Hot dispute after Services hold players' release

For a long time, Maltese football depended for its very existence on the generosity of the British Services authorities.

Parade grounds served as our first football pitches, servicemen acted as referees right up to the 1950s and British officers were members in Malta FA councils.

Servicemen played regularly for Maltese teams in the formative years of our game but when in the late 1910s football started to be organised on a sound footing, the authorities began to object and withhold permission for British servicemen to play for civilian clubs.

Things got worse when the British tried to stop Maltese Services personnel from turning out for their teams.

This rule on players' release was the cause of many a rift between the Malta FA and the British authorities in the 20s and 30s.

It was an age-old dispute which seemed to have no permanent solution. The Maltese, however, always seemed to find ways of going round the rules, especially where Maltese Services personnel were concerned.

One trick which the clubs used to play on the British was to give money to players so that they could buy themselves out of the Services in order to play for them.

This scheme worked very well for a time but in 1937-38 it backfired.

Britain was moving rapidly towards a Second World War with Germany. They needed every available man in the Services and were not prepared to stand for any nonsense.

In 1937 the game in Malta met with a stumbling block. This time the Malta FA found itself in a serious dispute over the registration of British players. Things got so bad that even the English FA was involved.

The trouble started when two Army players, Garrett, of the Rifle Brigade, and George Chase of the Royal Artillery, purchased their discharge in order to play as professionals for Sliema Wanderers and Floriana FC respectively.

Everything seemed to be in order until the Army authorities found objection and referred the case to the FA in London. The parent body ruled in favour of the Army and the two footballers were not allowed to play even though they had purchased their discharge with the clubs' money.

Hardly had the uproar over this case died down that the Malta FA was faced with yet another problem.

Because of the darkening war clouds in the Mediterranean, many Maltese, including a good number of footballers, were enrolled in the Navy.

The Naval authorities withheld the permission to Maltese Navy personnel to play football.

The most noted of the local players involved were Pawlu Friggieri, of Floriana, and Abela, of Valletta City.

During this period, local soccer was still closely linked with the Services. Indeed, there was no aspect of the game which did not feature Services officials or players. When that participation was withheld, as in the case of the referees' strike a few seasons before, the game in Malta was disturbed.

The dispute raged on but after a while a compromise was reached.

Maltese Services personnel were allowed to play as long as their participation did not clash with their duties but British servicemen, even those with their release in hand, could not play for the civilians.

Garrett and Chase were barred from playing professional football and Sliema and Floriana were forced to count their losses.

Garrett was never heard of again but Chase stayed on in Malta. He married a Maltese woman and played for Rabat FC.

After the Second World War, our game slowly gained its independence from Services dominion, but, barring a few exceptions, the ban against British Services players remained in force to the very end.