A letter from Philip J. Borg in The Times some days ago, soliciting John Caruana into contacting the correspondent over both persons' involvement in founding Zebbug Rangers football team 61 years ago, brought the desired results for Borg, now residing in Alabama, US.
This initiative also prompted ex-Sliema Wanderers and Malta forward Sammy Nicholl to get in touch with the correspondent who is currently on a long holiday in Malta.
Having known Borg since his schooldays at St Aloysius College, the former Malta player wanted to evoke his launching days onto the football scene by Borg when as a 15-year-old Nicholl had his baptism of fire with Zebbug in 1950.
Borg was a telephone call away and the eventual meeting between him and Nicholl after so many years, brought back sweet memories for both of them. Those years were vividly recalled as the Zebbug Rangers co-founder spoke about his efforts to set up the village football team.
"We worked hard in those days to get organised as a club. The green and yellow colours originated from those of my home town Floriana and the Zebbug route buses. We thought 'Rangers' would be the appropriate nickname since in those days Glasgow Rangers of Scotland were very strong and popular.
"When I took up residence in Zebbug I dedicated all my energies towards promoting a healthy sporting atmosphere in the village. We assembled a group players from St Aloysius College, where I used to attend as a student, and the ball started rolling.
"We were proud to have launched Nicholl. He was certainly the best player in the group," Borg said.
Borg was the administrative nerve-centre of Zebbug Rangers FC and his nous in dealing with club affairs made him a prominent figure in the locality. Through his connections then with the British Services and the Malta Playing Fields Association he sought to build a sports complex in Zebbug. Unfortunately, these efforts were only partially successful, due to reasons beyond his control. At least, practice sessions were held at Tal-Handaq Royal Naval School ground.
The man's love for sports also extended to journalism then, and this as a regular contributor for The Times of Malta with his column 'Soccer hints from Phil'.
Borg, who emigrated to the US in 1957, is a frequent visitor to Malta, but it was only during this latest holiday here that he met a friend in Zebbug, and in casual conversation the name of John Caruana as one of the founders of Zebbug Rangers cropped up. That gave him a cue to unearthing an old friend and delve into the past. And as the two met the good old days were recalled.
Certainly this renewed acquaintance with Caruana and Nicholl after over half a century must have been cherries on his cake.