Refereeing decisions have been the talk of the town in recent weeks.  This sector is currently in turmoil not only on the field but also off it.

Recent strange decisions taken by the MFA Referees Department seem to be adding to the woes of the refereeing sector and contributing to the increase of instability amongst the local refereeing community.

The latest bizarre decision taken by the MFA is the sudden removal of Director of Refereeing Charles Agius from the UEFA Referee Observer Panel. Charles Agius is Malta's most experienced referee instructor and an expert in his own right, however he looks to have fallen out of favour with the MFA Referees Board Chairman Alan Sant, who is also employed as an HR Manager at the Association's Headquarters in Ta' Qali.

TMI is informed that Alan Mario Sant spearheaded the selection process of the Association's 2021 nominations of our four UEFA Referee Observers.

Sant's recommendations included the removal of three of the four current international referee observers, namely Charles Agius, Adrian Azzopardi and Kevin Azzopardi. Adrian Azzopardi had been on the list for just over one year, while Kevin Azzopardi's refereeing engagements with the MFA were terminated following his appointment as the Head of Referees at the Northumberland Football Association in UK last year - the first and only accomplishment of its kind by a local referee abroad.

Charles Agius, Adrian Azzopardi and Kevin Azzopardi have been replaced by Clayton Pisani, Chris Lautier and Alan Mario Sant, the latter seemingly involved in his own selection process.

Marco Borg salvaged his place as Malta's 4th UEFA Referee Observer, notwithstanding internal investigations by the MFA during the 2018-2019 season which found Borg guilty and suspended for 3 weeks by the Association's Referees Disciplinary Unit.