The MFA end-of-season seminar held on Saturday, 15th July at the Centenary Hall, Ta’ Qali, focused on three topics which dealt with specific areas of the Association’s activities.
As is customary, this annual event was open to top officials of member clubs and member associations, council members, coaches and technical personnel, as well as the media.
MFA President Dr Joe Mifsud was the first speaker. He dealt with the proposals by the MFA Institutions Study Commission on the functions of the Council, the Executive Committee and the Bureau, and the introduction of an Independent Arbitration Tribunal.
Dr Mifsud spoke on the need to revise the vested powers and functions of the various MFA institutions to render their workings more practical and thus bring them more in line with modern exigencies.
He focused mainly on the terms of reference of the Council, both according to the Association’s Statute and its regulations, saying that in theory many decisions on legislation, control, discipline, doping, licensing, regulations and competitions have to be taken by the Council.
This was too cumbersome and the need has been felt to remove some of these all-embracing powers from the competence of the Council so as to render its functioning more practical and efficient.
The need for the setting up of an Independent Arbitration Tribunal to serve as a last tribunal to decide on matters of football in disputes between different parties, including the MFA, was also mentioned by Dr Mifsud.
After the Commission’s preliminary report, the MFA needs feedback from all those concerned so that proposals for changes can be submitted at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
Ludovico Micallef, MFA Vice-President and Dusan Fitzel, Technical Director and national team coach dealt with youth football and the need for a restructuring of the football nurseries so that maximum benefit can be derived from this important sector of football.
Micallef spoke on plans of a more streamlined set-up while Dusan Fitzel touched on how best to implement the idea of dividing the nurseries in eight regions, including Gozo as one Region, each under the charge of an MFA-appointed coach. In this way there will be better monitoring and identification of talent.
Senior Vice-President, Carmel Bartolo, and Dr David Attard MD, MFA Medical Officer, spoke on drug and alcohol abuse at all levels and the MFA’s plans to combat this problem through its programme of action.
This work was directed primarily towards the youth sector, starting with those players in the different MFA national youth teams. It was stressed that the aim of embarking on such a plan of action was not to take punitive measures against victims of this malpractice, but to assist them through proper education and to help them seek professional advice if so warranted.
However, the MFA will not stop short of investigating cases where individuals are suspected of inducing youngsters towards making use of prohibitive substances.