At the start of the 1959-60 season, reigning champions Valletta continued the good work started the previous year. Inspired by the support of their vociferous fans, they threatened to carry all before them.
The Lilywhites won the championship, the FA Trophy and were beaten finalists in two other finals.
In the FA Trophy final, Valletta had the great satisfaction of beating eternal rivals Floriana but, in the Scicluna Cup and the Cassar Cup contests they had to bow to Sliema Wanderers. The Cassar Cup in 1959-60 is the subject of today's article.
The competition was held towards the end of January, right after the Grazier Christmas Tourney. The league, with Valletta, Hibs and Sliema fighting neck-and-neck for supremacy, was put on hold to make space for the charity competition, which took nearly a month to complete.
Since Hibs, Floriana, Birkirkara and Marsa finished the 1958-59 league jointly in fourth place, a preliminary knock-out tournament was held to determine which club would play in the finals.
In the preliminary round, Floriana beat Marsa 6-2 while Hibs eliminated Birkirkara 3-1.
The play-off for the semi-finals was a classic. Floriana and Hibs met each other on February 2, 1960, but the result was inconclusive, the game ending in a 1-1 draw. The replay, a week later, produced another stalemate - 1-1. Then, three days later, Hibs broke the status quo with a 2-0 win. This, however, was not the end of the story.
After the game, Floriana lodged a protest against Freddie Mizzi's eligibility. Before the start of the competition, the Hibs goalkeeper had been released by Floriana after he was manhandled by some club supporters following a league defeat to Valletta.
Hibs, therefore, included Mizzi in their side against Birkirkara and Floriana. The Greens argued that Mizzi was ineligible to play for Hibs because the Cassar Cup preliminary round was a continuation of the league competition of season 1958-59.
The protest was turned down by the Competitions Disputes Commission, but Floriana appealed. In the meantime, however, the competition continued.
In the semi-finals, Valletta did all the attacking in the first period against Hibs but they only scored one goal before half-time. In the second period Hibs improved but Valletta maintained a firm grip on the game and made sure of playing in the final with another goal by Frankie Zammit.
In the other semi-final, Sliema went through many anxious moments before they managed to beat an in-form Ħamrun Spartans 3-1.
It was therefore a Sliema vs Valletta final. However, a couple of days before the final, the Appeals Board overturned the Disputes Commission's decision in the case against Mizzi.
The board ruled that Mizzi's registration with Hibs was not in order. This meant that the matches in which Mizzi played for Hibs were declared null and void.
The MFA thus found itself in a messy situation. The Appeals Board decision was final but the MFA could not go back and restart the competition. The Council tried hard to find a solution and eventually came up with a very strange ruling.
It decided that, since the Appeals Board did not offer a solution to the problem, the board had made a technical mistake and confirmed that Valletta and Sliema were to contest the final of the Cassar Cup.
Valletta were hot favourites to win but in those days, one never knew when the Blues would strike their true form. In the final, they played some of their best football for many seasons.
Displaying a bewildering turn of speed, they reduced Valletta to a struggling unit. Sammy Nicholl scored the all-important goal early in the first half and although Valletta spent every ounce of energy in a Herculean effort to save the match, the Blues' defence did not give in.