The Futsal Malta Association (FMA) could be forced to cancel all their competitions for the new season following the termination of their contract with Assoċjazzjoni Sports Hibernians who run the Corradino Sports Pavilion.

After year-long discussions, the venue situation remains difficult as the  parties concerned have been unable to find a solution, the FMA said in a statement.

Due to the growing popularity of the sport, this year the FMA were planning to cater for 30 clubs with the introduction of a league for junior players, making the FMA among the leading sports organisations in the country since its formation five years ago.

The FMA said they have never benefited from government-subsidised facilities, meaning that they’ve had to pay commercial rates unlike other associations.

Now, they are urging the authorities to come up with an urgent solution before the FMA are constrained to call off all competitions.

“We are appealing to the country’s authorities and SportMalta for solidarity when allocating facilities to sports organisations,” the FMA added.

It has emerged that AS Hibernians decided not to extend their agreement with the FMA to accommodate their basketball and volleyball teams in various age groups instead of hiring other venues for training purposes.

Also, AS Hibernians said in  a statement that they have just brought in new basketball posts at the pavilion which are very cumbersome to move in order to make the court available for futsal matches.

The Corradino pavilion is not the only venue that can host futsal games but the sport complexes at Cottonera, University and Kirkop are all taken up by other associations.

Meanwhile, in a meeting held this week, all clubs affiliated with the FMA unanimously endorsed the association’s position to make this final appeal to the country’s authorities before deciding to postpone its competitions for 2016-17.

“We are hopeful that a short-term solution will be found for the good of the game and sport in general,” the FMA said.

“However, for the long term, a proper evaluation of the current resources needs to be carried out as well as undertaking a tangible commitment to the development of additional sports facilities.”