Andrei Agius said that he was left baffled by the decision of the Malta FA Executive Committee to terminate the 2019-20 season.

The local governing body on Monday announced that both the BOV Premier League and the FA Trophy will be ended with immediate effect after the health authorities failed to lift the restrictions on contact sport.

The Hibernians defender said it is difficult to understand why a decision was taken to stop football now when authorities are pushing for normality.

“Why stop now that goverment is pushing for Normality ?,” he said on a post on his facebook account.

“Why our clubs (employers for the few professionals) didn’t grab the opportunity to start training in small groups, whilst abiding by the health authorities guide lines that are very simple after all no contact, think about it how many exercises can be done without contact and at a later stage progress to a second phase where the whole group can train normally.”

Agius believes that football clubs in other countries put pressure on the authority to at least start training to ensure their players remained in good condition.

“Other clubs in foreign countries piled up pressure on their respective government to at least start training players individually (something we could have done ages ago in Malta) the only reason they do this because the players are the assets of the club, all this time without training means less improvement resulting in constant depreciation in players value,” he said.

“Other clubs that got their season cancelled too still are training their players always for the same reasoning (Ajax just to name one club).”

Agius is concerned by the effects of COVID-19 could have on the future of football in Malta.

“My question is what will happen when we resume ?, when we will start ? , do we really afford to not be able to practice at least !! when we are at rock bottom in comparison to other countries with regards to our football level ? Why can’t we do our job like others are doing theirs but in the new normal way,” he emphasised.

“What about kids that practice this sport dreaming of becoming professional players, are we thinking about them ? Can we help them and train them in groups of fives without being in contact working on multiple things that they can benefit from.

“We wait and see yet again in my humble opinion we missed the chance to give some credibility to the most practiced sport on the island (without discriminating any other sport).

“As an athlete, as a fan, as a coach and finally a big believer in local football I am deeply saddened that we never manage to think outside the box, to strive for what really is needed.

“We could have easily turned this situation in our favour, DID WE ? Who knows”.