Charles Fava is another name synonymous with Maltese sport. Not because he was an athlete or a sportswriter, as such. His job in sports was something different. He was in fact to be seen at almost every sports event whenever it was possible, with a camera in his hand, taking pictures of local sports’ major events throughout the past 40 years or so. He was the first sports photo reporter on the island and has had quite a hectic time, also having had to find time to develop his own pictures in the past. Here he tells his story to Henry Brincat

Charles Fava – a profile

Born: 17 May 1917, in Sliema.

Education: Stella Maris and De la Salle Colleges.

Working career: At the age of 14 he became an electrical apprentice at His Majesty’s Naval Dockyard. During World War II Charles, together with other Dockyard civilians, engaged as a volunteer to work in Egypt on His Majesty’s Naval Warships and there he remained till the end of the war.

Photographic career: He attended a course on photography at the Government Night School, before he was called to take a job in press photography. That was in 1963 when the late Remig Sacco, editor of l-orizzont asked him to work for the Union Press paper. He had earlier worked for Remig Sacco at the Malta Labour Party’s newspaper Il-Helsien as well as with Benny Pace of Il-Poplu, the Nationalist Party weekly.

It was from there that he began his career as a freelance photo l-orizzont, Malta News, Sprint Magazine and Sports Magazine.

Awards: He has received recognition from several quarters. The General Workers’ Union general secretary Anglu Fenech (1993) had presented Charles with a certificate and a memento for his 30 years service, and a year later he was also given due recognition by the Malta Olympic Committee. He was presented with a silver plate for helping small sports associations with his photo reportage. In 1987 he was also awarded a diploma for his contribution to athletics, given to him by the International Amateur Athletic Federation and presented to him by the then MAAA president, the late Joe Bajada. Charles, who is a life member of the Photographic Society, was recently honoured by the Sportswriters Association. He was the first to be nominated for a special award, for services rendered to sport.

Charles is married to the late Mary. They have a child, Ray, who is the president of the Tigne Judo Club.

Charles Fava is now retired and is taken care of by his son Ray, also well known in local judo circles. In fact Ray is the president of the Tigne Club which, due to the development in the area, is now temporarily without a premises.

But until a few months ago, Fava was still to be seen with a camera in his hands, though obviously, not as active as he was until a few years ago.

Then he could be seen at every major sporting event on these islands, taking pictures which will certainly prove to be of great benefit for local sport in the future. He is, in fact, part of Malta’s sports history.

Charles recalls that it was the late Remig Sacco who urged him to take up photography. “I started taking pictures for Il-Helsien. Later I also supplied Benny Pace with some pictures for the PN weekly Il-Poplu. I did all this for nothing, but I enjoyed it,” he told me.

When Il-Helsien closed down and Sacco moved to the Union Press, that is when l-orizzont started, Charles was asked to follow suit. “I accepted Remig’s offer to start working for him (he was appointed editor of the Union Press newspaper) and I became a regular freelance sports photo reporter. I started providing pictures which were used in Sports Magazine, l-orizzont, Malta News and Sprint. Pictures apart, I also wrote some feature articles on various aspects of sports, such as Madwar il-Clubs tal-Football u l-Waterpolo, il-Mara Maltija u l-Isports, Bijografiji Sportivi, Mill-Oqsma Sportivi and several others,” he said.

Fava also said that during all these years, he has photographed nearly all sports VIP personalities that came to Malta. “If I had to remember them all, the list would be quite long, but it will definitely include the International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, former FIFA president Joao Havelange, FIFA president Sepp Blatter, current UEFA president Lennart Johansson, the great Brasilian footballer Pele and many others.

“I was also present at Ta’ Qali and other venues on the occasion of Pope John Paul’s visit in 1990. That was a very big and memorable occasion,” he added.

Fava said he has attended all kinds of meetings. “Apart from the international conferences held in Malta where the world’s or Europe’s top sports administrators were present, I also attended other functions, from village athletics meetings, to football championship or Trophy finals and international matches, as well as the Malta Marathon. I also attended sports activities at schools and colleges around Malta and I shared with the youngsters, their joy and happiness in victory as well as their disappointment in defeat,” he said.

During his career, Charles remembers quite well two very sorrowful events. He said: “In 1971, I was present during the Sub Aqua national championships when the well known diver Vincent Micallef Decesare lost his life while diving for a grouper at Ta’ Cenc in Gozo. The other sad moment was when ‘Big Boy’ Joe Cutajar lost his life in 1974 after being knocked out in the fourth round of a boxing bout at the Schreiber Sports Ground by a Sicilian heavyweight boxer, Francesco Piccinelli.”

In 1971, Charles was the official photographer of the Amateur Swimming Association during the LEN Conference at the Grand Hotel Verdala in Rabat, while in 1977, he was selected by the Sportswriters Association to join Mario Saliba on a trip to Libya to photograph and report on the events where some athletes, under the umbrella of the Malta Olympic Committee, were taking part in a sports festival.

He added: “In 1989 I was involved in another working trip abroad. I accompanied the group travelling to Pozzallo to photograph the finish of the Malta-Pozzallo windsurfing race.”

During his career, Charles has offered his services to several associations, foremost among which were the Malta Basketball Association, Sliema Sports Association, Badminton Association, Malta Hotels and Restaurants Sports Association and the Sports Centre at Marsa, when it was run by Fr Hilary Tagliaferro.

He added: “I was also the official photographer of the Sportswriters Association’s magazines, Malta Sports Magazine, Panorama Sports Magazine, sports annual and football magazines of all types. I also supplied some photos to Lewis Portelli for his Sports Panorama programme on TVM. And I also provided pictures on request to international magazines such as Archery Magazine of England and a waterpolo publication in Sicily, among others.”

Charles is one of the oldest members of the Malta Photographic Society. “In 1999 I was made a life member of the society. During my life, I showed written documentaries with colour slides about the history of Malta. And as a member of the Sportswriters Association I had various sports exhibitions in different places in Malta,” he said. Charles added: “At present I am still contributing some features for The Athlete, an MAAA publication, about the beginning of track and field together with photos taken during my 35 years photographing local sports,” he said.

In 1997, Charles Fava’s name was also mentioned in the Maltese Biographies of the Twentieth Century, 1997 edition, published by PIN, Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza.

It is also worth mentioning that Fava hails from a sporting family. Apart from his son Ray’s connections with judo, his brother Guzi was the late, well known Sliema Wanderers Nursery founder, while two sons of one of his cousins, Tony and Paul, were both first team members of the successful Sliema ASC waterpolo team in the 1970s.