Buhagiar leaves his mark in coaching and sports journalism

It seems that lately I have been writing nothing but obituaries.

God has been calling football personalities on a regular basis, reminding me that old age is creeping up on us youngsters of the 1960s.

Today, I want to pay homage to a friend and one of the most popular sports personalities of the last 40 years - Twanny Buhagiar.

He was very active in football as a coach, journalist and radio and television presenter.

Twanny was one of those people who seemed to thrive in anything he set his mind on. In fact, very few people know that in his prime he was a very able waterpolo referee.

As a youth Twanny played some football in amateur and youth circles. He never reached great heights but the experience he gained stood him in good stead later on in his coaching career.

Twanny knew the game inside out and his vast knowledge of the game helped him a lot in his coaching career and later on when he took up journalism.

In 1968, he took his first coaching job with Luqa St Andrew's.

He stayed there for two seasons before joining Vittoriosa Stars in 1970-71. In his first year with the Stars, the club won section honours and promotion to the Second Division and as an added bonus the team won the Sons of Malta Cup for Third Division teams after beating Rabat 1-0 in the final.

In 1971-72, the Stars finished in mid-table in the Second Division and reached the cup final for the category. Vittoriosa lost a hot game against neighbours St George's 3-2.

In 1975-76, Vittoriosa Stars finished runners-up and won a place in the First Division for the first time in 20 years.

Ironically, despite this success Twanny did not lead Vittoriosa in the First Division but opted to join the other promoted team Ħamrun Spartans.

They say that you cannot keep a good horse down.

After spending two years in the Second Division, Ħamrun won their rightful place back in the top sphere of Maltese football in 1975-76. They based their game on the experience of veterans, Cocks, 'Chippy' Vella, and Fitzgerald and the enthusiasm of a number of promising youngsters. The most promising was Ġiġi Salerno.

Under Twanny's guidance, Ħamrun went through an excellent season which brought back the smiles to the faces of their long-suffering supporters.

At the start of the season, Ħamrun had more cause to celebrate when on September 26, 1976 they beat Vittoriosa 3-2 in the final of the Sons of Malta Division Two Cup.

That season, the Spartans finished in a healthy fifth place in the final table of the First Division but Twanny, restless as ever, decided to move on and at the end of the season he left Ħamrun to coach his home town club, Gżira United.

It was during this period of his career that Twanny turned to sports journalism.

He soon established himself as one of the best pundits in Malta.

I remember he interviewed me twice for his radio sports programme. I confess that I hate giving interviews, mostly because many times I keep getting asked the same questions over and over again. When I faced Twanny, however, I soon realised that the man had really done his homework and I spent an enjoyable hour responding to his intelligent questions.

During his career, Twanny met many popular sports personalities.

The most famous being Roberto Bettega, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Gianni Rivera, Giampiero Boniperti and Florian Albert.