573. Promotion upset proves fatal for Msida Wolves

Msida Wolves made their first ap-pearance in Maltese football circles in March 1945 when they beat Sliema Athletes 5-1 in a friendly game.

Msida Wolves had a very good youth team in those days and in their first two seasons they dominated the Anglo Maltese Football League. This popular competition was organised by Memè Scicluna of the stadium and was patronised by the best minor teams around.

In 1947-48 Msida Wolves took part in the Third Division for the first time. They made their league debut on November 2, 1947 beating Balzan Youths 4-0.

Their best season was 1949-50 when they finished in second place and missed promotion by a whisker.

Bad luck played a huge part against them in the all-important match against Rabat FC. They were by far the better team on the field but some unsavoury incidents occurred between the players and the match was abandoned.

The Malta FA took firm action against the two teams and instead of letting the result to stand or ordering a replay, it decreed that both teams would lose the points.

This decision proved fatal for Msida Wolves because at the end of the competition they finished one point behind eventual winners St Patrick's FC.

Some of the players who wore the Wolves colours during that particular period were Galea, Azzopardi, Zammit, Pullicino and Victor Tedesco. The latter is none other than the same maestro who guided Hamrun Spartans through their brightest period in the 1980's.

Msida Wolves never seemed to recover from that upset in 1950.

From then on they hovered around the mid-table positions in the league with very little ambitions until they were relegated in 1954-55. They lost relegation deciders to Mosta Athletic (1-3) and Birzebbuga SP (2-3).

At this point, the team from Msida decided to turn a new leaf. They officially changed their name from Msida Wolves to their pre-war name of Msida St Joseph's.

The name Msida Wolves, however, did not disappear altogether from the local football scene because in the 1960s a club bearing the same name was formed which for a while took part in the Malta Amateur Football Association.