Whenever I join in the lugubrious introductory cantilena during Advent/Lenten Mass, “Ħenn għalina, Mulej, ħenn għalina”, instinctively my mind flashes back in time to a humorous episode.

In my younger, very much younger days, I occasionally went to the Gżira Empire Stadium to watch Valletta FC, alias Ta’ l-Iljun play.

Very often, the atmosphere was quite lively, almost carnivalesque, with a brass band at the Floriana side that would accompany a raucous Valletta crowd.

When the Valletta team conceded a goal, more often than not the Valletta supporters would burst in unison into the hymn “Ħenn għalina...”

Such practice was so very typical of the Valletta supporters.

Quite a different story from the episode recorded by our poet of tenderness, Rużar Briffa, in one of his immortal sonnets, galvanising the spontaneous protest of the Empire Stadium crowd against the omission of the playing of the then not-yet-officially-acknowledged national anthem before the start of some international match.

Quite rightly, the crowd spontaneously broke out singing “Lil din l-Art Ħelwa”.

A great solemn moment indeed, not easily forgotten.