Rinus Dahles, of Marsascala, writes:
On May 13, after two decades of football, Jonathan Magri Overend hung up his boots after his last outing for Hamrun Spartans in a Premier League match against Pietà Hotspurs.
Magri Overend, 36 next month, had made his debut at the age of 16 in a league match for Sliema Wanderers, his first club, against Hibernians.
Since then, and after a total of 407 official matches and 24 goals, he has now decided to call it a day.
With Sliema, Magri Overend played 139 matches and scored four goals. He was in the Wanderers team that won the league title in 1988/89 and the Euro Cup (1987 and 1990), FA Trophy (1990) and the Super 5 Cup (1990).
In 1995, Magri Overend played for Zurrieq (12 official matches - two goals) and the season after he joined Birkirkara.
In 1999/2000 he helped the Stripes become champions for the first time in the club's history. With them, he also won the Lowenbrau Cup and Super 5 Cup (both 1998). For Birkirkara FC, Magri Overend played 158 official matches and scored 18 goals.
In 2001, Magri Overend joined Hamrun Spartans. In 2004, they were relegated to Division One but after one year they were back in the Premier League only to lose their status again this season. The central defender played 98 times for the Spartans.
Season 2005/06 was marked with some personal highlights for Magri Overend. On October 17, 2005 he played his 300th Premier League match (vs Valletta) and on November 20 he played his 400th official match in his career (vs Sliema Wanderers).
Magri Overend also played five times for the national team and scored one goal.
His debut was on February 6, 1998 against Albania. He played against Georgia (February 10, 1998 - 1-3) and scored Malta's temporary equaliser from the penalty spot.
His other matches with the national team were against Wales (June 3, 1998), Germany (September 2, 1998) and Macedonia (September 6, 1998).
Indeed, I consider this to be a remarkable career for a Maltese player and something which Magri Overend should be proud of.
One hopes his experience of the game will not be lost now and a few promising players will benefit from his talent and sheer dedication to the game.
rdahles@onvol.net