A telephone call from Arthur Vassallo, of Floriana, set me on a long search to find the source of this week’s article.
Vassallo, who served on the Floriana committee and the MFA Council in the 1970s, asked me for information about a charity match he attended with his father in 1953.
This match has apparently been forgotten by all the people he spoke to including, it seems, Lolly Borg and Lolly Debattista, both of whom played in that particular match.
The match in question took place on May 1, 1953 at the old Empire Stadium between Floriana FC and the Army XI.
The game, won by Floriana 2-0, was played in aid of the Infantile Paralysis Fund.
This horrible disease plagued the war-weakened population of Malta in the early post-war period and left many people disabled.
At the time, Floriana had just won their fourth league cham-pionship in a row, a record which still stands to this day. The Army, on their part, were the winners of the prestigious Daily Malta Chronicle Cup which, in those days, was contested between the representative XIs of the three services stationed in Malta.
The game, which was attended by the Governor of Malta and Lady Creasy, Prime Minister George Borg Olivier and the president of the Law Courts, L.A. Camilleri, attracted a very large crowd even though it was played on a Friday.
Despite the reputation of the two teams, the game did not reach any great heights though.
It was a real drab, especially in the first half when the two teams resorted to kick-and-rush tactics.
Floriana always looked more dangerous and the Army, without their star player Salvinu Schembri and with Valenzia playing in the unusual position of outside-left, could not make much headway at first.
Centre-forward McKinnon tried hard to beat the strong Floriana defence but had very little support from his team-mates on the day.
The game improved a lot in the second period. Although Floriana scored the vital goals in the end, it was the Army who played the best football.
Preca dominated at centre-half while Sunny Borg Cardona played Pullu Demanuele out of the game completely.
Floriana should have taken the lead in the first half when they were awarded a penalty. Mock, however, hit the ball over the bar.
Then, Floriana enjoyed a good patch and only some excellent goalkeeping from Ray Cosby and a grand defensive display by Preca kept the scoresheet blank.
Johnnie Alamango was also pro-minent at left-back for the Army but he marred an otherwise good performance with rough play towards the end of the game.
Floriana’s first goal came 10 minutes from time when Cosby, for once, let down his defences and was beaten by a Bennetti inswinger that flew over his head and into goal.
It was a pity that Floriana’s second goal had to come from an own-goal by Borg Cardona.
The Army right-back, who had had a very good game, diverted a Bennetti shot past his goalkeeper two minutes from time.
At the end of the match, Lady Creasy presented the handsome trophy to winners Floriana and medals to both team players and officials.