The rules were only announced by the newly-set up Malta Song Committee on Thursday, but as far back as five weeks ago, on 26 May to be precise, an organiser knew which changes were about to be made to the Junior Song for Europe format.

Through public announcements and adverts in the papers for a Junior Band, the organiser held two stages of auditions in a garage in Naxxar. As he told parents, he knew what the committee “wanted” but the problem was: there was no committee yet unless it had a pre-existence of its own.

On the face of it, people in the know could have guessed the main changes made to the rules, such as the change in the age limits from six to 15 to 10 to 15. This was already on the international website. Or the other change that disallowed only choreography as the organiser wanted children who could sing as well as dance.

Even so, it is rather hard to believe that this was all done by guesswork and sheer coincidence; presenting a song costs money and parents whose children were being considered were asked to sign a contract they could not get out of, nor sing on their own.

But then how could parents be expected to tell their children, who were not selected, it was a coincidence that the ones who got chosen went for the audition in dancing shoes, or the fact that they were all friends of the niece of the organiser was just another coincidence?