The local basketball season is now over and all the winners are known. Amongst the successful clubs this season one has to mention the northerners from Mellieha who managed to achieve a historical promotion to the first division for the first time in their relatively short history.
This success has signalled a fresh upsurge of interest in Mellieha, a town which also has an ingrained love for sports.
The Mellieha Sports Club, under whose jurisdiction falls the Mellieha Basketball team, was established with the primary aim of promoting and fostering the development of sport in Mellieha and its surroundings.
Historically, sports in Mellieha has been followed and practiced for many years. The end of World War II technically saw the beginning of organised sports within this northern village and consequently there was the establishment of the Mellieha Sports Club.
Throughout its existence the Club has been active in several sports disciplines with football being its main activity along the years. In fact, the Club has been affiliated to the Malta Football Association since 1961, where through its senior and youth teams it participates in the different national leagues.
This year, the football team has also managed to win promotion to the First Division yet the Club’s most important football achievement was when it won promotion to the Premier League of Maltese football back in 1992.
The Club has a well organised football nursery which is affiliated to the Youth F.A. It also participates in the national Leagues of netball and baseball.
The Mellieha Basketball Team also incorporates a nursery, where children and youths enjoy themselves, and in the meantime, they train to improve their skills.
Before the start of this season, one of the definite memorable moments in the basketball team’s history was the incredible victory obtained over St.Georges back in 1996 in the Knock-Out Final, thus resulting into making Mellieha the winners of the 2nd Division KO, their first-ever trophy in history.
I can recall quite a bit that victory and the nice celebrations that ensued as I had the opportunity to be the captain of that team on that day. In fact I had returned to playing for a short spell of five months (January to May 1996) after having to stop abruptly, under doctor’s orders, my playing career in the first division back three years before due to a leg injury which made it quite painful to jump.
It was hard to stay away for the game, even though I had then taken up refereeing in the first division (but was still not an international referee) and thus had tried to see whether my leg withstood the game.
It was a nice experience to join such a youthful and forward-looking, although inexperienced, club with a dedicated committee in the background. Those short 5 months are great personal memories as the team not only won its first trophy but also went very close to obtain promotion. On a personal level I was very satisfied to win the second division player of the year award even though the day after each game was quite a painful experience and this was a definite sign to stop playing and concentrate on refereeing.
In that team of 1996 there was a young man who had been very instrumental in creating his home town team. This was Hilary Fenech, the person who is the present coach of the team and who along the years has put in a lot of effort and sacrifice so that Mellieha not only keep on existing but also to develop a good crop of young Mellieha-born players.
All of Hilary’s efforts (backed by another hardworking person, at committee level, with a great love for Mellieha and also another Fenech, namely Joe Fenech, better known as ‘L-izgicc’, were surely rewarded this season when first the team won the MBA Shield and then the most important honour in the category, namely the championship.
This year’s victorious squad consisted of:
Julian Naudi (165 total points in the league with a seasonal high of 23 points versus SN Suns), Robert Loporto (146 – 18 versus Mosta), Michael Pisani (104 – 17 versus Mosta), Samuel Aquilina (78 – 12 vs. Mosta), Joshua Aquilina (76 – 16 vs. Suns), Ben Aquilina (72 – 20 vs. Mosta), Saviour Magro (69 – 16 vs. Suns), Ian Terribile (58 – 19 vs. Loyola), Matthew Cauchi (38 – 10 vs. Suns), Paul Magro (31 – 9 vs. Suns), John Muscat (15 – 5 vs. Suns), Stephen Grima (4 points). Other players who started put the season but were not present at the end were Mark Camilleri and Ian Curmi whilst Graham Coleiro played the first two league games (scoring 6 points) before moving to Loyola in the Christmas transfer window.
In this team one could see two interesting groups of brothers, the Aquilina trio (namely Samuel, Joshua and Ben, all tenacious lads who fight hard for a win) and the Magro duo (Saviour and Paul, the former returning to the game after some inactive time).
The introduction of seasoned players like Julian Naudi and Michael Pisani gave an experience boost to the young side, especially in the clutch moments whereas talented Robert Loporto and Ian Terribile found the adequate court time to show their potential.
Players like Matthew Cauchi, John Muscat and Stephen Grima gave their all when they were called onto the court and also had their moments. Grima also formed part of the 1996 KO-winning squad that also had another element which I believe Mellieha will also dedicate this year’s success to. I am referring to the beloved Adrian Bartolo, a player and administrator, who was called by the Lord eight years ago.
In the league, Mellieha were unbeaten in thirteen matches with their biggest margin being thirty points and this occurred twice in back-to-back wins at the end of the second round against Mosta (94-64) and SN Suns (72-42) respectively.
The team scored a total of 862 points in the league matches with 94 being their maximum (vs. Mosta) and 48 being their lowest, the latter incidentally arriving in the second game of the Play-Offs Final series against Loyola when Mellieha were crowned champions.