2006: Sports
by Antoine Busuttil
2006 was another eventful year for sport in Malta with Rebecca Madyson's silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia being the main highlight.
Maltese-Australian Rebecca Madyson (nee Attard) made Maltese sport history by winning silver in the Women’s Trap event. In the qualification round, 12 athletes competed and Rebecca after hitting 70/75 placed second. Then in the finals, she hit 16/25 to claim silver.
During these games, Malta won a bronze medal thanks to William Chetcuti in the Double Trap event and went close with two fourth places acquired in Weightlifting and Lawn Bowls (Leonard Callus and Francis Vella).
In football, under the guidance of new national coach Dusan Fitzel, the Malta national team played eight matches. Following the appointment of Dusan Fitzel as national coach, Malta hosted the Coca-Cola & Multiplus International Tournament in February/March, suffering two 0-2 defeats to Moldova and Georgia. In June, the national team lost narrowly to World Cup finalists Japan 1-0 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Following a 3-0 defeat to Slovakia in a friendly match in Bratislava in August, Malta played three matches from Group C of the EURO 2008 qualifying round. After a 2-5 defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malta lost 2-0 to Turkey in Frankfurt, Germany. Then on October 11, Malta hosted Hungary, beating them 2-1 thanks to a brace by Andre Schembri. The last game for 2006 was a friendly match against Lithuania last month where Malta lost 1-4 at the Hibs Ground.
The 2-1 win over Hungary was a historic win for Malta as the last win in a European Championship game on home soil was the 2-0 win over Greece in 1975 at the Gzira Stadium. Malta had defeated Iceland 2-1 in 1982 but although that game was marked as a home match, it was played in a neutral venue - Messina. The last win in a competitive match was a 1-0 win over Estonia in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 in Tallin.
In domestic competitions, Birkirkara won the BOV Premier League, for the second time in the history of the club. Hibernians won the U*BET FA Trophy at the end of last season and went on to win the first competition of season 2006/07 - the Euro Challenge Cup. However in the BOV Super Cup, Birkirkara emerged as winners beating Hibs 2-1.
Controversy over television rights for football for the World Cup and for the BOV Premier League was in the news for several weeks.
In January, Melita Cable acquired the exclusive TV rights to broadcast the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Although this meant that the Maltese public had the guarantee of being able to watch all matches since RAI were due to screen just one game daily, Melita's acquisition raised a lot of controversy as for the first time, the public had to pay to watch World Cup matches.
Weeks of heated debate on television, radio and newspapers followed. Eventually, Melita reached an agreement with Smash Television to offer the station the possibility of screening all matches as a film. TVM, Super One and Net Television were also allowed to screen a few matches due to regulations by the Broadcasting Authority.
Another controversy surrounding television rights cropped up in August. In May, the Malta Football Association had issued tenders for television, radio and mobile telephone rights for local football matches. No bids were made by the local stations. The Malta Football Association then decided to offer the three free-to-air television stations, i.e. Public Broadcasting Services Ltd - TVM, Media.Link - Net Television and One Productions - Super One, the possibility to extend their previous two-year contract, practically on the same conditions they had earlier.
Radio station RTK accepted the offer but TVM, Net TV and Super One joined forces but offered just 25% of the total sum they used to pay before - Lm 6,000 compared to the around Lm 24,000 they used to pay before. Their offer was rejected by the MFA and these replied with a boycott towards local football. In fact, to date there is no local football results or news are mentioned during sports programmes on TVM/Radju Malta, Net TV/Radio 101 and One TV/Super One Radio.
In the mean time, Melita Cable reached an agreement with the association over the live screening of 35 BOV Premier League and U*BET FA Trophy matches. All national 'A' team home-matches are being screened live as well.
The association then started discussions with Smash Television and the two parties reached an agreement for the filming to all Premier League matches, except for those screened by Melita Cable.
In waterpolo, Neptunes Vodafone won the Wilkinson Sword League after waiting for thirteen years, beating the stiff challenge offered by rivals Sliema Burger King.
In hockey, season 2005/06 will go down as a memorable one for Rabat Depiro as they made a complete sweep of the honours of the Hockey Association as they won the Super Cup, Challenge Cup, League and Knock-Out Trophy. Rabat Depiro also achieved international success as they finished joint-first in the Eurohockey Club Champions Challenge II together with Slovak side KPH Raca. Malta has therefore been promoted to the Eurohockey Club Champions Challenge I which will be held next year.
In rugby, the national team registered a fine 26-15 win over at the Hibs Ground in April but then, three defeats followed - 24-0 to Belgium and 27-16 to Latvia away from home and 18-40 to Croatia at the Hibs Ground.
Alex Borg retained the title of the European Billiards and Snooker Association championship after beating Englishman Jeff Cundy 7-5 in Constanta, Romania.
Duncan Bezzina, who took part in the world Eight-Ball Pool Championships in the UK, was named best player of the tournament and included in the World Team selection.
Massimo Cremona reached the table football World Cup final and is the current world number 1 in the world rankings.
In the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the Artie crew (Lee Satariano and Sebastian Ripard as skippers together with Matthew Gusman, Anthony Demajo, Mark Schranz, Kurt Casapinta, Isaac Borg, Thomas Ripard) finished second in the overall IRC classification.
On a negative note, veteran journalist Lewis Portelli passed away on September 7 at the age of 76. Portelli spent around fifty years in journalism and sports broadcasting.
See also
2006: Obituaries
FIFA World Cup 2006: A Maltese Perspective
by Antoine Busuttil
2006 was another eventful year for sport in Malta with Rebecca Madyson's silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia being the main highlight.Maltese-Australian Rebecca Madyson (nee Attard) made Maltese sport history by winning silver in the Women’s Trap event. In the qualification round, 12 athletes competed and Rebecca after hitting 70/75 placed second. Then in the finals, she hit 16/25 to claim silver.
During these games, Malta won a bronze medal thanks to William Chetcuti in the Double Trap event and went close with two fourth places acquired in Weightlifting and Lawn Bowls (Leonard Callus and Francis Vella).
In football, under the guidance of new national coach Dusan Fitzel, the Malta national team played eight matches. Following the appointment of Dusan Fitzel as national coach, Malta hosted the Coca-Cola & Multiplus International Tournament in February/March, suffering two 0-2 defeats to Moldova and Georgia. In June, the national team lost narrowly to World Cup finalists Japan 1-0 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Following a 3-0 defeat to Slovakia in a friendly match in Bratislava in August, Malta played three matches from Group C of the EURO 2008 qualifying round. After a 2-5 defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malta lost 2-0 to Turkey in Frankfurt, Germany. Then on October 11, Malta hosted Hungary, beating them 2-1 thanks to a brace by Andre Schembri. The last game for 2006 was a friendly match against Lithuania last month where Malta lost 1-4 at the Hibs Ground.
The 2-1 win over Hungary was a historic win for Malta as the last win in a European Championship game on home soil was the 2-0 win over Greece in 1975 at the Gzira Stadium. Malta had defeated Iceland 2-1 in 1982 but although that game was marked as a home match, it was played in a neutral venue - Messina. The last win in a competitive match was a 1-0 win over Estonia in a World Cup qualifier in 1993 in Tallin. In domestic competitions, Birkirkara won the BOV Premier League, for the second time in the history of the club. Hibernians won the U*BET FA Trophy at the end of last season and went on to win the first competition of season 2006/07 - the Euro Challenge Cup. However in the BOV Super Cup, Birkirkara emerged as winners beating Hibs 2-1.
Controversy over television rights for football for the World Cup and for the BOV Premier League was in the news for several weeks.
In January, Melita Cable acquired the exclusive TV rights to broadcast the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Although this meant that the Maltese public had the guarantee of being able to watch all matches since RAI were due to screen just one game daily, Melita's acquisition raised a lot of controversy as for the first time, the public had to pay to watch World Cup matches.
Weeks of heated debate on television, radio and newspapers followed. Eventually, Melita reached an agreement with Smash Television to offer the station the possibility of screening all matches as a film. TVM, Super One and Net Television were also allowed to screen a few matches due to regulations by the Broadcasting Authority.
Another controversy surrounding television rights cropped up in August. In May, the Malta Football Association had issued tenders for television, radio and mobile telephone rights for local football matches. No bids were made by the local stations. The Malta Football Association then decided to offer the three free-to-air television stations, i.e. Public Broadcasting Services Ltd - TVM, Media.Link - Net Television and One Productions - Super One, the possibility to extend their previous two-year contract, practically on the same conditions they had earlier.
Radio station RTK accepted the offer but TVM, Net TV and Super One joined forces but offered just 25% of the total sum they used to pay before - Lm 6,000 compared to the around Lm 24,000 they used to pay before. Their offer was rejected by the MFA and these replied with a boycott towards local football. In fact, to date there is no local football results or news are mentioned during sports programmes on TVM/Radju Malta, Net TV/Radio 101 and One TV/Super One Radio.
In the mean time, Melita Cable reached an agreement with the association over the live screening of 35 BOV Premier League and U*BET FA Trophy matches. All national 'A' team home-matches are being screened live as well.The association then started discussions with Smash Television and the two parties reached an agreement for the filming to all Premier League matches, except for those screened by Melita Cable.
In waterpolo, Neptunes Vodafone won the Wilkinson Sword League after waiting for thirteen years, beating the stiff challenge offered by rivals Sliema Burger King.
In hockey, season 2005/06 will go down as a memorable one for Rabat Depiro as they made a complete sweep of the honours of the Hockey Association as they won the Super Cup, Challenge Cup, League and Knock-Out Trophy. Rabat Depiro also achieved international success as they finished joint-first in the Eurohockey Club Champions Challenge II together with Slovak side KPH Raca. Malta has therefore been promoted to the Eurohockey Club Champions Challenge I which will be held next year.
In rugby, the national team registered a fine 26-15 win over at the Hibs Ground in April but then, three defeats followed - 24-0 to Belgium and 27-16 to Latvia away from home and 18-40 to Croatia at the Hibs Ground.
Alex Borg retained the title of the European Billiards and Snooker Association championship after beating Englishman Jeff Cundy 7-5 in Constanta, Romania.
Duncan Bezzina, who took part in the world Eight-Ball Pool Championships in the UK, was named best player of the tournament and included in the World Team selection.
Massimo Cremona reached the table football World Cup final and is the current world number 1 in the world rankings.
In the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the Artie crew (Lee Satariano and Sebastian Ripard as skippers together with Matthew Gusman, Anthony Demajo, Mark Schranz, Kurt Casapinta, Isaac Borg, Thomas Ripard) finished second in the overall IRC classification.
On a negative note, veteran journalist Lewis Portelli passed away on September 7 at the age of 76. Portelli spent around fifty years in journalism and sports broadcasting.
See also
2006: Obituaries
FIFA World Cup 2006: A Maltese Perspective
Photo (2): Copyright © domenic aquilina
Photo (3): Copyright © www.stephengatt.com
Photo (3): Copyright © www.stephengatt.com