The 1974-75 championship was dominated by Floriana but the relegation issue developed into a tough struggle.

Żebbuġ Rangers, Marsa, Hibernians, Gżira and Mosta were all involved in the fight up to the final kick of the competition. At the end, Gżira and Mosta were relegated.

This week’s article is about a game from that season which readily springs to my mind if nothing else for the controversy it generated. The game, between Valletta and Żebbuġ Rangers, was played on October 20, 1974.

The 1970s were a lean period for Valletta.

The Lilywhites struggled to keep up with Sliema Wanderers and Floriana and time and again they finished playing second or third fiddle to their rivals. Żebbuġ, on the other hand, were enjoying a short but very exciting spell in the top division.

The first league club formed in Żebbuġ was the Meteors that was active in the lower divisions between 1934 and 1939. The activities of this club were interrupted by the war and in 1944, when the air raids on Malta had ended, the present club Żebbuġ Rangers was founded.

The Rangers have spent most of their existence in the lower echelons but have been promoted several times to the top division of the league.

The first time was in 1970-71 when they spent two years in the First Division but their best period in the top league was that between 1973 and 1976 which takes us back to this week’s story.

Refereeing in Malta has never been easy. No matter how hard a referee tries he can never satisfy everybody.

Being human, one is bound to make mistakes and when one commits a mistake it is easy to lose concentration and commit others. This is what happened to referee Richard Buttigieg in this game.

Quoting from Robbie DeCesare’s match report in The Times of Malta:

We are all aware that refereeing has never been an easy task and referees being human are bound to err sometimes. The game in Malta has not made any progress but if the kind of inefficient refereeing as that provided by Mr Buttigieg is anything to go by then we are in for some rough time this season.

I am sure that it was only in the referee’s imagination the infringements which led him to award Valletta two penalties for imaginary fouls. He awarded the first one when Galea and Giglio went for the ball and the City player fell down. The official, to the consternation of everybody present including the City players and supporters, awarded a penalty. When the rumpus that followed quietened down, we saw Robert Gatt, Żebbuġ goalie, saving Giglio’s penalty.

Not to be outdone, the referee in the second period again awarded a second penalty, this time when Galea and Agius were running together for the ball. The referee noticed a foul by Galea. He must have been the only one to spot such an infringement.

This time Borg made no mistake from the spot and this sparked a rumpus on the terraces. Benches were ripped apart and thrown on the race-track as the Rangers’ supporters vented their fury on anything in sight.

The Rangers players milled around the referee and to add to the confusion, Philip Farrugia was sent off for protests.

The crowd threatened to bring down the wire fencing and Rangers coach Ray Cosby had to run here and there in an attempt to cool things down.

The crowd, however, continued to abuse the referee and when one of the players kicked the ball out of the pitch the crowd tore it to bits.

The game continued and Seychell scored a second goal to put Valletta’s minds at rest but by this time interest had ended following the second penalty decision.

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