Considering the substantial investments made in modern sports facilities, sustainability should be the priority target of every sporting entity in Malta and Gozo. These additional facilities have resulted in clear challenges, the foremost of which is the need to increase efficiency through better management. Furthermore, sport must create an economic activity with rewarding ripple effects that breed sustainability along with wider participation, professionalism and possibly better results. This is the new dimension that we are procuring for our sport.

I have often asked sports organisations to reflect on whether, at this stage of sports development in Malta, honour was being given more importance than the long-term goal of building strong fundamentals through the development of both our grass roots and sustainable quality operations.

Coming out of the comfort zone

At the last AGM of the Malta FA, President Norman Darmanin Demajo could not have been clearer when he told delegates to have the courage necessary to change their “old” mentality and come out of their comfort zone. “The MFA is working to make the game financially viable”, he said, emphasising that, in order to move forward, the MFA had invested in both infrastructure and grassroots and insisted that all those connected with the game at club and national level should be professional in all their actions. Mr Darmanin Demajo encouraged clubs to be ready to take calculated risks and also referred to the need for clubs have full time administrators.

UEFA is insisting on financial fair play. “It is crucial in order to promote [the] long term sustainability of European football” insists UEFA supremo Michel Platini. UEFA is insisting that clubs do not spend more than their income and that they balance their books with the objective of freeing them from “this devilish spiral and have a viable economical strategy in the long term”.

What applies to UEFA’s big clubs also applies to the smaller ones like ours, while financial sustainability is imperative for survival not only for football but for all sports.

This evening, the Prime Minister will be officially opening another synthetic turf football pitch in Gharghur. It is only one of 16 such pitches that have been opened in the past year as part of the MFA’s policy to give all Malta’s clubs a green patch for training and part of the government’s commitment to assist in this venture with millions of euros. The opening of the new pitch will definitely be cause for another great celebration, but the years will roll by and the time for maintenance and redevelopment will come. The practice of hiring 5-aside pitches has reached saturation point and if we do not act wisely, we will be facing the music before we celebrate the 10th anniversary.

Sustainability challenges

Foreign sport enjoys substantial income generated from gate money, advertising, merchandising and TV and media rights, while local income for sport is usually raised from membership fees, sponsorships and fund-raising activities. Government schemes and incentives remain a significant part of the formula but some creativity and sense of enterprise are definitely needed. As I wrote in my opinion piece on 24 July, two years ago the government introduced a scheme through which sports clubs were encouraged to invite foreign counterparts to participate in training camps, competitions and conferences and were paid a commission based on the number of generated bed-nights. The scheme has been fairly successful, generating some 63,000 bed night in total. I believe that we have to pursue this economic niche strategically and aggressively, as the scheme has contributed to both the island’s economy and the sustainability of the participating sports clubs. Incidentally, sports with much fewer followers than football topped the generation of bed nights list.

The Marsa Sports Village

A call for expressions of interest was issued last week to seek a private partnership to create a state-of-the art Sports Village at Marsa.

It is envisaged that the redevelopment will cater for around 44 sports organisations, 10,000 sports enthusiasts and 1,400 horses.

The developer is expected to finance the building and operation of the sports facilities for the benefit of the sporting community, which will continue to enjoy its autonomy. In return, the developer will be allowed to make commercial use of the facilities and ancillary services, including stabling, accommodation and betting, during the concession period.

If the call is successful, the project will certainly benefit sports tourism, create jobs and contribute towards the sustainability and development of sport such as rugby football and other field sports, as well as equine sport.

Part one of this article was published on 24 July