This Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of one of the early classic matches in the history of Maltese football.
In 1910, the newly-opened National Ground at Pietà was bursting with activity. Floriana FC, Valletta United and Ħamrun Spartans played at this ground quite frequently.
St George’s, who considered the National as the home ground of Floriana, at first stayed away and, as far as could be ascertained, only played there in the last days of the ground’s existence.
It was the custom in the early days of organised football in Malta for clubs to challenge each other for a silver cup. The proprietors of the grounds exploited the natural rivalry and parochialism of the Maltese. They only had to provide the prize. The clubs and supporters did the rest!
One such match was played on December 17, 1910 between Valletta United and Vittoriosa-Melita for a challenge cup sponsored by the owners of the National Ground.
The first half passed off without any incidents but in the second period the match descended into a farce. The trouble erupted early in the second half when G. Micallef scored for Melita.
A punch-up ensued among the players and soon some of the spectators joined in. The referee had to stop the match until order was restored by the police, but five minutes after the resumption, another fight broke out and more spectators invaded the pitch.
After some time, the situation was brought under control and the match resumed.
R. Curmi scored for Valletta and the delirious City supporters entered the field and the game was paused for a full 10 minutes. As soon as the game restarted, another skirmish broke out and the dismayed referee had no option but to abandon the game.
The match was replayed three months later on March 19, 1911. This time the organisers made sure that a fully-qualified referee controlled the match to pre-empt all excuses of incompetence.
Mr Tarbox, of the Royal Engineers, a registered referee with the Football Association, was appointed for this game. Tarbox had the discipline and common sense required to cool the latin temperament of the Maltese.
The two teams lined up as follows:
Valletta: P. Bartolo, S. Busuttil, P. Mallia, G. Borg, G. Speranza, C. Fiteni, R. Caruana R. Vassallo, F. Palmier, G. Felling, J.J. Falzon.
Melita: (Goalkeeper unknown), E. Depasquale, L. Mallia, C. Dingli, L. Micallef, A. Cachia, Rodo, Mifsud, G. Micallef, E. Caruana, Grima.
In the opening half, Valletta attacked in the direction of the notorious slope of the ground with a slight breeze in their favour. For the first 20 minutes, play was even with both teams attacking in turn, until a cross-shot by George Felling landed in the net to give Valletta the lead.
It was a lucky goal but it served to jolt Melita into action. Melita threw everything they had in attack in an effort to equalise.
At the start of the second half, Melita were awarded a penalty but Pawlu Bartolo saved brilliantly. Towards the end of the game, the team from Vittoriosa forced several corners and also had a goal disallowed, but their efforts proved futile as at the final whistle, the score was still 1-0 for Valletta.
At the end of the game, Valletta were presented with the cup amid the celebrations of their supporters.