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Volume Four of football historian Carmel Baldacchino’s Goal, the Official Encyclopaedia of Maltese Football, is completed and covers the period 1949 to 1959.
This work, planned to go to 10 volumes and recognised by the Malta FA as its official history, goes through in minute detail the late 1940s and 50s when the game in Malta was at its peak.
During this period the game rose gradually from the ashes of the Second World War and organised itself into the biggest and most popular sport on the island.
The Fifties were years of abundance. The standard of the game was very high and the crowds filled the terraces of the stadium in their thousands.
Those who were lucky enough to have lived through those glorious years will remember with nostalgia the host of great Maltese footballers who graced the game.
Who can ever forget the Ajax team that reached its peak and took Maltese football by storm during the 1950s?
The Ajax were a great team but they were not alone.
One must also mention the Sliema Wanderers team of that particular era.
The Wanderers had a fine team which reached its peak in 1955-56 when the Blues won the quadruple crown.
The same can be said to a certain extent of Valletta, Hibernians and Ħamrun Spartans. All three played second fiddle to Sliema and Floriana but they had fine teams in their own right.
The national team’s first-ever international against Austria in 1957 served to whet the appetite of the Maltese for more similar commitments, not only on a national team level but also clubs.
This, however, could only be realised if Malta joined FIFA.
The dream came true towards the end of the decade but the first step to this goal was taken on that faithful day in 1957 when the national team made its international debut on the bone-hard pitch of the old Gżira Stadium against mighty Austria.
In this volume of Goal, the Official Encyclopaedia of Maltese Football, Baldacchino has captured some of those great moments and this will surely revive many fond memories to those who still remember that glorious era.
The book is divided in four parts. While Parts 1 to 3 give the story of what was happening in Maltese football during the period covered by this volume, the narrative is supplemented by a huge amount of statistical data which makes this book a must for all football lovers.
Part 4 is a true encyclopaedia in that it lists all events, competitions, players, referees, coaches, officials, Maltese and foreign teams and football writers of the 1950s.
The book, which is published by Horizons, is available from leading bookshops.