 2nd v 1st in the League, which sounds decisive. A six pointer. Except that Hibernians were already 15 points clear. The Maltese Football Association thought it was important though and had hired some match officials from a neutral country .............Georgia!! Hibernians were outraged, declaring them biased as Valletta's sponsors had significant Georgian interests and insisting on the reinstatement of local referees. Step forward, Mr Apap.

I have been a little slow in getting this blog on the system, so Hibernians have made another bid for headlines since this match and have possibly raised their international profile............ and not necessarily for the better. A bid to sign a certain ex-Sheffield United centre forward seemed to back fire with the UK Ministry of Justice. Hibernian - they of the Leith borough, Edinburgh, Scotland - took exception too as they possibly took a load of flack for mistaken identity. In order to clarify, Hibernians of Paola, Malta are named after a ship - the bow bit of which hangs in the Malta Maritime Museum - they wear black and white, go under the name of the Proud Peacocks and count Stanley Matthews in their ex-player ranks. The other lot from Scotland are very much green and white and have absolutely no connection.

Back to the match. We ended up sitting with Valletta (and Sliema) purely by mistake. The big disadvantage was that I was unable to take the flag displays before the game. In the end, we ended up playing our part in holding up the huge red and white flag that they draped over their section. The supporters were very much in carnival mood. Mr Floriana had been less than correct with his description of Valletta fans the day before - it was all very colourful and family orientated. The Ultras Beltin 999 seemed to be merely a merchandise opportunity. Hibernians by contrast looked like a lads day out. Valletta were a class apart. 1 - 0 up and cruising. Step forward again, Mr Apap. Two Valletta red cards in 32 and 34 minutes. All Hibernians had to do was keep their nerve and pas the ball about to secure their 3 - 1 victory. And undeterred, the Valletta band played on..............................

The 224 was surpassed by some margin. 3,250 was the official attendance. We do know they didn't arrive by bus or there would have been more than 8 people on the 106 minibus back to civilisation after the game. Now which way is Chisinau?

Appendix 1

Saturday 14 December 2014 @ 1400 Hours

Qormi 1 Sliema Wanderers 1

Scorers: 24′ Bocar Djumo (Sliema), 70 Mark Scerri (Sliema), 71′ Frank Temile (Qormi), 72′ Aidan Jake Friggieri (Sliema)

Venue : National Stadium, Ta Qali, Malta

QORMI Matthew Farrugia, Albert Bruce, Roderick Sammut, Pietro Viggiani (55′ Joseph Chetcuti), Steve Agius (79′ Alessio Cassar), Alfred Effiong, Frank Temile, Ryan Micallef (80′ Carmelo Farrugia), Duncan Pisani, Jonathan Bondin, Anderson Michele Quatrochi Santos.
Subs not used: Jurgen Cilia, Karl Sciortino, Emerson Vella, Gilmore Azzopardi.
Coach: Josef Mansueto

SLIEMA Glenn Zammit, Guy Kassa Gnabouyou, John Mintoff, Mark Scerri, Andrea Pisanu (65′ Peter Xuereb), Marko Potezica, Trevor Cilia, Aidan Jake Azzopardi (86′ Filippo Talato), Bocar Djumo, Beppe Muscat (53′ Luca Martinelli), Stefano Bianciardi.
Subs not used: Daniel Balzan, Iousef Meli, Clive Psaila, Axl Xuereb.
Coach: Stephen Azzopardi

Referee: Lasha Silagava (GEO)
Assistant Referees: Zaza Menteshashvili, Zaza Pipia (GEO)
Additional Assistant Referees: Chris Lautier, Sandro Spiteri
Fourth Official: Philip Farrugia
Yellow Cards: Micallef, Scerri, Cilia, Temile

BOV Player of the Match: Mark Scerri

Appendix 2

Saturday 14 December 2014 @ 1600 Hours

Hibernians 3 Valletta 1

Scorers: 22′ Lateef Elford-Alliyu (Valletta), 52′ Andrew Cohen (Hibernians), 57′ Jorge Pereira da Silva (Hibernians), 90′ Jorge Pereira da Silva ( Hibernians)

Venue : National Stadium, Ta Qali, Malta

HIBERNIANS: Henry Bonello, Rui Da Gracia Gomes, Rudolfo Soares, Marcelo Dias (67' Jackson de Lima), Andrew Cohen (82' Timothy Tabone Desira), Bjorn Kristensen, Clayton Failla, Johan Bezzina (90' Jonathan Pearson), Andrei Aguis, Edison Luis dos Santos, Jorge Pereira da Silva

Subs Not Used: Jurgen Borg, Keith Tanti, Jhoseph Essien Mbong, Jurgen Degabriele

Coach: Branko Nisevic

VALLETTA Nicky Vella, Jonathan Caruana, Ian Azzopardi, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Ryan Fenech, Roderick Briffa, Lateef Elford-Alliyu (58′ Hugo Faria), Hamza Barry, Shaun Bajada (60′ Llywelyn Cremona), Abdelkarim Nafti (34′ Luke Dimech).
Subs not used: Yenz Cini, Luke Montebello, Hamid Al Kamali, Christian Caruana.
Coach: Gilbert Agius

Referee: Mario Apap
Assistant Referees: William Debattista, Peter Abela
Additional Assistant Referees: Andre Arciola, Fyodor Zammit
Fourth Official: Clayton Pisani
Yellow Cards: Bajada, Fenech, Dias, Tarabai, Agius, Briffa, Soares

Red Cards: 32′ Jonathan Caruana, 34′ Ryan Fenech

BOV Player of the Match: Andrew Cohen

Attendance: 3,250

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Photos

Valletta FC
...........and the band played on

Valletta FC
Junior WAG