Looking at the Malta Basketball Association’s national team call-up for the forthcoming European qualifiers, one can’t help wonder who is behind such a call-up. Quite a few experienced, but still very young players, have been dropped to make way for younger inexperienced players, in their first ever competition at this level. As every coach will go out of his way to have a winning squad or at least the most competitive, I wonder who was really behind this call-up.

With all due respect to the chosen members of the squad, I do not hesitate to state that this is a case of sending “lambs to the slaughter”.

In 2000 when a decision was taken by the M.B.A. President’s council – of which I was then a member – to participate in the 2001 European Championships, I was in favour of this participation. After playing the six matches against Hungary, Romania and Austria, which resulted in six defeats, among which the heaviest by a difference of 95 points to Hungary on our own home court, I obviously realised that these games were beyond our capabilities and we should not take part again, but stick to competition which is more or less our level.

I would like to mention that in that year we had just participated in the GSSE in San Marino with the best formation we could offer, made up mostly of experienced players, winning only one match, but faring quite well with very good showings and no humiliating defeats against all opposition.

The MBA is now presenting a squad with no fewer than eight members being total newcomers in the senior squad, not for the GSSE, I might add, for which the team was not chosen to participate as the required standard was not reached, but for the away return legs of a competition which is way above that level. If this is not utter madness, I don’t know what is?

Perhaps, a few friendly matches for this national team against those players who have not been chosen in the selection will be an eye-opener for the MBA who might still be in time to make a few changes to the squad and maybe limit the damage to our image in the eyes of the other European countries.

I have written this purely on a personal level as an ardent follower of the local game of basketball in which I have also actively participated for the past 35 years and I hope that the “powers that be” at the MBA will seriously consider the points raised and salvage what is still possible.

Louis P. Azzopardi

XEMXIJA