At the start of the 1954-55 season, the MFA appointed a national team coach for the first time. The man selected for the position was Joe Griffiths, a pioneer of coaching in Malta and one of the most respected men in football.
Joe Griffiths was born in Cospicua on December 10, 1910. From an early age he showed great interest in sport in general, in particular football.
His name is linked forever with that of Melita FC.
A great player and clubman, he spent his entire career with the Amateurs, first as a player and then as club secretary.
In the pre-war years, he contributed a series of cartoons to the Times of Malta, and, after his playing days were over, took up free-lance journalism, reporting and analysing games and becoming a regular columnist on local and foreign football affairs with different local dailies.
An early believer in organised coaching, he lobbied for a foreign tutor to hold courses in Malta.
Later on he went to Loughborough College in England, attending successfully an FA coaching course.
He coached Floriana, Rabat Ajax and Sliema Wanderers and gave technical advice to several other clubs in Malta.
Sicily trip
In the past, Griffiths had occasionally taken care of the MFA XI for the side’s tourney encounters but this was his first official appointment with the national team.
After leading the MFA XI in the Christmas Tourney, Griffiths’s first big assignment in his new position was to take the team to Catania in January 1955 to play a match against the local Serie A team.
This was the second time that the Maltese national team had left our shores to play abroad. The first time was in 1923 when the MFA XI played a couple of matches in Rome.
On January 16, 1955 the Maltese were beaten 3-1 by Catania but the result could have been much closer had the refereeing been up to standard.
A seemingly valid MFA XI goal was disallowed by the biased official when the score was still 1-1. Then, the referee gifted the home side with a very dubious penalty which Catania gratefully converted.
The Maltese, however, took the opportunity to take sweet revenge when the two teams met again at the stadium the following May.
A penalty goal scored by right-back Lolly Debattista late in the game enabled the locals to register a 3-2 victory.
Malta fully deserved this success if only for their first-class first half performance.
The Sicilians started the game on a top note when Manete opened the score after only a couple of minutes. The Maltese did not lost heart though and it was just and fair when Bonnici scored the equaliser.
Then, a strange thing happened. The Italian goalkeeper was injured and having no replacement, his place was taken by Threadgold the goalkeeper of Southend United who happened to be touring the islands during the same period.
A few minutes before the interval, Charlie Azzopardi gave Malta the lead but Bassetti equalised almost immediately. Then came Debattista’s penalty goal and although Catania made some half-hearted efforts to save the game, Griffiths’s selection held on till the final whistle.
This was the start of Griffiths’s career as Malta coach. Later on he served on the technical board and, on several occasions, as director of the national team.
With others he helped to form the Malta Football Coaches Association of which he was also honorary president. Griffiths ended his career after serving as chairman of the ‘Football for All’ committee at the Ministry of Sport.