I came to know that Mgr Anton Galea had died only two weeks ago. In the early 1960s, Fr Galea was our vice-rector at the Seminary, and he attached great importance to discipline. He would always ensure, for example, that students were properly dressed in their uniform.
When Mgr Victor Grech was appointed rector, he, together with Fr Galea, represented a new beginning at the Seminary. Before their time, sports was inexistent and only academic subjects were taught.
In fact, our only outing outside the Seminary was once a year on Her Majesty’s Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, where we watched a parade at the Floriana grounds. The first ever football team at the Seminary was formed, which included some future stars like Robert Gatt (Żebbuġ/Malta) Frankie Pisani (Birkirkara) and Saviour Briffa (Melita), with Fr Galea as a coach.
After some friendly matches the team participated in football tournaments and eventually had Paul Micallef (Melita FC) as its coach. Every year a sports day was also held at St Joseph Institute, Ħamrun.
Apart from sports, Mgr Grech also engaged Fr Albert Borg to form a choir composed of the students, who used to perform at St John’s Co-Cathedral.