Medals and what sport is all about

Recent occurrences and attitudes in the sports sphere point to a very dangerous direction.

Our blind obsession and craving for medals in the international arena are depriving Maltese sport of its most beautiful element as defined by all social scientists in their unwavering definition of sport; namely physical exertion as an indispensable element of sport.

That we are sending the wrong message to our young generation is all too clear. No wonder obesity is on the increase.

Suffice it to say that the majority of finalists in the Sportivi tas-Sena - 2006 awards come from sports that are at the periphery of the sports definition.

Basically, sport defies definition but you find little disagreement that football, track and field events, tennis, rugby and basketball can be classified as sport. But is this also true of bridge, chess and fishing, to mention just an innocuous few?

The more physical exertion there is within the parameters of a set of rules the more we are convinced it is real sport.

Just imagine by way of analogy. A splendid present-day enactment of the Great Siege of 1565 performed at St Elmo or Fort St Angelo receiving an honourable mention for bravery and defiance in defending our island... while the real glorious victory is dumped in the dustbin of history "unwept, unhonoured and unsung". What a travesty of justice.

A cursory glance at the finalists for the Sportivi tas-Sena awards organised by the Sportswriters' Association reveals this mentality.

Late last year our national football team inflicted a stunning defeat on mighty Hungary in a major European competition which was lauded by all European sportswriters. Yet, neither the national football team nor any of its players was good enough to make it to the finals of the Sportivi tas-Sena - 2006. It should be pointed out that most of the finalists in the various categories hail from sports disciplines that do not feature in the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Mediterranean Games or Games of the Small States of Europe.

This national amnesia was also evident in some television programmes highlighting the 50th anniversary of Malta's exceptional performance against Austria. By all means let us celebrate our sporting achievements of half a century ago. I was there, I was thrilled.

I was euphoric as I too belonged to the fantastic football community of those memorable days. But, for heaven's sake, why ignore completely last year's match? When a protagonist of the Malta-Hungary match was interviewed and asked for his comments about his grandfather, the great Salvinu Schembri, no mention was made of the former's magnificent feat.

In the aftermath of the Malta-Austria match, Malta became an official member of FIFA and subsequently in 1960 a full member of UEFA while Malta was still a British colony. This was indeed an outstanding achievement, not only in the sporting sphere but the two affiliations were political milestones and should also be recorded in our political history.

It was the norm at that time that colonies (whether British, French or Portuguese) were barred from participating under their own flag. Thanks to our highly-efficient administrators of the late 1950s and the already-established precedence, when the Malta Olympic Committee was recognised in 1928 as a full member state with the right of participation in the Amsterdam Olympic Games, Malta started on its hard task of competing in UEFA and FIFA competitions.

Irrespective of the ongoing dispute with the Malta Football Association, it should not be amiss to point out that on the international administrative field Malta has scored another major success which deserves the compliments of the whole nation. Joseph Mifsud, president of the MFA, has been re-elected to the EUFA executive board; no mean achievement indeed.

Mr Bugeja is former secretary general of the Malta Olympic Committee.