[attach id=397492 size="medium"]Karl Izzo, national waterpolo coach.[/attach]

Malta’s preparations for next month’s European Championship qualifiers are being hindered by a dispute between the Aquatic Sports Association (ASA) and Sliema ASC over the players’ training schedule.

Malta waterpolo coach Karl Izzo has decided to drop the Sliema players from his squad, namely Jerome Gabaretta, Mark Meli, Alex Attard and Christian Cluett, after they failed to turn up for a practice session with the national team on January 9 after being told to train with their club.

Malta face France, the Netherlands and Latvia in the Euro Championship qualifying tournament between February 5 and 8.

Sliema ASC said in a statement that they had not been notified by the association about the national team’s training schedule as this is not discussed with the clubs.

“As a result, when Sliema commenced its 2015 training schedule, it did not have a position on the matter since there was no formal position taken by the association to accept or otherwise,” the club said.

“Despite indicating that it would convene a meeting with clubs to discuss the matter, such a meeting was never held by the Aquatic Sports Association.

“Sliema players duly attended the national team’s first training session on Wednesday, January 7, since such session was outlined in the notice of selection.

“On Friday, January 9, given that it was only the club’s third training session and national team commitments are a month away, the Sliema players trained with the club and not with the national team, as instructed by the club.

“At no point did Sliema ASC indicate that its players were going to miss further national team training sessions.”

Meeting request

While stressing that they have no intention of disrupting the national team’s preparations, Sliema ASC said that they had called for a meeting with the ASA to discuss the training schedule issue but their request was turned down.

Sliema ASC also reiterated that their players remain available to play for the national team.

For his part, national coach Izzo gave a different version of events, claiming that he met with Sliema coach Paul Privitera in November to discuss his team’s build-up for next month’s European tournament.

Izzo said that, during the meeting, he informed Privitera that the national squad’s training sessions were to be held every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

“I had a meeting with Sliema ASC coach Paul Privitera on November 27,” Izzo told Times of Malta.

“During our conversation, he told me that, since this was his first full season (in charge of the team), the first month of preparations was very important and thus he wanted his players to train with him on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday,” Izzo added.

“I made it clear that January was also crucial for the national team and, with the European Championship qualifiers only a few weeks away, I expected all the players to come for training.

“Unfortunately, the Sliema players did not attend the team’s second training session and I had no option but to drop them from the squad.

“As national team coach, I always want to have the best players available but I cannot accept this situation and, unless Sliema change their stance, I will stick to my decision.”