Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo outlined the association’s top three priorities for the coming years, urging club officials to “step out of your comfort zones” during the 2013/14 Annual General Meeting, held yesterday evening at the Grand Hotel Excelsior.
Consolidating the association’s finances, the continued development of the MFA technical centre and further investment in the coaching education programme and the strengthening of the league competitions were identified by Darmanin Demajo as three areas of key importance.
“This is the end of my fourth year as MFA president and personally I see that this season marks the end of a period, a cycle, a chapter that saw this administration focus and achieve what, in our opinion, had been the most important priority for Maltese football – the development of the infrastructure at grassroots level i.e. club level,” Darmanin Demajo said in the presence of Giancarlo Abete, the outgoing president of the Italian football federation (FIGC) who, for the second year running, attended the MFA AGM.
Darmanin Demajo emphasised the need to establish a solid commercial platform that will secure the financial future of the association beyond the “guaranteed income that the MFA enjoys through UEFA, FIFA and centralised TV rights for international games”.
“We are looking at a number of ambitious projects that we will consider, even in partnership with private enterprise,” he said.
“These projects are aimed at maximising our income through the full utilisation of the land within our existing footprint at Ta’ Qali.”
On the technical centre and coaching education, Darmanin Demajo pointed out that, while a lot of work has been done in this sector, Maltese football is still lagging far behind, especially at club level.
“Unless we improve the level of Maltese coaches, we can’t improve the level of Maltese football – it’s as simple as that,” he said.
The league competitions also need to be strengthened and improved for local clubs to reach the next level.
“This is a big challenge and I’m pleased that the clubs have finally agreed to change the format of the Premier League, our flagship league,” Darmanin Demajo said.
While reiterating his disagreement with the decision to retain the system whereby the points of the Premier League teams are halved at the end of the first two rounds, the MFA head said that the league format is not the sole deciding factor in the strengthening of the league competitions.
“There are various other important issues which include club finances and FFP (Financial Fair Play rules), regulations regarding the transfer of players, broadcast of live Premier League games, season tickets, matchday hospitality and sponsorships.”
Darmanin Demajo stressed the need to evaluate the situation regarding amateur and professional football, urging clubs to “step out of your comfort zones” and take courageous decisions for the benefit of Maltese football.
The MFA president also announced yesterday that, as from next season, a new Football Social Responsibility (FSR) Committee will be formed with a specific mandate to undertake and support initiatives that reach out to the communities.
In praising the invaluable work being done by Community Chest Fund (CCF) and Puttinu Cares, Darmanin Demajo said that one of the initiatives that will be proposed and implemented next season is to raise the ticket prices for Premier League and Division One matches by €1 which will go into the FSR fund.
This fund will contribute to two of Malta’s “national medical insurance” policies, Puttinu Cares and Community Chest Fund.
This idea, Darmanin Demajo said, was first discussed during a meeting with President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in May.
For his part, Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA CEO, focused on the challenges the association faced last season, notably the organisation of the UEFA Under-17 Championship which was staged here in May.
“I note with satisfaction that this challenge has been overcome and that Maltese football emerged with honours in every aspect, be it organisation-wise, technically as well as in terms of participation of the general public,” Vassallo wrote in his introduction to the administrative report.
Elections
Only one vote was needed during yesterday’s AGM – to elect two council members on the MFA Executive Committee in representation of member clubs in general.
The seven candidates were Stephen Abela, Michael Cutajar, Chris Grech, Mauro Miceli, Joseph Sammut, Paul Spiteri and Johann Vella.
Sammut, the Pietà president, topped the vote with 70 preferences while Cutajar, of St George’s, secured the other seat after collecting 37 votes, one more than Spiteri, the vice-president of Valletta.
In the other divisions, the number of nominees to serve on the MFA Exco for season 2014/15 matched the number of seats.
Qormi president Redeno Apap and Adrian Delia, the Birkirkara vice-president, had won an internal vote involving the officials of the Premier League Standing Committee to fill the two seats allocated to top-flight clubs.
The other elected members are: Angelo Chetcuti (Birżebbuġa), Paul Falzon (St Andrew’s), Victor Cassar (Ħamrun Spartans), Manuel Gauci (St Patrick), Raymond Micallef (Attard), Paul Sammut (Sta Lucija), Joe Micallef (Youth FA), Alvin Grech (Gozo FA) Lawrence Aquilina (MFRA) and Lino Bartolo (SWAN).