All losers if we don't cheer our winners

I recently attended the Malta versus Croatia rugby game played at the Hibernian's football stadium in Paola.

It was a Rugby World Cup 2011 playoff game. Due to some over enthusiastic play in the last minute of the game, Malta was penalised and Croatia kicked the goal to win a very competitive match 18-16, snatching a victory from a Malta team that had played with conviction and passion.

Malta then travelled up to Sweden and in the cold and wet conditions they triumphed 9-6 over a Swedish team ranked 10 positions above Malta in the International Rugby Board rankings.

I went to the airport on the Sunday evening, thinking I would join in the welcome gathering for this Maltese team that had once again punched above its weight and defeated a much larger nation.

But I was surprised to find that apart from friends and family, there were no government representatives, nor any media people there to get their story.

I don't think we realise just what the Malta rugby team has achieved; their winning puts Malta on the map.

If, as a nation, we do not applaud our winners, we will eventually all be losers. We need to stop making excuses about why we keep losing in our international sports events and start to back the winners and learn from them.

I wonder if anyone has bothered to ask Damian Neill, the Malta rugby coach, just how it is that with limited finances, facilities and player base, he is able to transform a team - that as individuals are not playing at very high levels in club rugby - when he gets to work with them and they pull on the Maltese national team jersey?

Let's acknowledge and congratulate what he and the team have achieved with their success, representing the nation.