Profile – Bertie Portelli
Date of Birth: 28 December 1931, in Hamrun
Education: Flores College, Valletta
Sporting career: When a youngster and at school, he had been a keen footballer. After his schooldays, he started playing with the Hamrun Youths, the Spartans and the Civic Club teams. Then, a certain Felic Borg, brother of the well-known Lolly Borg of Floriana and Malta fame, had watched him playing and asked him whether he was interested in joining top club Floriana where he played for Little Ajax. Later he took up swimming, which remained his No. 1 sport, and waterpolo. In the former discipline, he never lost a race in the 100m (his favourite) and the 200m. In waterpolo, he started at the old San Giljan club, but Joe Aquilina spotted him and, after just one year, took him to Neptunes, where he stayed for 40 years.
National team: He was selected to play for Malta and was also team captain on several occasions. He also played for Malta in the Naples Mediterranean Games in 1963 facing such strong teams as Italy, Yugoslavia and France. He almost made it to the Rome Olympics, but as a swimmer. However, he had to skip them as, at that time, he could not afford to take any unpaid leave.
Work career: He was employed at the Air Traffic Control Centre at Luqa airport. He was qualified to work in all departments, the first Maltese to have qualified as such after training and being successful in Bath, England (area procedure) and Italy (area radar). In 1979, he joined the Armed Forces of Malta and retired as a Major in 1992.
Honours: As a swimmer, he won all races he participated in locally, including those against British Services swimmers, sometimes also brought over from Cyprus for the occasion. He won five waterpolo championship titles and several KO Cups with Neptunes, among them three doubles. In short, he won everything waterpolo could offer, including the Player of the Year and Sportsman of the Year title in 1969 after having just missed that title by one vote in 1964.
Pastimes: He still loves the sea, especially swimming. And it was simply because of his love for swimming that he decided against joining the lucrative film industry after having also tasted it briefly in 1959. On some occasions, he had also turned down offers from his parents to join them for a long holiday abroad, just because he enjoyed taking part in every swimming event which was held those days.
Family: Was married to Marthese Fleri Soler, who died in November 1980. They had two children, Stephanie who lives in Las Vegas, US, and Albert, a former Neptunes and Malta waterpolo player too. Bertie is now married to Celia Apap.
He turned down an offer to join lucrative film industry because he simply loved swimming
Waterpolo fans who still remember the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s will certainly remember BERTIE PORTELLI of Neptunes and Malta fame. The muscular defender was one of the stalwarts in the local game at that time, but few would know that his favourite sport was swimming, not waterpolo, with the 100 metres being his favourite race. He is proud that in a career spanning 40 years, he was never fined or reported by any official. He had also played football for Floriana’s Little Ajax side alongside some well known players of that time. In 1959, he also turned down an offer to join the lucrative film industry simply because he loved swimming. Here he tells his story to Henry Brincat
Bertie Portelli is a name which is synonymous with the game of waterpolo. He used to be a dominant figure with his only club, Neptunes, and with the national team, in his days.
Yet, few would know that his number one sport was, and still is in a certain sense, swimming.
He said: “I had always been attracted to the sea, since I was a young kid. I used to enjoy swimming and fishing. And even when I played waterpolo, I tried to never miss a swim from Neptunes to the former Cavalieri Hotel, on to the Exiles side and back to Neptunes every day. I simply loved swimming. I even enjoy looking at the blue waters of the Mediterranean.
“I have been so much in love with the sea that I also had turned down an offer to join the lucrative film industry in the late 1950s. It was in 1959 that I was enjoying lunch with my wife when Donald Zec, a film critic, came over to our table and simply asked me whether I would be interested in taking up a filming career. I accepted on condition that if I went to England, I had to be given a return ticket. This was because I did not want to miss the sea. It was a nine-month stint which, however, I will never forget. I got paid well. I had my own fan club established. But when I started missing the sea – and fishing – badly, I asked them to let me go back to see my father. When I got back here, I never returned, despite several attempts from their part to lure me back.
“However, I did act as a double for the famous Roger Moore in some scenes filmed in Malta, like driving a car down Mellieha Hill towards Ghadira at 120 miles per hour. And there were other shots as well,” he said.
Earlier, in the 2 December 1952 of The Daily Mirror, it had been reported that director Brian Demond Hurst had discovered the tanned, muscular Maltese six-footer Portelli while filming here in Malta. Then, Hurst “believed that the blue-eyed, dark-haired Portelli was the answer to the maidens’ prayer for bigger and better beefcake.”
In sport, Bertie says he never lost a race in the 100 metres or the 200 metres. “I am proud of this. Even when racing against the strong British Services swimmers, I never lost against any of them, including those brought over from Cyprus for such occasions,” he said.
Portelli helped his side Neptunes to all the major honours in waterpolo, including five league titles and innumerable Cup wins.
He remembers with great pride the last championship win in 1972. “I was 42-years-old and I had retired from the game for two years. Yet Neptunes had one last remaining match that season, against Sliema, and they requested me to turn out again for them. At first I was reluctant because I had been inactive for two years and I thought I would have been a flop. But then I accepted to play and I helped the side beat our great rivals 2-1. That was one of the most memorable moments of my whole career – I finished my playing days with flying colours,” he said.
During his days, Bertie played alongside several top players in the Neptunes team, including Podesta brothers Wilfred and Babsy, Jimmy Platts, Frans Wismayer, Loris Manche and Frankie Miggiani, among others.
Portelli, who during his long 40-year career was never fined by the association or reported by an official, was also selected to play for Malta. “I played in the Naples Mediterranean Games alongside such players as the Terrible Twins, Freddie Griscti and Chris Dowling. We faced such strong teams as Italy, Yugoslavia and France. We stood no chance against them. They were so superior to us. In those days we used to train in very small freshwater pools which were obviously inadequate.
“I must say that Greece were not allowed by their Hungarian coach to take part, despite having arrived in Naples, just because they were not up to standard. Yet look at the progress they have made today,” he remarked.
Also among his memorable moments was the day Malta played the strong Catania in a tournament staged in Malta. “My direct opponent scored a goal against us. But that made me more determined to make amends. I finished the match scoring twice for Malta. I had to fight very hard, of course, but I was satisfied that I finished on top,” he said. Of course, he was also very proud to have been named Sportsman of the Year in 1969. “I had gone close in 1964, when I lost it by a single vote,” he said.
Asked to recall a disappointing moment in his career, Bertie quickly referred to an incident at Neptunes. “When I was a youngster I was always left behind the goalposts during training sessions, collecting the odd ball for the senior players. Later, I bought a trophy to be contested every year by the juniors at the club. But after two years, I never saw it again. I felt I was insulted and since that incident, I have never returned to the club,” he said.
Bertie Portelli made a special mention of Franz Frendo whom he considers as the most intelligent and most consistent coach of his playing days. Portelli himself also had a short spell as Exiles coach. He was also a fully qualified international referee in waterpolo, but his spell in this sector lasted just four years.
He was also a football player in his early days. In fact, he was spotted and asked to join Floriana by Felic Borg, brother of former Floriana and Malta star Lolly Borg. He played for Little Ajax, alongside such well-known names as Pullu Mousu, Tony Vella, Cikku Xuereb and others.