Following its latest victory, Malta’s rugby team is now ranked 41st in the world – yet those who play and those who follow are demanding to know why the government is not investing more in the sport.

They are right. Malta is faring well in this season’s Division 2A, and people have set up a Facebook account demanding more support for a sport which Malta actually seems to be quite good at. We lend our support to that cause. A year or so ago, this newspaper had called for proper facilities to be set up. Promises were made, but nothing ever came of them.

We understand that the most popular sport in Malta is football. The infrastructure is there, as are the nurseries and training camps, but we have to be honest with ourselves here – as popular as it is, we are not very good at it.

Malta realised that it had some other sporting talent in shooting – and duly, investment was made. And this is where we cannot understand the reasoning of not pushing the sport of rugby more. More and more kids are taking it up as a sport of choice when they are young, and many adults also venture into the game.

The local league is buzzing and competitive and the sport also has a genuine following. Every time Malta plays, the ‘stadium’ is packed to the rafters. And we will say it again, we often win. We doubt that Malta will ever be a world force in any sport, but with a little bit more investment, then the rugby team could well become competitive in the upper tiers of the game.

One understands that there are other pressing issues, such as the financial crisis, balancing the books and preparing for an upcoming election. But the government really does need to make a commitment to this sport and reward those who are working so hard to set the standards higher. The government has already said that it believes that obesity is a huge challenge to our society and may one day cripple the healthcare system, this is why it needs to put its money where its mouth is.

Sport is one way to at least try and change the couch potato mentality, and well, what other sport could be more deserving than one that we are good at, and attracts children? No brainer really. Time to act.