And the winner is...

It has been billed as one of the most awaited contests in many years as the finalists in the five categories for the Sportivi Nazzjonali Contest battle it out for the awards in a few days time.

Well, in reality, the finalists are now just passive contestants as their fate will be decided by journalists, members of the Sportswriters' Association, who are being asked to cast their vote by post during the coming days.

Votes that reach the Organising Committee by next Thursday will be taken into account for the final result.

In a year when the Games of the Small States of Europe were held in Malta, it stands to reason that the majority of nominees hail from federations or associations that were in the thick of action last June.

Without doubt, journalists have a tough choice to make in the Team of the Year category. The shortlist of nominees is truly impressive. Basketball and squash roared to glory during the GSSE in Malta.

The darts national team returned home with the Mediterranean Cup gleaming in their hands while the table football Under-19 side defied the odds and won the world title in Malta.

If that list was not enough to confuse the most serene of minds, how about including the nomination of the rugby team for good measure. Now how about attempting to pinpoint the winner? This is surely a category that is too close to call.

Expectations are also very high for the Official of the Year Award. I stand to be corrected, but I can never recall three referees making it to the final stage of the competition.

It is not easy to compare the achievements of a technical official (i.e. referee) to those of an administrator and perhaps the organisers should seriously consider splitting this category.

Some months ago, I had described referees as being the protagonists of any game and I am glad that three of the five finalists hail from this category. To my mind, there is a clear winner in this category but I shall refrain from identifying him lest I be accused of trying to influence my fellow colleagues.

Apart from this potential winner, there is another name which should have been on that list. To be honest, I was very surprised to see that Pippo Psaila's name was not on the first list of nominees that was announced some weeks ago by the organisers. As the Director of the Malta GSSE and taking into consideration the excellent results of the Maltese athletes, Psaila should have been an automatic choice for this category.

In the last editions of this contest, the Sportswriters' Association has been using a rather complex formula which assigns points according to results obtained by our athletes.

I do not know how this formula applies to the Official of the Year category but somehow there must be a flaw somewhere if the arithmetic did not return Psaila's name as one of the finalists.

I have tried to find the reasons behind Psaila's omission and apparently, one has to be an official with a federation to be eligible for nomination.

If this is so, then the rules should be changed. There were other people who worked hard to make the GSSE a success, in particular the Management Committee of the Malta Olympic Committee led by president Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco.

In fact, all the members of the GSSE Organising Committee, including yours truly, worked relentlessly to contribute to the success of the Games and I am sure that the Sportswriters' Association will recognise the GSSE during the final night.

However, the Director of Games was pivotal to the success achieved. Yet, the present format excluded the possibility of this nomination and in my opinion this was an injustice.

Nonetheless, more than four decades since its inception, the contest is still going strong in spite of the countless changes to its format. A hearty good luck to all the finalists.

Farewell to a friend

A dry voice at the end of the line informed me that our good friend Benny Grech had departed the land of the living.

The last time I spoke to Benny was during the Olympic Sports Awards organised by the Malta Olympic Committee.

We spoke briefly about the endless hassles we encountered during the run-up to the GSSE.

It was in fact thanks to the Games in Malta that I forged a good friendship with Benny Grech. Little did I know that our short conversation in early December was to be our last.

The sailing clan has lost one of its stalwarts. Even though Benny was entrusted with the post of Administration Manager for the GSSE, he had informed us that he would be relinquishing his duties during the actual days of competition as he wanted to give a helping hand to the sailing federation.

Our sailors did not let him down and each time one of our boys sailed to glory, Benny's smile said it all.

My condolences to his family.