Promote strong values in children
Youth Football Association president Fr Hilary Tagliaferro reckons the struggle against corruption needs a more concerted fight to stop it from ruining the ‘Beautiful Game’ and urged all those involved in grassroots football to do their utmost and lay...
Youth Football Association president Fr Hilary Tagliaferro reckons the struggle against corruption needs a more concerted fight to stop it from ruining the ‘Beautiful Game’ and urged all those involved in grassroots football to do their utmost and lay more focus on the character building process of the young players coming up.
“By educating and promoting strong values and principles in these youngsters, we can help eradicate this malady in the game,” Fr Hilary said in an annual Youth FA activity during which over €100,000 were distributed to member nurseries from the UEFA Champions League Solidary Fund.
“The players of tomorrow are the future of the game,” he contended.
“Our nurseries should not measure success by the amount of trophies won, but by their efforts to nurture the children entrusted to them to foster their love for the sport.”
Fr Hilary thanked the MFA and APS Bank for their relentless support and the continuous initiatives taken to raise the level of the game, while instilling a more professional outlook and moral ethics.
Also present for the occasion was Norman Darmanin Demajo.
The Malta FA president recalled that last year, during this same activity, he had listed his priorities: that each club has adequate training space, all matches played on good pitches, and to continue raising the education levels of coaches.
“We’re very satisfied with the work undertaken so far,” he said.
“But the Malta FA will continue to invest, both in infrastructure and education, because we really believe that only by doing so we can improve standards in our game.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Aquilina, APS Marketing Manager, announced a new sponsorship agreement for three seasons with the Youth FA.
He said that this was the longest running sponsor APS ever had, and this because they really believe in the values, principles and respect children can learn while playing football.
As from this season, APS will launch the Play Fair Badge.
This will be awarded to the teams with the best record of Fair Play in the Under 15 and Under 17 leagues.
Besides other Youth FA council officials, the meeting was also attended by Bjorn Vassallo, Malta FA CEO, Ludovigo Micallef, MFA vice president, Robert Gatt and Sergio Soldano, from the Technical Centre, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Kunsill Malti għall-Isport and Farsons.