Baldacchino traces key events from 1978 to 1999

Football journalist and researcher Carmel Baldacchino has fulfiled his ambition of writing and publishing the complete history of Maltese football following the publication of volumes seven and eight of Goals, Cups, and Tears.

By his own admission, this extraordinary work has taken up a large part of his life. Eight volumes and more than 5,000 pages packed with historical facts, pictures, results, tables and other statistics.

Since the publication of the first volume in 1989, this series of books on the evolution of Maltese football has been acclaimed both locally and abroad as the ultimate work on the subject.

Baldacchino, author of 15 books on the subject, also writes the popular weekly column in The Times, Shadows from the Past, which has an avid following both in Malta and in countries where there are Maltese immigrants in particular.

The last two volumes of the Goals, Cups, and Tears series cover the history of Maltese football since top-flight games were moved from the Empire Stadium in Gzira till the end of the 20th century.

This was a turbulent period in the history of the game on our islands, a time lived through by the present generation of Maltese football enthusiasts.

These books ought to bring back many fond memories to people connected in any way with the game. They should especially go down well with the supporters of Hamrun Spartans and Valletta FC whose recent exploits are chronicled in detail.

The complete series and individual books are available from David Bugelli, 19, Melita Street, Sliema (tel. 21-330003).