Rugby in Malta has been given a well-deserved push this evening with the inauguration of the Birkirkara Alligators Rugby Club training and leisure facilities in John Borg Street.

The club is the first in Malta to run its own fully equipped facilities.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, accompanied by mayor Michael Fenech Adami at a site formerly known as ‘the playing field’, the land, owned by the council, has now been entrusted to the club to manage and maintain.

As ‘the playing field’ the land was considered to be in a dilapidated state and an eyesore.

The premises now include a clubhouse, bar, open-air gym, children’s playground and three five-a-side pitches laid in synthetic turf that is specifically used for rugby.

The Birkirkara Alligators Rugby Club was set up between 1990 and 1991 as the University Rugby Team.

As many of its founding members graduated, it was renamed the Alligators in 1995. The team immediately dominated the local rugby scene, winning the league in its first year.

About two years ago it decided to affiliate itself with a locality and picked Birkirkara.

That was when discussion kicked-off between the team’s committee and the local council to set-up their own training facilities.

Today, Alligators are one of the largest rugby clubs, with a senior, youth and junior section for both men and women.