Carmelo (Memé) Scicluna’s goal: The Empire Sports Ground opened 100 years ago

Imagine you were alive 100 years ago. You were middle-aged, a British subject, experiencing the trials and tribulations of your native island as a fortress colony. You lived at first hand the escalating tensions between the Church and the state. You were inexorably enmeshed in the antagonisms politically-ignited by Italophile and Anglophile proclivities.

Fortunately, however, from this milieu of discord, tonic refuge was at hand – football! The fanaticism you had for this sport was precisely what motivated you to impatiently leaf through the newspaper in search of updates on the subject.

So when on October 25, 1922, you opened the Daily Malta Chronicle, the enthusiasm with which you greeted the news that the ardent sports admirer “Governor Field Marshal Lord Plumer was to open the new Sports Ground at... Gżira, on Saturday, 4th November next, at 3pm” must have reached fever pitch! You also learned that “This ground... is to be known as the Empire Sports Ground... intended for the use of the Imperial forces and civilian teams...”.

The inauguration of the Empire Sports Ground in 1922 signified a new chapter in Malta’s football history which traces its roots to the second half of...