Eight-team competition to start early in March

Competitive waterpolo for 2012 will start on March 3 with the opening match in an eight-team Winter League being between San Ġiljan, one-time winners of the competition, and Valletta.

This will be followed by the Sliema-Exiles match with the Blues starting their campaign in the hope of striking their fourth consecutive success and equal Neptunes’ total of seven honours in this out-of-season competition, now in its 18th edition.

The draws were made yesterday at the National Pool, Tal-Qroqq, by Peter Perotti, BOV Chief Officer, in the presence of ASA president Joe Caruana Curran and secretary Martin Borg, besides other officials and club delegates.

This year there will be eight teams participating, with the ASA Under-17 team again entering on a non-competitive basis since their matches will be in preparation for the Euro 2013 Junior Championships.

The other teams taking part will be Marsascala, Neptunes and Sirens.

The 28 round-robin schedule of matches will end on April 22 and will be followed by a series of play-offs to determine the final placings on the basis of the teams’ league standings.

These play-offs will end on May 8.

Addressing the media, Caruana Curran said that the ASA is in the process of devising a new format for the summer league, also based on play-offs.

This, he said, is intended to improve on last year’s system.

He also said that thanks to BOV and the National Good Causes Fund, spectators and team officials will be able to have a better view of match details since a new hi-tech scoreboard will be set up at the National Pool.

He then thanked the club ad-ministrators for their work and support throughout the year, the media for their coverage and Bank of Valletta for the constant backing they give the association through their sponsorship, stressing that he looked forward to continued support from the bank.

On his part, Mr Perotti said that following last year’s exceptional finale culminating in a five-match play-off, the sponsors are looking forward to the first waterpolo competition of the new season.

He remarked that last year’s competitions drew crowds that were never seen before and the bank is working closely with the ASA to continue raising interest in the game.

Opening matches
March 3: San Ġiljan vs Valletta; Sliema vs Exiles.
March 4: Neptunes vs Marsascala; Sirens vs ASA Under-17.