Five Valletta football team officials and two Birkirkara players were yesterday arraigned over a fight that broke out on Saturday evening at the end of the Super Cup final.
The Birkirkara players were walking up the steps in the VIP grand stand to receive their medals after their 3-2 defeat to Valletta at the Ta’ Qali National Stadium when they were involved in a scuffle with Valletta FC officials, the court heard.
The accused are Valletta FC committee members Sergio Zampa, 54, Sandro Ciliberti, 41, Kevin Gauci, 39 and Vincent Tabone, 61, and former player Nicholas Saliba, 43. The two Birkirkara players arraigned are Paul Fenech, 23, and Shaun Bajada, 27.
The men pleaded not guilty to assembling in a group of 10 or more to commit a crime, ridiculing the others in the fight, acting in abusive and provocative behaviour, breaching the peace and swearing in public.
The committee members were represented by defence lawyer Michael Sciriha, president of the Rabat football club and the brother of Valletta club president Victor Sciriha.
Dr Sciriha told the court the charges were all contraventions and, technically speaking, his clients should not have been arraigned under arrest.
Police Inspector Ramon Mercieca insisted the police wanted to nip such type of violence in the bud before the season got under way.
Dr Sciriha requested bail and recommended that his clients be released against a personal guarantee of €1,000, saying he knew them all well and they were gentlemen.
Magistrate Anthony Vella agreed that the Birkirkara players too should be granted bail as there was little risk of the incident repeating itself.
Dr Sciriha also sought a ban on the publication of names, “in the interest of the sport” but the magistrate promptly replied there was no grounds for it, adding they should have been the ones to set an example.
Throughout the arraignment, four men in casual clothing and not wearing the obligatory jacket and tie under the court’s strict dress code, stood at the back of the court room and watched proceedings. In contrast with what usually happens, none of the court officials asked them to leave and they left together with the accused once the arraignment was over.