The definition of sport is not as clear-cut as some of us would like it to be. What makes a sport “truly a sport” has been the subject of debate for many years. It is interesting to note that philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once stated that sport is as difficult to define as language.
The Council of Europe’s Sports Charter (1992) defines sport as “all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competitions at all levels”.
Kunsill Malti għall-iSport (KMS), being the national authority on sport, follows national legislation. The Sports Act, set out in 2002, clearly states that “sport includes all forms of physical or mental activity which, through casual or organised participation or through training activities, aim at expressing or improving physical and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels, but excludes those activities held for therapeutic or clinical purposes or are part of the activities of health institutions or health centres, and includes any other activity as the Minister may from time to time and after consultation with the Council prescribe”.
The Malta Table Football Association is a registered member of KMS and is therefore eligible to participate in the SportMalta Awards - L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali. One must also note that the association has also been a member of the Malta Olympic Committee since 2003.
The SportMalta Awards is an event co-organised between KMS and the Għaqda Ġurnalisti Sport (GħĠS). The event recognises the efforts made by the Maltese sports community.
During the event the GħĠS awards a number of honours to different categories (sportsman, sportswoman, official, team, young athlete) while KMS awards a number of recognitions to other persons in sport (life-time achievement, sports tourism, local council, etc.)
Above that, KMS awards the SportsMalta Award to honour the best achievement by a Maltese athlete. However it has to be made clear from the outset that KMS has no say about the outcome bar that the athlete has to be coming from an association registered with KMS.
KMS, to come up with the National SportMalta Award winner, takes as its starting point the five male finalists for the Sportsman of the Year award and the five females vying for the Sportswoman of the Year award shortlisted by a selection committee made up of GħĠS journalists and totally independent of KMS.
The eventual winner of the SportMalta award is also not determined by KMS but through a tri-partite formula whereby 40 per cent of the total vote is based on the sport journalists’ preferences, another 40 per cent on national sport associations and 20 per cent is determined by the public via SMS voting in the three weeks prior to the final night.
Massimo Cremona was nominated by the sport journalists’ selection committee because during 2010 he formed part of the national team that won the Table Football Team World Championships in Germany and also placed third in the Individual Competition in the same World Championships. Mr Cremona was also a member of the Italian team, Bari Reggione, winners of the European Table Football Champions League.
In this year’s edition, Mr Cremona was runner-up (second to footballer Andre Schembri) in the journalists’ vote, runner-up (second to Mario Bonello) in the National Associations’ vote and topped the public vote with Danica Bonello Spiteri coming second.
The aggregate vote of the three voting components crowned Mr Cremona as the overall winner of the SportMalta Award followed very closely by female triathlete Ms Bonello Spiteri and sprinter Mr Bonello respectively.
Without discarding other traditional methods, KMS has opted for a very democratic method, that is adding public recognition to the expertise of both the sports community and the journalists. Unlike other awards, where there may be justified reasons for doing so, the SportMalta Award does not distinguish between Olympic and non-Olympic sport, different disciplines or males and females. In fact this year we could have easily ended up with the first female national SportMalta Award winner which would have been impossible using other conventional methods.
Now using the “less physical exertion” argument would exclude many disciplines including snooker, billiards, pool, motorsport, mindsport, horseracing, golf etc. Indeed, many talented sportsmen and women would be excluded.
Limiting oneself to Malta’s context one would have had to exclude the likes of Pawlu Mifsud, world champion in amateur billiards and three times SportsMan of the Year; professional snooker star Tony Drago, two times SportsMan of the Year; the national pool team European champions; Aaron Ciantar, a world champion in powerboat racing, and I dare say William Chetcuti, the seven times SportsMan of the Year and double trap shooter who has achieved some remarkable results over the years and been frequently awarded by different institutions. Do we really want this exclusion? KMS has chosen otherwise.
KMS promotes all sports because it believes that sports, properly practised, positively affect personal, social and economic development.
Mr Vassallo is chairman of Kunsill Malti għall-iSport.