Come On In Flies, There Is Nobody Here Except Us Spiders

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There is a Store Where The Creatures Meet. A line from a Doors song and a not so well known football fanzine of old ......... Saint Mirren, if you're interested. I am not sure whether fanzines ever took off in Malta, but Hibernians could have done worse than "There is a Bar Where the Flies Meet". It is not far from their ground. We'll come back to that later.



The day had started in more select surroundings. The weather forecast must have been on the up and the hotel staff had laid the tables for breakfast on the terrace. Sliema harbour looked picture perfect. The swell of the previous day had subsided. It was flat calm. The boats bobbed gently on the mirror like water. Benefits Britain were once more in evidence and stocked up on extra portions of toast before venturing to a table outside. In order to make sure there would be no shortage of calories, a copious portion in the cereal bowl was liberally covered in yoghurt. We exchanged cordial greetings and headed for our bus.



There was still a healthy number at Valletta Bus Station early this Saturday morning, as we sought the correct bus bay for a Service 3. The number 3 went round the houses before depositing us by the harbour in Vittoriosa. There was an element of twinning with Saint Tropez. We pondered a yacht purchase. A number were being refuelled. It was unlikely we could have paid for the fuel, let alone the yacht. Plan B was the pick. The weather was perfect, if a little warm. We headed indoors to the Malta Maritime Museum. It was an “Open” Day, so it was good value. The Museum detailed the history of Fortress Malta from a naval perspective right through from the Knights of St John to the withdrawal of the British Navy.



After our mingling with the rich and famous types around the yacht harbour, we strolled in the direction of Hibernians ground. The actual centre of Paola seemed quite upmarket, but our destination was on the peninsula overlooking the shipyards and docks of Isla. Alas, this appeared to be one of the very few places in metropolitan Malta that buses do not venture. We utilized our bus ticket to go through the tunnel that links Isla to Paola and alighted at a large roundabout where we had seen a direction sign. A refreshment was in order, but bars were at a premium on this Saturday lunchtime and the only option available was the fly capital of Malta. There was no obvious indication why it should be the case, but despite being a bit peckish it certainly put us off a lunchtime snack. A number of other customers were not so easily dissuaded from their dining mission. As we have already seen, the Maltese continue to embrace part of British life with their post boxes and red telephone kiosks. They also seem a love a good fry up, although quite clearly a number have already over indulged in too many of life's temptations judging by the weight they were carrying. A fellow customer ordered a greasy spoon special and successfully managed to ward off enough of the flying pests to eat his fill. We decided one drink was quite sufficient and plodded on towards the ground. The Maltese rubbish recycling plant to our left gave us the reason for the bar experience being ruined. It was almost Sunshine on Leith.



My quest to get inside to take a few pre-match photographs was extinguished by the man on the gate, although he did concede to allow me 5 yards inside to take the Hibernians club sign. Football is a strange experience in Malta to those schooled in the concept of home and away. Simple - one week you play at home, the next at an opposition ground. However here they play at the grounds designated by the Football Association and thus the double header today, despite being at Hibernians ground did not feature the Hibernians team. We were to be treated to Floriana v Pieta Hotspurs at 2 pm and closely followed by Naxxar Lions v FC Mosta at 4 pm. The temperature had climbed steadily to around 20 degrees and I headed to the shade, whilst the Man in the Middle sat on a wall and baked his head. He returned 20 minutes later with a Derby fan. His new friend was actually a follower of Floriana, but had experienced the misfortune of an afternoon at the old Baseball Ground a few decades before. He mused how he had become completely lost en route - a not uncommon event in Derby even today - and tried to follow a burger van, who would surely be heading to the same venue. After some minutes of trailing it around the back streets, both came to the conclusion that neither had any idea where they were going and sought other assistance. The Floriana man had mistakenly parked his motor in the executive car park and not only been allowed to leave it there, but had been summoned as a guest of honour for a boardroom experience. In the days before that meant meeting Alan Sugar, he got to make small talk with a certain Robert Maxwell who had not taken to deep sea swimming at this stage.

As with the experience in Pembroke the previous night, the crowd segregation is quite defined. Floriana would use the same seats as Naxxar and on the other side of the divide, Pieta would be with Mosta. We had already decided that we couldn't side with any team with the word Hotspurs, so we purchased our 7 Euros ticket and went in with our Floriana man. He introduced us to his mates - all Manchester United they proudly advised. We possibly looked unimpressed, as one later admitted on the quiet to the Man in the Middle that his "real" team was Luton Town. The police levels seemed excessive, but Floriana man advised that they might be required for the next game.

The Hibernians ground comprises of one main stand with 1500 or so red seats. Ice hockey style plexi glass prevents a pitch invasion and fences separate both "ends" from the VIP bit in the middle. There was a good view of some cranes and the docks down below. The right end was open except for a boundary wall and the clubhouse and changing rooms were perched high up to our left. The players of Naxxar and Mosta sat on a metal fence and took in some of the action. Action? A loose description. It was dull, but sprung to life in the last few minutes to avoid a goalless stalemate. It really kicked off as the players left the pitch with a full sided battle between both sets of players and coaches on the approach to the changing rooms. We saw it reported on the TV news later as an "incident".

The Malta football authorities report suggests perhaps it was a bit more than that ...................basically the coach of Hotspurs head butted the Floriana player. A fight ensued between all and sundry and didn't stop until plod turned up or as they say "calmed the situation". The police had been required after all and we hadn't got to the 2nd game. Hotspurs coach, Neil Coleiro, was subsequently banned for 6 months. Can you imagine the press coverage if Arsene Wnger had done something similar?

The ground filled up considerably in the 2^nd half of the Floriana game. Naxxar brought a band – drums, trumpets etc. and a steady selection of flags arrived. It was all a bit England, except without allocated seating there is an opportunity to move away from them if they get too carried away. They brought WAGs too. Guess jeans and Armani t-shirts were the order of the day. Naxxar held up their homage to the Wealdstone Raider at Mosta – a flag with “You Got No Fans”. Mosta would take revenge outside later with their impression of “You Want Some”. They had forgotten their flag, so their gesturing had a slight bit more menace to it. We and other Naxxar fans walking towards them, ignored them and carried on. The Police just looked bemused. They had no intention it seemed of earning their overtime. A spot of keeping players apart is one thing, but aggressive fans is another! As a Naxxar fan said, “this is normal” – whether he was talking about Mosta or the police went unanswered.

The game itself was a feisty local derby game. All blood and thunder and quality only in small patches. Commitment was high and each side managed to break the mediocrity with a superb free kick. Naxxar grabbed a winner and the band turned up the volume. The WAGs went home happy and as far as we know, nobody got headbutted.

The centre of Paola was closed off for a Christmas carnival. The festive mood meant catching a bus was a bit more complicated than usual. We landed back in the Marina area near Sliema where the 1970's was in full swing. Skol pints at 1.5 Euros. We didn't complain.

Appendix 1

Saturday 13 December 2014 @ 1400 Hours

Pieta Hotspurs 1 Floriana 1

Scorers: 89’ Jurgen Pisani pen (Pieta Hotspurs), 90’ Steve Pisani (Floriana)

Venue : Hibernians Stadium, Corradino, Paola

PietaHotspursDavid Cassar, Cain Attard, Christian Grech, Leonardo Fortunato dos Santos, Jurgen Pisani, Orosco Ndubisi Anonam, Joao Gabriel da Silva (79’ Kyle Cesare), Rafael Rodriguez da Silva, Rafael Xavier Zacarias (84’ Malcolm Licari), Claudio Daniel Francis, Luke Micallef (64’ Terrance Agius).
Subs not used: Miguel Montfort, Cleaven Cassar, Dylon Agius, Travis Bartolo.
Coach: Noel Coleiro

FlorianaTyrone Gauci, Andre Scicluna, Douglas Felipe Moreira Cobo, Emerson Marcelina (59’ Brooke Farrugia), Steve Pisani, Vito Plut, Matteo Piciollo, Conor Borg (51’ Clyde Borg), Emanuel Briffa (71’ Isaac Galea), Gary Muir, Steve Bonnici.
Subs not used: Andrew Zammit, Rodrigo Felix Aguiar, Giovanni Galea, Sasha Borg.
Coach: Giovanni Tedesco

Referee: Chris Lautier
Assistant Referees: William Debattista, Chris Francalanza
Fourth Official: Fyodor Zammit
Yellow cards: Anonam, Gabriel, T. Agius, C. Borg, T. Gauci

BOV Player of the Match: Matteo Piciollo



Appendix 2

Saturday 13 December 2014 @ 1600 Hours

Naxxar Lions 2 Mosta 1

Scorers: 18’ Gilmar Da Silva Ribeiro (N), 48’ Bojan Kaljevic (M), 72’ Pape Gueye (N)

Venue : Hibernians Stadium, Corradino, Paola

NaxxarJulian Azzopardi, Andrew Scicluna (86’ John Debono), Emmanuel Ibok Edet, Terrence Vella (84’ David Fenech), Daren Falzon (87’ Victor Bellia), Gilmar Da Silva Ribeiro, Ryan Gilmour Cassar, Pablo Doffo, Angus Buhagiar, Uchenna Emenike Mbachu (62’ Pape Gueye), Christopher Uzeh Edafe.
Subs: Luke Pecorella, Mattia Del Negro, Duane Bonnici.
Coach: Jesmond Zerafa

Mosta Omar Borg, Jonas Rodriguez Ekani, Mark Brincat, Adrian Borg, Dyson Falzon (46’ Sasa Jovanovic), Kurt Magro, Ryan Grech (90’ Kurt Zammit), Mateus Ribeiro dos Santos, Nemanja Milovanovic, Karl Pulo, Bojan Kaljevic.
Subs not used: Kyle Gerada, Youssou Lo, Kyle Frendo, James Brincat, Matteo di Vita.
Coach: Peter Smith

Referee: Sandro Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Ingmar Spiteri, Duncan Sultana
Fourth Official: Marco Borg

Yellow cards: Brincat, Uzeh, Falzon, Falzon, Mbachu, Borg, Doffo, Magro, Grech, Cassar,

BOV Player of the Match: Gilmar da Silva Ribeiro

Attendance at the Hibernians Stadium: 824

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Photos

Naxxar Lions
..................a tribute to the Wealdstone Raider