Wednesday night should have heralded Maltese football's most glorious moment

National team coach Horst Heese and his squad of players who fought out a very prestigious 1-1 draw with Croatia on Wednesday must have felt defrauded.

Instead of being showered with some well deserved praise from all quarters after a strong performance against some illustrious opponents, they saw their loyal fans being showered with seats at the Ta' Qali Stadium, immediately after the final whistle.

It should have been Maltese football's most glorious night but a few Croatian hooligans, numbering around 30 from among 500 visiting fans, spoiled the evening for our young players and their coach.

As MFA president Dr Joseph Mifsud said after the match, these hooligans spoiled the party for us. "They have ruined our festa," he told me while the seat-hurling was still going on from the Valletta side - where the Croatians had been segregated - onto the VIP area of the Enclosure.

Not only did these hooligans spoil our festa and our celebrations, but they also threw a bad light on Croatian football in general and UEFA will now be considering seriously whether to accept their bid to host the 2012 European Championship. This was evidently the main concern of the Croatian Football Association officials on Wednesday night.

It is a fact that the perpetrators were only a minority, but it is these small numbers of hotheads who spoil everything for everyone.

It seemed as if they could not accept such a result where a tiny national such as Malta could stand up with great dignity against stronger opponents and hold them to a draw. It was obvious they were frustrated by what had happened on the field of play. The result meant that Croatia had dropped from first to second place in the Group Eight standings as Sweden - on the same night - scored a 1-0 victory over Hungary in Budapest.

But this will never justify the violence witnessed at Ta' Qali. In a career spanning over 38 years, I have never seen such rioting at a football match, whether here or abroad.

It was shocking and unbelievable as there was absolutely no reason for those few Croatian hooligans to act in that manner.

We must all stand up and say "There is no more place for such people in our stadia. They must all be given a lifetime ban and the police should cooperate fully with the football authorities around Europe to see that the bans are followed scrupulously.

This problem had hit other European countries in the past. We have heard of the England supporters. We also heard about incidents - even as recently as last week - involving German fans. We know that the problem exists in Holland and in Italy, where baton-wielding police, protected with shields, are also seen beating the offenders on the terraces when such incidents occur.

I know that both FIFA and UEFA have been doing their best to make football safe and more pleasant to watch by making stadiums all-seaters. But over the years, this has proved to be simply not enough - as was the case on Wednesday.

In the meantime, let me turn to the players and say 'Thank you all' for such a result which has provided all of us with a lot of satisfaction.

After so many negative results, Wednesday's 1-1 draw against a World Cup finals favourite will go down in history as one of the most memorable in local football history. We had been waiting for such a result for many years. The team's performance was, perhaps, not the brightest under Horst Heese, but it was very effective and well planned, so much so that we could also have also snatched victory in the final moments.

I am sure that Heese, who has taken a final decision to quit after his deal with the MFA expires next month, has started building a side which could provide us with more satisfactions in future. I had been in the forefront to criticise the coach on some occasions in the past, not just with his team selections, but also because he opted to leave certain players out of the squad for various reasons.

I still believe these players are needed by Malta, but after all, Heese has now been proved right. If only his successor continues the good work, then I am sure we will have more to shout about when the next European Championship qualifying group is staged. Also, it is such results - and performances - that will bring back to Ta' Qali the local fans who had deserted the team in the past.

Let us all keep our fingers crossed and that the good work of the past few months continues to reap good results in future.

Henry Brincat

Sports Editor

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