Last weekend we had a very interesting two-game fixture at the National Stadium, in Ta Qali. The first game saw Hibernians, second in the league, versus Floriana, third, while in the second match Premier League leaders Valletta played fourth-placed rivals Birkirkara.
One would expect that two such games played between the top four teams at the moment would bring in crowds at the stadium, but no, only a few scattered supporters decided to spend €6 to watch their team in action. Half the enclosure and part of the Millenium Stand for the Valletta fans, a few Floriana supporters on the other side of the Millenium Stand, and Hibernians and Birkirkara barely managed to fill half the other enclosure stand, for the grand total of 2,000 people!
Is this the end of the road for Maltese football? Is the Malta Football Association concerned with this harsh decline in attendances? One wonders…
The truth is that local fans, for some reason or another, are abandoning Maltese football by the droves and once they’re gone it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get them back to support the local game. If one were to look at attendances a decade ago and compare them to nowadays the difference would be dizzying. But what is keeping the thousands that used to follow the likes of Valletta, Birkirkara, Floriana, Ħamrun and others away from Ta’ Qali?
The simplest of excuses usually puts the blame on foreign football shown on TV, but that’s kind of lame when one considers that foreign and local football are not always played on the same day. Others suggest the Maltese Premier League format, which to say is unpopular is an understatement.
Why the MFA would come up with such a stupid and unfair league format is beyond belief. It’s like running a marathon and stopping the marathon half way through so the ones lagging behind can reach the distance of the front runners. Yes, it is so unfair and so unpopular but still the new administration kept this league format. Others keep away from Ta’ Qali for another reason which needs to be tackled seriously by the MFA if we still want to keep alive the now dying local football. Yes that much dreaded word: corruption. The MFA, again, always pledges to fight corruption, but we still get “strange” results and “dubious” decisions every year. No I don’t have proof; I’m just a supporter.
It is those who are elected to improve and safeguard our game that should work to ensure that football is played on a level playing field and that football is clean. Failure to do so would only mean more empty seats at our stadiums, but then again maybe a few prefer it that way.
Could it be that the Maltese supporter is fed up of being taken for a ride?