Eighty years ago Malta participated for the first time in the Olympic Games held in Amsterdam in 1928 at a time when colonial powers of the day, particularly Britain, France and Japan, determined Olympic representation of their colonies. The Amsterdam Games, with the participation of 46 nations, are best remembered for the inclusion of women athletics for the first time as well as the challenge to the US supremacy in athletics particularly from the British Empire in the shorter track races and field events with the Finns dominating the long-distance races. Tiny Malta participated in waterpolo with an auspicious start beating Luxembourg 3 - 1.
Malta's participation in Amsterdam is an important landmark not only in the annals of Maltese sport but especially in our political history. Unfortunately, the implication of this outstanding event from the constitutional point of view has been given scant attention by politicians and historians. On my part, in order to perpetrate the memory of a great friend and colleague, Lewis Portelli, who pioneered and researched the subject in 1960 prior to the Rome Olympics, through masterly interviews with the surviving members of the Amsterdam contingent, I will comment on the significance of Malta's participation in 1928. In those far-off days participation in the Games was still not universal, in fact only 46 countries participated compared to over 200 today, but the contribution from emerging countries and the richness of the programme evoked worldwide interest.
In 1928, the modern Olympics rose in stature and became international news with all large daily national newspapers in the major countries allocating whole pages to sport. Furthermore, a new kind of journalist emerged - the sport broadcaster. The Games became better organised and Baron Pierre de Coubertin's prediction for more ceremonials was vindicated with the lighting of a huge Olympic Flame at the major stadium.
To be among the elite nations in the greatest show on earth was no mean achievement in the heyday of colonialism when it was the norm for the colonial masters to insist that their dependencies should under no circumstances be recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the international federations. For example, in the 1928 Olympic Games, Jack London, a black medical student at London University whose homeland was British Guiana, then a British colony, participated in the 100 metres and won silver for Britain. Great Britain made some exceptions to this policy when it acceded to the requests of its Dominions like Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand to participate independently under certain conditions.
In my opinion, the historical ripples of the Sette Gugnio of 1919 may have had a bearing on Malta's first participation in the Olympic Games of 1928. These riots, a patriotic outburst expressing Malta's aspirations towards self-government, ushered a new era in Maltese political history. A new Governor was immediately appointed by the British Crown and Governor Lord Plumer arrived in Malta in the aftermath of the bloody uprising amid the chaotic political and economical situation.
In December 1919, Malta, a Crown Colony since 1813, was granted self-government and the new Constitution became effective by letter patent of April 14, 1921 in the same year in which the British introduced diarchy in India. Lord Plumer, a keen sportsman, endeared himself with the Maltese not least with his support and encouragement of local sports, particularly waterpolo, which he watched from the Sliema Point Battery, one of the ring forts flanking the Grand Harbour, recommended by Col. W. Jervois of the Royal Engineers in the 1860s.
Lord Plumer secretly set in motion an internal organisation with the sole intention of sending, at his own expense, a waterpolo team representing Malta at the Paris Olympic Games of 1924. In spite of his contacts in England, many administrative difficulties cropped up and with Lord Plumer's departure the Olympic adventure was dropped and forgotten.
With the 1928 Olympics in sight, a local committee was set up to initiate proceedings for participation and in 1925 the Malta Amateur Swimming Association was set up. The administrative acumen of these sports pioneers was adequately rewarded with direct affiliation with the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) two years later. The ASA committee immediately applied for participation in the Amsterdam Olympics but the organising committee prompt reply was: "As Malta is not a Dominion of Great Britain and has no Olympic committee we have asked the International Olympic Committee in which way it would be possible for you to enter".
Undaunted and with renewed vigour, the ASA of Malta, with the support of FINA, gained full representation for Malta at the Olympic Games on grounds that "Malta is no longer a Crown Colony and, as such, her position is analogous to that of a Dominion Status". This historic decision is well documented in the records of the Amateur Swimming Association of Malta thanks to Mr Portelli whose pioneering work in this sector deserves to be better known.
Mr Bugeja is a former general secretary of the Malta Olympic Committee.