Msida, Hamrun promoted to Premier League
MFA President Joe Mifsud.
Msida St Joseph and Hamrun were this evening promoted to football's Premier League, replacing Vittoriosa Stars and Marsaxlokk following their demotion to Division 1 because of corruption.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the council of the Malta Football Association and marks a quick return to the top flight for Msida and Hamrun, who had been relegated at the end of the last season.
The council also decided that the Premier League will resume in the last weekend of this month according to the established programme. The first matches will be those which should have been placed last weekend.
The council meeting was presided by MFA president Joe Mifsud, who spoke of the seriousness of corruption in sport and said there could never be amnesties in cases like this.
In his speech Dr Mifsud also hit back at criticism of the long time it took the Board to reach its verdict on the Marsaxlokk case. “The news conferences held by lawyers show that they are not really conversant with the regulations of the Malta FA,” Dr Mifsud said.
Dr Mifsud confirmed that competition regulations state that the results of the matches from this season’s Premier League will stand, bar those played by the two demoted clubs.
During its meeting, the council agreed that with regards to the Division One Knock-Out, in view of the changes necessitated by the demotion of Vittoriosa and Marsaxlokk, Saturday's fixtures should be rescheduled. The matches, Marsaxlokk vs Melita FC and Vittoriosa Stars vs St George’s, have been postponed until October 24 but the KO competition will kick off on Sunday with the clash between.
The council members authorised the president to rule on clubs’ applications to register out-of-contract players. This move is principally aimed at accelerating the registration process of new players - those who are without a contract - whom the newly-promoted clubs may opt to sign to strengthen their squads.
Tribute was also paid to Joe Sacco, the former MFA secretary, who passed away last week. The MFA president praised Mr Sacco for his sterling contribution to Maltese football. “It is fitting that Mr Sacco is remembered as a person who, as general secretary of the Malta FA, did a lot for Maltese football,” Dr Mifsud said.
Popular Stories
In Discussion
Italian football cancelled as player...
Juve win scudetto as Milan lose to Inter
Valletta beat Hibs to edge closer to...
Hibs fire Miller after turning down...
Valletta champions
Napoli end Juve run with Coppa...
Updated: Title glory for Valletta...
PBS to screen all Euro 2012 matches
O'Brien inspires Malta to victory
12 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Matthew Dougall
Sep 18th 2009, 10:38
sorry i made a mistake in my comment, i was meant to say St. Georges not San Gwann
Charles Borg
Sep 18th 2009, 09:14
The most logical is that the team who is being demoted from the premier(M'xlokk) should be
replaced by another premier team (Msida) and the team who is not being promoted (V'iosa)
from the 1st div. should be replaced by another 1st div. team (Pieta).
I believe this is the fairest.
David Gatt
Sep 18th 2009, 08:36
I believe Ryan Fenech, who is currently with Sliema on loan from Hamrun Spartans, is bound to return to Hamrun with immediate effect. This is due to a clause stating that the player must return to the club as soon as it is promoted to the Premier.
GiGi Borg
Sep 18th 2009, 08:26
All's well that ends well.
But what about St.George's F.C. who suffered such injustice. Besides losing the services of the two players involved, they also lost the last whole season. Such big expenses up in smoke. Shouldn't the MFA involve itself and see that one of its member clubs, in this case St.George's, receive the entitled damages suffered and ensure this is done before the guilty party gets the opportunity to play again.
Noel Seguna
Sep 18th 2009, 08:18
@ Norbert Bugeja - Qormi were playing in the 2nd Division when their case took place, hence they were relegated one division.
I still believe that Vittoriosa should have been demoted to the 2nd Division, since their case took place when they were playing in the 1st Division.
Norbert Bugeja
Sep 18th 2009, 07:45
I think with all respect Hamrun Spartans should not been promoted......Msida took the place of Marsaxlokk ok i see nothing wrong with this case as a team who got relegated from premier took the place of marsaxlokk but.....Vittoriosa are a newly promoted so i guess Pieta should have got promotion as they finished 3rd in last season's 1st division.........
Still going back in time it's unfair towards Qormi who got relegated to 3rd division when a similar case occured some time ago...what's the exect rule relegation to 3rd or else relegated one division?
Dominic Micallef
Sep 18th 2009, 04:35
Not quite sure that this is just in Pieta's point of view however.
Given that every one was in no hurry to speed up matters in summer, a decider between Hamrun and Pieta would have been more appropriate prior to resume / commence this season.
Matthew Dougall
Sep 18th 2009, 00:35
what about san gwann?
vittoriosa made match-fixing in division 1 not in the premier league, hence san gwann would have been promoted back then... marsaxlokk wouldn't mind playing in the division 1 as they are not going to lose any players because the transfer market is closed now...
this is just not right...
Joe V Scerri
Sep 18th 2009, 00:15
First of all 'justice' here has a very qualified meaning as it's punishing everyone including those who worked hard and played fair. I am not diminishing anything from what Hamrun and Msida rightfully deserve. One would hope that such a punishment would serve as a good lesson to all involved in the game.
However, IMHO the MFA is not being consistent. If M'xlokk were relegated for the alleged wrongdoing (by one of their officials) then they should have done the same with Vittoriosa irrespective of the fact that they won the promotion. I admit I don't know what the local rules say but since the issue occurred in the last years league, the penalty should have been applied taking into consideration the respective status of last year. I think that Vittoriosa should have been relegated to the 2nd Div and Rabat should be brought back the 1st Div. Applying the same argument, if M'xlokk had won the league last year what would have happened? In Italy, 4 years ago Juventus were stripped off the title and relegated to Serie B. In Malta, seeing the punishment imposed on Vittoriosa, they would have been stripped off the title only.
Alex Cassar
Sep 17th 2009, 23:55
Great for us
For Sure Sur Vic Tedesco is helping us from heaven
Come on reds...........................
James Stivala
Sep 17th 2009, 22:55
What about the first 2 matches which were declared as null? Well done Dr Mifsud to see Hamrun playing in the premier league again.
P Borg
Sep 17th 2009, 22:20
Justice done towards Hamrun. Finally.