Anthony Chircop is a firm believer in progress. The 60-year-old president of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association has always had one thought in mind – that of improving the plight of athletics in Malta.

But he also believes that financial investment is needed to achieve such progress. “Unless funds are made available, either through grants or sponsorships, no one will be able to make any improvements. “Speaking about my association, it is evident that the results achieved in the past few years, compared to those in the past, must obviously be related to the financial improvement of the past few years – athletics started getting real funds from 1996 onwards,” he said.

Chircop says that he entered the administrative field as the association’s treasurer in 1994 and soon realised that the future did not look rosy, as not even Lm3,000 was available that year for local athletics.

“I immediately embarked on a programme which, I am proud to say, has seen the income of the association increasing almost every year. This year, we have reached a global sum of over Lm80,000 – although this includes a grant for the equipment which we now enjoy at the Micallef St John Athletics Stadium at Marsa. It is pertinent to say that today we can boast of having spent well over Lm70,000 to have the equipment (all IAAF approved) we enjoy at Marsa. Such an improvement in the income of the association is reflected in the good results achieved in the Small Nations Games between 1989 and 2003. In 1989, we won just one medal, but in 2003, our athletes reaped 16 medals.

“When I joined the association, I set certain targets, such as strengthening the association’s finances, trying to find suitable premises for the association, to improve the coaching structure and train more officials, improve relations with the IAAF, EAA, MOC and the Ministry of Sports and now the Maltese Council for Sport, organise the administration starting by improving the statute and also to acquire the title to the Marsa track and its facilities.

“Today I feel I can say I have achieved almost all those targets. In fact, I am hoping that the last item – the lease of the Marsa track and its facilities – can be finalised by the end of this year,” said Chircop.

The MAAA president said that the real turning point for the improvement of athletics in Malta arrived in 1996. “The then president, Charles Pullicino, agreed to stage a seminar with the theme Further Development of Athletics. We invited well-known people such as Frank Dick and Elio Locatelli and it was a huge success. From then on, we never looked back. We became known in European and world athletics and we even benefited from some funds which we had not known about in previous years. To put it briefly, our relations with the IAAF and the EAA improved overwhelmingly,” he said.

Chircop went on to say that he was elected president of the association in 1997, after the resignation of Charles Pullicino.

“When I took over, I could not but continue what we had consolidated after that seminar. I am proud to say that since I took over, we have had a sound coaching programme, with courses leading to four locals qualifying at IAAF Level 2. We also have a special relationship with UK Athletics.

“We also organised another seminar – Strategies for success – in 2002 and last year we organised the European Athletics Coaches Association Congress which was attended by a record number of over 70 top coaches.

“We were also handed the organisation of some international events such as the EVAA European Road Running Championships in 1991 and more recently, that is in March of this year, the Winter Throwing Challenge in which a large number (265) of athletes took part. Most of them eventually took part in the Athens Olympics,” said Chircop.

It was in December last year, that Chircop was appointed a member of the Reflections Committee of the EAA and since then he has made a valid contribution. “I am pleased to say that I will be addressing the committee next week, reading a paper on The EAA Development Support Programme.

“I will be giving my opinion on what development means, starting with coaching, sports medicine, technical officials, administration, marketing and public relations and finance. I believe that when one speaks about development of any sport, it should involve every field and not just funds and results on the field. I think that each function is related and/or depends on the others for progress and therefore continuous support is needed. In fact, I will be proposing a support programme for a whole four years, instead of just for one year, as the system is at present. This should lead to better preparation between each Olympic Games,” he said.

One of Chircop’s major achievements as president of the MAAA was the inauguration of the premises at Marsa. “I consider the inauguration of the offices by then Sports Minister Jesmond Mugliett, in the presence of IAAF President Lamine Diack, on 2 June 2003, as a big milestone in my career and the association’s history. It was a great day for the association, not only because of the official opening of the premises, but also because of the presence of such a big name in world athletics. Diack is known as a person who cannot accept every invitation, especially from the small countries. So his presence here was a great honour for us,” he said.

I also asked Chircop about his opinion regarding the participation of Malta’s athletes in the Athens Olympics. He said: “Personally I can say I am satisfied with the performance of Darren Gilford, but I expected a much better result from Tanya Blake. Here I must say that I do not agree with the perception that we should concentrate all our efforts (and funds) on just one or perhaps two athletes to try and get medals. We certainly cannot do that in athletics. If we had to spend a certain amount on just one athlete for a whole four years, and then, in the last six months of the fourth year, another springs up and beats that athlete, what would the reaction be? That is why I believe we must leave the door open. Instead we should try and find the means to increase the funds to be made available to sport,” he said.

Chircop is also convinced that better relations with the Maltese Council for Sport are needed. “I do not feel there is a genuine approach towards our association. Otherwise the contract for the lease of the track facilities at the Marsa would have been signed much earlier than promised. The sooner it is signed, the better for us, as we now have to start preparing our athletes for next year’s Small Nations Games in Andorra, the European Cup and the Mediterranean Games in Armeria, Spain.

“It is a fact that in the last five years, we have expanded in various ways. We have learned a lot and increased our international contacts. We have created the basis for a coaching structure and we have improved the level of sport itself, even through better administrative functions. My aim now is to consolidate what we have built in order to look to the future with optimism,” he said.

It is interesting to note that Chircop used to play football in his schooldays. “I was not so keen on football and soon noticed that I was good at sprinting, so I turned my eye to athletics and joined Atalanta Sports Club whose president then was the late Louis Grasso. In those days, we would take part in four or five events in a meeting, not just one as is the norm today. Then, there were no opportunities to take part in meetings abroad like today. But we looked forward to the local meetings in which the UK Combined Services, the RAF Cyprus and UK Services (Malta) teams usually took part alongside the RMA and the MAAA teams. In 1964, together with John Hurle Hobbs, Alfred Bajada and Francis Ripard, I formed part of the team that established a national record for the relay. In 1967, at the Mediterranean Games in Tunis, we again set a new record, but this time, the team was composed of me, Godwin Zammit, Louis Grech and John Hurle-Hobbs.

“It stood for a whole 26 years and I am proud to say that my son Robert formed part of the team that eventually broke that record in the 2003 Small Nations Games in Malta.

“I am also very proud to have clocked a good time of 12.66 seconds for the 100 metres in the European Veterans Championship when I was 49 years old, finishing fifth in my category way back in 1994. That was another most satisfying moment in my life,” he said.

Asked to comment about his career in general, Chircop said: “I am generally satisfied but not surprised with what has been achieved since I became president of the association, simply because it was all planned. Yet I am disappointed that athletics is not given the publicity that it deserves considering our achievements and compared with what others achieve and get in return. I must say that winning 16 medals at the Small Nations last year was no joke. All those who won the medals worked hard for them as well. What I expect is a fair amount of publicity which would be the real source of motivation for us and our athletes,” he said.

Anthony A. Chircop – a profile

Born: 23 April, 1944

Education: Obtained a Fellowship of the Malta Institute of Accountants, is a member of the Society of Company and Commercial Accountants, a member of the Certified Secretaries and Administrators and has a warrant as a Certified Public Accountant and Auditor.

His first job was with Golden Harvest Ltd as an accounts clerk, after which he did similar work with Mizzi Bros Ltd and Enemalta Corporation. In April 1978, he became chief international auditor of Air Malta. In 1992 be was promoted to Financial Controller Subsidiaries of Air Malta and from 1997 to 31 August this year (the day he retired), he was Group Head Treasury of Air Malta.

From 1981 he was appointed a director of several companies. These were Belle Air Holidays Ltd, Sterling Air Services, Malta Falcon Finance plc, Medisle Holidays Co. Ltd, Sliema Point Co. Ltd and Osprey Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Pastimes: He enjoys reading historical books, especially about the second World War and American politics. He likes watching films, particularly those on warfare, documentaries and also biographies. He is also a music enthusiast, especially of classical and semi-classical music.

Sports career: He started as an athlete with Atalanta SC and represented Malta in the Tunis Mediterranean Games in 1967.

He took part in the European Athletics Championships for veterans (aged 49) and finished fifth in his category in the 100 metres with the good time of 12.66 seconds.

He is now president of the Malta Amateur Athletics Association and is also a Malta Olympic Committee Director. Next month he will be contesting the election for Finance Director of the same committee.

In December 2003, Chircop was appointed a member of the Reflections Committee of the European Athletics Association.

Awards: He was voted Official of the Year for 1998 in the national sporting contest organised by the Sportswriters Association.