Marsa Sports Club is 100 years old

One hundred years ago this week, on July 25, 1902, the War Department granted land at Marsa leased from the British Government to the Malta Sports Club for the recreation of British servicemen on the island. The club was given use of the land for 90 years at a token one shilling a year.

The earliest records show that the low-lying and probably malarious lands at Marsa, an important royal fief, were granted by Alfonso, King of Naples and Sicily, to a distinguished warrior, Pietro Busco, in 1440. Busco died without children and the lands that were ideal for hunting passed through the hands of several powerful beneficiaries.

On September 8, 1452, Didacus Grayera came into possession of the land after it was confiscated from Petrus Gonzalves La Rua and it subsequently fell into the hands of the De Nava family, who owned it until about 1530 when they sold the property rights to the Duke of Monteleone Pignatelli, known as the "Barone della Marsa", after they left the island.

The grounds of the present Marsa Sports Club appear as Marsa Hortus in the map of Malta published in 1536 by Jean Quintin d'Autun. One building of note that has survived is the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, popularly known as Ta' Ceppuna (see accompanying feature). The duke was given a life pension in lieu of title when he relinquished the land in favour of Grand Master Jean L'Evesque de la Cassiere (1572-1581) and his successors.

Under the Knights the lands were improved and made arable with the construction of several buildings, which served as farmhouses, armouries, guard rooms and outposts. Some are still in existence today, bearing the coat-of-arms of Grand Masters Wignacourt, De Rohan and Pinto.

The earliest documented connection between the Marsa lands and the playing of sports is in the late 1860s when the Jockey Club, which also catered for cricket, rented the Marsa racecourse lands north of the storm water channel from the civil government tenants for £41.16s 8d per annum. This was the estimated value of the land for cultivation.

In 1870 the British War Department hired this area and other lands at Marsa as a garrison recreation ground. An even greater area was incorporated in 1879 as a military exercising ground, some of which were leased out to tenants for grazing purposes. Because of this, the rent to the Jockey Club was reduced to £10.

In 1886 the senior commanding officer of the local garrison approved the establishment of the Garrison Recreation Club, which by 1897 had amalgamated to become the Malta Jockey and Sporting Club. The club occupied land north of the storm water channel and paid a token rent of five shillings per annum as well as compensation for the grazing tenants.

The club was responsible for the upkeep of the cricket grounds and other lands, which were to be made available on demand for troop drills and manoeuvres. Gate money was charged for admission to the racecourse land.

In 1900 the War Office revised its requirements for military training and decided to acquire more land at Marsa so that on January 21, 1902, the Marsa lands south of the storm water channel were leased out for 99 years from the civil government. The contract now included all the lands previously held north of the storm water channel, a total area of 154 acres at a rental of £431.19s 11d per annum.

The Ceppuna chapel and the road leading to it were excluded from the lease, as well as a public footpath cutting through the land from north to south which linked Valletta to Luqa. The footpath was eventually bought by the Malta Sports Club on March 21, 1931. One reason it was acquired was so that the Marsa could be used as a potential aerodrome in wartime.

The Marsa lands held by the War Office, excluding the southernmost private tenements, which were added later (in 1905, 1907 and 1908) were let to the Malta Sports Club for 90 years from July 25, 1902, for a token one shilling per annum, payable to the Chief Paymaster. Permission was given to construct new club pavilions for officers and men as well as new playing courts. The War Office retained the right to use the lands for military purposes.

A manuscript map, dating back to August 24, 1908, reproduced here, shows the War Office boundary of the club in 1902 and then in the subsequent enlargements in 1905, 1907 and 1908. It is signed by Lieut Colonel H.B.N. Adair, R.E., Acting Chief Engineer, Capt H.M. Caddell, Hon Sec, Malta Sports Club, and Capt T.D. Broughton, R.E., Division Officer Lands.

The map shows two polo grounds to the north of the storm water channel with a public footpath leading from Luqa to Valletta on the right close to a canteen and garden.

To the south are no fewer than four cricket pitches, four tennis courts, three racquet courts, two strike courts and two other courts, a practice cricket pitch and five shelters, apart from the main club house and several other buildings, including five farmhouses, some stables and a number of sheds, stores and a gardener's house.

Ta' Ceppuna chapel lies in the middle, behind today's cricket pitch, and as can be seen was excluded from the area leased to the club.

Meanwhile, on August 19, 1902, the War Office also approved the rent of land north of the storm water channel to the Racing Club for 10 shillings per annum until August 14, 1908, when the lease expired. The rent was increased to £10 per annum on February 17, 1913, with the lease extended from year to year.

The Malta Sports Club was run by a committee of British servicemen and latterly civilians, until January 1, 1972, when Dr John F. Cremona, MD, S.B.St.J., Ph.C., MRCGP (Lond) took over the running of the club as the first civilian and Maltese chairman, when he was co-opted by the Main Committee.

The land the club is on, which covers 300 tumoli, has now been leased by the Government to the Marsa Sports Club for Lm30,000 a year, increasing by 10 per cent every five years.

"The facilities found at the club are unique," according to club chairman Tony Cilia Pisani. "It is difficult to find - anywhere - the range of facilities we have here."

These include:

¤ an 18-hole golf course, which lies on 250 tumoli of land;
¤ 17 hard tennis courts;
¤ two clay tennis courts;
¤ five squash courts (two of which are glass back);
¤ a cricket pitch, the third best in Europe outside the UK;
¤ one mini-golf course;
¤ a swimming pool;
¤ a four-lane state-of-the-art bowling alley (the first synthetic lanes in Malta); and
¤ two full size billiard tables.

"The club has spent close to Lm1 million before the British Services left in 1979 to maintain and upgrade the facilities within the property and is a contribution to Malta's revenue from tourism," Mr Cilia Pisani said.

"A balance has to be found between generating funds through the use of the premises and retaining the nature of a private members' club. It has never received grants from the Government and is an oasis of greenery and recreation in the Maltese 'desert'."

Among the activities planned for this centenary year are a gala dinner to be held later this year with the leading national authorities being invited, the issue of a special club magazine and visits by servicemen to revive its links with the Services.

Mr Cilia Pisani said the club plans to continue to expand the recreational facilities for social members, including new facilities for children and youths. A working group has been set up to identify and implement members' specific requirements and a questionnaire has been distributed to this effect.

Acknowledgement

Matthew J. Galea painstakingly went through all the old Malta Sports Club records and archives to provide the background material for this article, for which thanks and credit are due.