Summer league starts on Friday
Champions not in action on opening day
Champions Sliema will not be in action on the opening day of the 2004 national championship which starts on Friday.
When the summer league draws were made yesterday at Farsons, the Blues were pitted against Otters ASC in their first match of the preliminary round. But, ASA president Robbie Ebejer announced that a request by the Gozitan side prior to yesterday's draw, to postpone their opening fixture to next month as most of their players are currently engaged in academical exams, had been accepted.
As expected, Neptunes, Sirens and Marsascala, Sliema's main rivals for the championship, were handed comfortable debuts.
The Balluta Bay side, winners of the 2004 Winter League which only came to a close last week, will set the ball rolling on Friday when they face Marsaxlokk.
Marsascala and Sirens will be in action the next day against Exiles and Valletta respectively.
The San Giljan vs Ta' Xbiex match completes the Saturday programme.
Ebejer said that this year's competition will keep the same format of the previous summer competitions. All ten participating teams will play each other in the preliminary round which will come to an end on July 3.
The second phase starts on July 10 and comes to a close on August 15. Here, the top teams will compete in the First Division, which will be played over two rounds, to determine the national champions.
The other six teams will play each other in another round in the Second Division.
The preliminary round matches, Neptunes vs Sliema and Marsascala vs Sirens, scheduled for June 29, will hold a double purpose as apart from the championship points at stake they will also contest the President's Cup and the Sportswriters Association Cup respectively.