National pool

I was very disturbed to read in The Times the arrogant way in which people have painted our waterpolo players' characters, as some sort of vandals. Are they the only ones who use our national pool?

For a while I had the opportunity to work both with a waterpolo club and at the Tal-Qroqq pool. We know the terrible state it was in, especially before the GSSE Malta 2003 Games, with tiles coming off the pool floor, pitiful showers, trouble with the mixers, pool heated and unheated - you name it.

Please, George Whelpdale, should check his stories before pointing a finger at waterpolo players. They may not all be saints but they are not the only sinners, either. The pool management, past and present, have never found ways and means to stop this vandalism. Were the tiles in the pool broken or ripped off by the waterpolo players during the winter/ summer leagues? Was it their fault that the boiler was rarely ever switched on - did they manage to break that too? And the gym equipment? Are they only the ones to blame?

Mr Whelpdale is a new boy at the pool. I do not know what qualifications he possesses or whether he has ever managed a sports complex but I honestly wish him the best of luck. It seems he has to deal with a number of superhumans who are capable of wreaking and creating havoc wherever they go!