The Maltese Olympic Committee's (MOC) Director of Sport, PIPPO PSAILA, as everyone by now must be aware, has decided to accept an invitation from Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi to contest the forthcoming general election within the ranks of the Nationalist Party.

From the sporting point of view, this piece of news was shocking as it is well known that if he had to be elected to Parliament, he would leave a great void, especially in the Olympic Movement, which he has served with great diligence and honour during the past 14 years. In this interview he tells Henry Brincat that he will never abandon sport.

Once he accepted to be a PN candidate, he immediately told the MOC of the development, saying that he would not mind staying in his position so long as his presence did not undermine in any way the MOC's work, mission, scope and objective, apart from any possible statutory infringements. But he also told his MOC colleagues that remaining at the MOC was not the issue. He just wanted to put the interest of sport first and foremost having always lived by a strong set of values and principles.

We all now know that the MOC has decided to keep Psaila as its Director of Sport, at least till the general elections are over. But there will now be a Sports Commission made up of four persons, of which he will not be forming part. Instead, he will act as consultant to the President on technical matters. And all this has been done with the full consent of Psaila.

This development will probably hit sports in Malta hard as Psaila had become known as a top sportsman, first at coaching levels in football and later as an administrator at MOC level.

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Pippo Psaila could be on the way out of sport, at least until the general election. That will not only make the former national coach and MOC Sports Director sad, but will also leave a big void in Maltese sport, especially among athletes, the Maltese Olympic Committee and the sports loving public.

This has all to do with his decision to accept an invitation from the Prime Minister to contest the forthcoming general elections. Of course this will happen if he is elected to become a Member of Parliament. That, however, remains to be seen.

It is probably the first time in Maltese history that such a prominent sportsman may have to quit his love - sport - to turn to politics. His was the choice, but the MOC, in my opinion, has done well to retain his services, at least until the general elections are over.

Psaila has had a long career in sport - 31 years to be exact. But what did he contribute to sport?

He started coaching at Melita, then a third division football club. He described that experience as fantastic, coaching some players who later played at the top levels in local football. "They gave me so much and I must say that a good part of my successful sports career is owed to The Amateurs," he told me.

After the Melita experience, he took up a post at the MFA which later led him to become Malta's national coach. "It was another exceptional experience for me. Among others, I still cherish the memories of my team's performances against Italy, in Estonia, against Portugal and Greece and also the 3-0 victory against Indonesia on my debut in the Korea tournament. There was also a Rothmans Tournament win. What is more surprising, perhaps, was the fact that I was chosen as Footballer of the Month and Footballer of the Match, despite having not played any football. The first award came after journalists voted for the whole team (including the coach), while I was named footballer of the match after the Italy encounter when Italy striker Gianluca Vialli had refused to accept the honour," said Psaila.

He added: "Since 1993, I have always been running the Football School at Luxol. We started with just 33 boys. Nowadays it has grown up considerably. We are now catering for 560 boys and girls - from three and a half year-olds to 13 year-olds."

Psaila, who has never been coaching at top club level, then joined the Maltese Olympic Committee in 1993 and, of course, as is well known, he reaped a lot of reward and satisfactions during the past 14 years or so. "I joined the MOC before the Malta Games in 1993. I was the director of those Games. We then hosted 1,500 athletes and officials and also took charge of 1,200 volunteers. It was just incredible. Even the response from the public was something which surprised all the other participating countries. It was something out of this world. There was passion for sport and it was evident that the Maltese showed they were thirsty for success. Till today, we have been relatively successful in these Games, but I still believe we could have done better on some occasions."

Psaila added that his major satisfactions at the MOC was not the amount of medals won. "I am very satisfied at having helped directly in a culture change. I can freely say that the recent Budget for 2008 has included several proposals which were made by me and the MOC last January during a business breakfast. It is evident that sport is making inroads. A sum which is 30 per cent more than last year, has been earmarked for sport. Other proposals include the tax credits on sponsorships and tax rebate on expenses. The VAT has been a burden on sport. Now it has been redressed. Of course, we proposed more but did not get everything. But it is evident that sports culture is changing to the better. The structural changes that have been made are long-lasting.

"We have also managed to change the mentality of the athletes. When I took over, they were just amateurs, no more. But we created initiatives which have led to today's good levels. We made the athletes the centre of our operations. We gave them the opportunity to meet the elderly, they visited schools, institutes, the Don Bosco Salesians College and various other places where they socialised with those they met. This led to an increase in public spirit and more sports awareness. Thanks to this scheme, the athletes were giving something back to society while insisting on clean sport in a drug free environment."

He went on to say that the setting up of the Minimum Qualifying Standards (MQSs) and the Functional Diagnostic Laboratory were just part of a cocktail of decisions which led to the growth of sports athletes in Malta. "The arrival of coaches and scientists from abroad have helped us immensely to upgrade local levels. On the other hand, our incentives in the form of bursaries and specific grants were also influential. We had to be selective in using our resources.

"As to the MQSs, these helped to motivate our athletes. "For example, runners like Carol Walsh sometimes had to make use of three or four men running with her, thus helping her build her rhythm. It's the same in most of the disciplines. In such an absence of athletes, the MQSs have come in handy. Our athletes compete against them to achieve their targets," he said.

Psaila has seen Maltese sport evolving in the 31 years he has been in sport. "Thousands of athletes were under my charge in this period - a sporting life which has provided me with a lot of satisfactions," he added.

Asked whether he would abandon sport were he to be elected to Parliament, Psaila said: "Never. Sport has so much to offer to life. In these 31 years, I have given most of my life to sport. Till today, I am almost always at the office at 5.30 in the morning and do not go back home before 9.30 in the evening. If my life will have to change, it certainly cannot be worse than that. I was never an aspiration-driven man. I have always been task-oriented. If not, 31 years ago, I would not have been my preference to join a third division football club to make my debut in my coaching career," he said.