The bad results registered by the three Maltese clubs in the European club competitions have once again confirmed the big problems facing local football.

Coming just a few weeks after two heavy defeats suffered by the Maltese national team in Sweden and Iceland, the defeats suffered by Sliema Wanderers, Birkirkara and Hibernians in the past week showed that we still lag behind other European nations who, until a few years ago, were considered to be more or less on a par with our levels.

The opponents from Moldova and Cyprus were by far superior to our teams, even if Sliema and Birkirkara were playing on home soil, that is, in front of their own supporters.

We and all local football followers have become so accustomed to such results that these July dates for our clubs seem to mean little nowadays. In fact, they are not even attractive enough to bring their own fans to the Stadium to give them their support.

Sliema had just around 500 paying fans at Ta’ Qali last Tuesday, while Birkirkara had a few more hundreds on Thursday. Hibernians cannot expect more next Thursday when they host Omonia after a 3-0 defeat in Cyprus.

However, to be fair, it is pertinent to say that our clubs WERE expected to be on the receiving end, although we might have expected something better.

I, for one, cannot understand how there are still some who expect our clubs to obtain positive results against such opponents when we always start with a handicap against them.

It is obvious that in these countries the rule on foreign players is not the same applicable in Maltese football. The Moldovan team had at least seven foreigners among their ranks, while Apoel of Cyprus had six.

It is true that our teams are allowed five foreigners for such matches, but in reality, this is limited to just three, simply because the clubs are not in a position to afford bringing over two foreign players to play these matches only or to have two of five registered foreigners acting as reserves throughout the season.

This is because Maltese football rules state that only three are eligible to play at any one time during domestic competitions.

No club, not even Sliema this season, could afford to bring over such ‘extra’ foreigners because the clubs must give such recruits a one-year contract nowadays.

Apart from this ‘anomaly’ it is also obvious that the standards of our own Maltese footballers have fallen way behind that of the pure Moldovans and Cypriots.

I noticed that Sliema and Birkirkara, though playing at home, had some good flashes, but were mostly inconsistent. What was even more worrying was the fact that not only did they fail to find their opponents’ net, but they never really troubled the opposing goalkeeper. And to cap it all, it was obvious that in the final quarter of the match, and this applies especially to Birkirkara, the locals appeared not yet well prepared to last the full 90 minutes.

Our players tired out. No wonder that Birkirkara suffered the two goals in the final 20 minutes, though only their debutant goalkeeper Simon David prevented the Cypriots from scoring earlier with some daring saves.

At the top of this contribution I wrote that these results confirmed the big problems facing local football. As I have had the opportunity to write before on several other occasions, we cannot expect to improve unless we make a complete reshuffle.

Football today has become an expensive business for local clubs in an era when income from the gates is at a minimum. They (the clubs) are indulging in excessive payments to players who are not producing or delivering the goods in terms of results.

I must say that our club coaches seem to be good and serious but one thing which I think is a major concern is that our players, at least most of them, look to be indisciplined.

The bull has to be taken by the horn. If the majority of our players are to be considered serious, though not professional, in the field of football, then they have to accept the fact that they must lead a life which would include a lot of sacrifices, including a healthy diet and avoiding places of entertainment till the early hours, apart from taking training seriously – items on the agendas of all foreign clubs and players who aspire to make progress on the continent.

If that remains lacking, we can all call it a day. It would be useless spending money on getting foreigners who after all, would be more or less of the same standard of the locals.

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