Whether we like it or not, sport, especially football, has become the most pervasive activity in the world. What is the essential magic of this game during the European Nations Cup this year, irrespective of the interminable political issues, is that this noble game takes centre stage.
This football euphoria in our little island poses many queries. How is it that while in water polo, the most exacting and demanding discipline requiring speed, skill and stamina at the highest level we have managed to make a great leap forward being among the best 16 nations in Europe? And in football with over a century of participation we are scraping the barrel in the back waters of this popular sport?
Lately we have witnessed the sudden emergence of local rugby in the international arena, with creditable performances even though they have to punch above their weight. Their policy to “catch them young” as they scour our schools and colleges, and their strict regime of physical fitness, are already bearing fruit.
Sadly, in spite of a long tradition of football, we have never managed to make it to the finals of the European Nations Cup, let alone the World Cup. On the contrary we have plummeted to the lowest depths in our sections.
What has made Iceland and Cyprus, countries comparable to our island, succeed to make it to the finals and scale Olympian heights in the Olympic Games while we are still wallowing in the murky depths when millions of euros are invested in this game?
Why do we celebrate our pathetic “success” in placing fourth in the Small Nations Games fully satisfied in placing behind Cyprus, Iceland and Luxembourg? Another important issue we have to address is the reason why our young, promising players playing in a foreign field do not last the pace and prefer the comfort zone of home.
The glorification of mediocrity at national level should be anathema for those who really believe in the pursuit of excellence. In the past there was some justification for poor performances in sport, but not now.
The opportunities are there, so are the facilities and the funding. What is missing is the will to have an edge over our opponents. Poet Robert Browning described the will to outstretch ourselves in these famous lines: “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp/or what’s a heaven for.” Unfortunately in some players the urge to outstretch themselves is poorly missing.
I have always been intrigued and fascinated by the question: what makes a champion? What does human achievement in the pursuit of excellence entail? And the more I brushed shoulders with world champions in the past during my sojourn in the beauty of the Olympic Sanctuary, I realised the importance of “starting them young” in the favourite environment of their school or college.
Invariably the goal-setting target in the pursuit of excellence should start early in life during the primary and secondary schools’ leagues or competition in activities which were so popular in the past with football, athletics, tennis, swimming and other disciplines. Bobby Charlton, a football icon recalls his excitement and pride for playing for his school when his dream of success was nurtured by his sports master; Seb Coe, once the world record holder of the 800m and now president of the IAAF, was spotted by his geography teacher and urged to join an athletic club; the famous Australian swimmer John Konrads, once the holder of six world records in swimming, expressed the same feelings. At 11 he was saying to himself: one day I am going to be a world champion.
Billie Jean King, now a tennis legend, was 11 when she first held a tennis racket in the school grounds and was determined to win the Wimbledon title.
The glorification of mediocrity at national level should be anathema for those who really believe in the pursuit of excellence
All international Maltese athletes of my generation started their arduous road to the pinnacle of their performance at their primary schools.
Unfortunately, for over two decades school leagues and athletic competition in primary and secondary schools have been completely abolished. Consequently, talent spotting is reserved for the artificial atmosphere of the nurseries, which obviously do not include all the children in the district. Furthermore, the intrinsic motivation that is participating in sport for its own sake, is sometimes jeopardised by the smell of money or monetary rewards at such an early age.
I have heard various stories how extrinsic rewards supplanting intrinsic motivation can demotivate young children from continuing a sports activity for fun. Fun should be the vital element especially in a child’s first initial exposure to the world of sport. The most important thing you can do to ensure that the child gets the right start is for the teacher to help the potential player when hesitation, uncertainty and disappointment creep in.
The teacher should always be there to prop them up. Many of these home products graced the local scene in the golden days of Maltese football.
In the highest echelons of high-performance sports, the following pattern emerges which invariably includes these pre-requisites: general physical condition, specific super physical condition related to the particular sport, exceptional skill and strong physique, psychological factors, competitive experience, highest standards of coaching and administration and technical and scientific back-up.
All these factors combine in the making of a champion. The idea that champions are born not made is only partly true.
As in all fields of human achievement, high-fliers are only endowed with “one per cent inspiration – the rest is unbounded perspiration”.
Another deciding factor having a negative effect on our national football team is the massive proliferation of foreign players militating in the top sphere with the disastrous result that local talent is deprived of participating in the Premier League and many budding Maltese stars fall by the wayside.
The Times of Malta on Tuesday publishes Pick Malta XI selected from the best players the previous weekend.
It is invariably shown that the vast majority of players selected are foreigners. Furthermore, the packed Gżira stadium was conducive to give a big boost to motivate players, who surely prefer the vast, almost-empty stadium at Ta’ Qali.
It is a golden maxim that in high performance sports, at any level, the competitive edge is of paramount importance. If we believe otherwise, then for heaven’s sake, let us not venture in the international arena.
I trust I can relate my personal experience in this regard in the early 1950s in my athletic preparation for the mighty athletic tussles against the might of the Combined Services with special guests from El Aden and Cyprus.
For these athletic meetings on the Marsa cinder track I embarked on a hard training regime based on the spartan methods of the Australian guru Percy Cerutty, resulting in my training in Territorial Army boots for hours on end.
Of course I had the satisfaction with wins in the 440 yards and 880 yards to the satisfaction of the thousands that packed the Marsa stadium.
In 1967 I was entrusted together with Fr Hilary Tagliaferro with the physical preparations of Hibernians F.C. in preparation for our difficult encounter against the legendary Manchester United in the European Cup.
Our preparations included sessions running on the sands of Golden Bay. These preparations earned us avery creditable draw against this mighty team that later went on to win theEuropean Cup.
Ten years later as national youth coach I managed to infuse in my players a competitive never-say-die spirit together with a tough physical regime which resulted in a historical victory against the Welsh who were beaten finalists the previous year.
These famous lines etched at the entrance of the Olympic Village for the 2012 London Games should animate the hearts of all those who navigate in high performance sport: “To fight. To strive and not to yield.”
This is the only way forward if we want to avoid abysmal failure sometimes assuaged by a crumb of comfort.
Lino Bugeja is a former national youth coach.