Football sticker albums no longer provoke the playground frenzy of decades past, a British reporter recently stated. He clearly has never been to Malta.
Huddled in groups, heads ducked, scores if not hundreds of Maltese have been gathering every day in front of Anastasi’s Panini shop in Valletta, eagerly swapping away in an attempt to complete their Fifa World Cup 2014 sticker album.
The people forming the crowds are as different as chalk and cheese – from excitable children to businessmen in suits to elderly people leaning on walking sticks.
Even Panini themselves are mystified
One common thread unites them all – the simple pleasure of ripping open a paper packet, excitedly surveying the contents and the quest to fill each rectangular box of the sticker album.
Shop owner Dominic Anastasi, 63, says that people in Malta, Switzerland and Mauritius are the keenest collectors.
Stunned tourists often stop by to view the frenzied dealings. Mr Anastasi says that, over the years, enthusiasts have got into the habit of spontaneously congregating in front of his shop.
“It’s become a landmark. I’ve had lawyers, policemen, doctors and MPs assemble outside my shop. You won’t see such a gathering in other countries like Italy. In fact, they were impressed and are tempted to set up places where enthusiasts can meet, socialise and swap away.”
How come that in the digital age, sticker-collecting has nevertheless retained its popularity? “That’s a very good question – even Panini themselves are mystified.”
Mr Anastasi has had exclusive rights to sell Panini stickers in Malta since 1970. One has to have a passion for the subject to sustain the job, he says. He spends Mondays to Saturdays at his shop, while on Sundays he heads to his store, where he painstakingly goes through thousands of stickers which he matches to lists sent to him by enthusiasts who did not manage to acquire those final stickers to complete their albums.
“It’s most popular with children – but it’s also very popular with adults, although they’d claim otherwise.”
His words are verified by John Attard, well into his 60s, who purchases a number of packets. “I like to say they’re for my 38-year-old son, who is an avid collector. But I secretly really enjoy collecting them,” he chuckles.