Malta's national waterpolo team went on the rampage last week! An undreamt-of third place in the European 'B' championships in Sweden, which ended on Saturday, has confirmed the great strides the Maltese have made in this sport. Malta really did us proud!

Our very creditable showings in the Commonwealth championships in March and later in the European 'B' preliminaries in Bulgaria, were only tasty starters to a memorably sumptuous year. This time Malta's participation in Stockholm was an unqualified success.

We now occupy a position near the front grid outside the very top category of continental countries. This means that we have leapfrogged other bigger and once-much-more-vaunted European nations. Such a feat gives the lie to the belief that success is commensurate with population.

Victories over Denmark, Belgium and Belarus in the group matches raised our hopes and spirits. A tiny blemish in those first encounters was the narrow defeat at the hands of Turkey, caused by a momentary slump in the third session.

At one point after beating home team Sweden for a semi-final berth, we could even conjure visions of joining the giants in Pool 'A'. Our players were clicking merrily as news of prestigious results kept filtering in through the internet.

The match against Poland, the eventual winners, to determine who qualified for promotion to Pool 'A' turned out to be more than tough, considering we were without our top-scorer Jonathan Valletta.

Nevertheless, we were competitive except for another notorious spell of amnesia in terms of concentration. The coup de grace came on Saturday when we did a vendetta act on the Turks to beat them 7-6 for the bronze medal.

As ASA president Robert Ebejer said, "the achievement was something that we did not even dare dream of. But it was a blend of team spirit, experience and a will to do well that brought us such results."

The comparatively high position we occupy in Europe, ahead of other bigger countries can only enhance Malta's name in the eyes of the others.

A 15th placing means that we are now sure to draw esteem at least from the top second-flight nations on the continent. Malta has now automatically qualified for the European 'B' championships in July next year.

However, we could probably take part in the 'A' championships qualifying round in April if things go ahead as planned by the LEN Bureau. We would then cross swords with Germany, Holland, Slovakia and Romania, among other countries. Four teams will eventually go through to Pool 'A'.

Coach Dirk Dowling and his assistant Anthony Farrugia were very proud of their players.

So were the ASA officials and all the clan. "It was unprecedented. The players sensed they could do it when they saw their chance of progressing to the last four. Once we qualified for the first six places, everything else was a bonus for the team.

"But the determination, the approach to every game and the spirit of camaraderie helped my players reach that high target," Dowling said.

Indeed, tactically, physically and mentally the boys were hyped up to optimal levels and that helped the team reach an historic landmark. Definitely, no major team sport other than waterpolo has obtained for Malta such a creditable international rating.

The pre-championships expectations have been pleasantly surpassed. Quality, rather than quantity, has always been the hallmark of the game on our island. Better facilities, the possibility of training and playing the game over a longer period during the year and increased international competition must have brought about this progress.

What makes this success all the more bewildering is that we somehow manage to scrape the barrel, using our limited resources. I say this because, ironically, not all is rosy on the domestic scene.

It is a known fact that in Malta the following for the game has waned in overall terms. The balance of power is mainly condensed within the precincts of three clubs who supply the national squad with all but one of the players. Beneath the quality of our top first division teams there lies a vacuum. There is little enthusiasm among most of the lower-ranked teams.

The pooling experiment in the league competition seems to have failed. With few exceptions, gaps in standards between the big and small fry have never been bridged as had been hoped. The stark reality is that the top four teams have maintained their significant edge over the others and statistics support this trend. In 24 matches the big guns scored 370 goals and conceded 61, an average of 15.4 and 2.5 respectively.

Last year's figures were 16.1 and 2.5 from 28 matches. These readings are worrying for those who aspired for some expansion of quality at lower levels. The time-frame for this league format is over and the ASA will now review the set-up.

Many are of the opinion that the system should be discarded since the monotonous series of whitewashing results has done little or nothing to boost the morale of the second-tier teams and far less to revamp interest among the game's enthusiasts.

The ruling body is rightly making it mandatory for each club to enter a team in the cadets' leagues in order to participate in the senior competitions. We have seen the decline of teams like Valletta and San Giljan and the 'demise' of Birzebbuga, names which drew respect until a few years ago. Lack of properly-run nurseries among various clubs, apart from other reasons, has brought about this situation.

Evidence of this is that out of 10 participating clubs in the ASA competitions this year only five have entered the Under-19 league, while in the U-17 and U-15 categories the number is up to six. The addenda to the familiar list of Marsascala, Neptunes, Sirens and Sliema in these junior leagues is that of Exiles in the three sections and San Giljan in the younger age-brackets.

Resurgence

Unless there is a resurgence at the base of waterpolo resulting in an influx of youngsters among all the teams, and that would only be the first step, prospects for an expansion of quality and a revival of interest will remain dim. Otherwise one can only commend the efforts of some clubs to keep the waterpolo flag flying. Marsaxlokk, this year marking their 50th anniversary, come in for some mention here.

Like others, though, the south seasiders would do well to do an exercise in human resources in and around their locality and build from the foundations. As the teams are about to set the ball splashing in the second phase of the league competitions we look forward to a series of exciting duels and renewed all-round interest.

Players, referees, coaches and ASA and club officials, will again take centre-stage at Tal-Qroqq Pool Complex - oh how the place calls for a clean-up and some refurbishment in certain areas!

The season's honours are the ultimate targets. Our referees have performed adequately so far. They have come some way since they were only just spectators in recent years when top matches were played. However, given the limited number of men with the whistle, familiarity with players and coaches when they are on duty especially now that they have to take up the hot seat in the decisive tussles ahead, makes the job all the more difficult for them.

As usual assistance will probably be sought through Italian referees. In the meantime, while we are still wallowing in Malta's successful stint in Europe, we look forward towards a pulsating finale to the season.