The snakes of the Amazon

I happen to be reading a book by Isabel Allende called City of the Beasts. The novel is about a boy who joins his grandmother on a fascinating and dangerous expedition to a remote part of the Amazon rainforest. During the course of this enchanting journey, the boy encounters all sorts of dangerous creatures, including deadly snakes such as the feared anaconda and the deadly surucucu.

In Malta, there seems to be a unique breed of such 'venomous snakes'. They come disguised in the form of sports journalists and their deadly venom is allegedly spread through the written or broadcast word. To date, there is no antidote for the poor victims who are defenceless and often caught by surprise.

These creatures are so dangerous that the only solution is to wipe them out of existence and ensure they become extinct. The only problem to this solution is the imbalance to the ecological system the absence of these venomous snakes might create.

All over the world, journalists are accustomed to getting a lot of stick. During the course of their careers, most develop an amazing immunology to this virus.

A section of Maltese sports journalists came under a scathing attack during a recent television programme sponsored by the Malta Football Association. The use of adjectives to describe the behaviour of some unnamed football journalists not only shocked but also hurt all local sports writers.

In Malta, sports journalism is fragmented with a very limited number of full-timers and a string of part-timers who are usually employed on weekends to cover football matches.

Despite the fact that our national team has not managed a competitive home win for over three decades and our clubs have never made any serious inroads in European club competitions, football remains the number one sport on the local media.

Apart from the generous coverage given to top-flight matches, newspapers and television stations dedicate ample space and airtime to the inferior divisions. No other discipline on the island enjoys such luxury.

In other European countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany and England, coaches, officials and players are massacred every time a team fails to deliver.

The press cries for heads to roll and officials to resign. This is the order of the day and whenever journalists come under fire, they are quick to threaten crippling industrial action.

Week in, week out, sports journalists venture to the stadia to faithfully report the weekend matches. They are the unsung heroes in a complex equation which involves a number of equally important stakeholders.

At a time when local football is passing through a lean period, journalists have been among the front runners to keep the flag flying.

Rain or shine, camerapersons film the action and photographers try to get the best action shot. Even when matches are so drab that journalists struggle to coin the right phrases to finish their stories, football enthusiasts are still guaranteed a report of what happened during the match.

Legal implications

Journalists are also aware that they are liable to judicial proceedings should they write or broadcast anything which is in breach of the Press or Broadcasting Acts. Journalists who make unfounded claims can be sued for libel and aggrieved parties always have a right of reply.

Unlike politics, sport is considered a harmless segment of journalism. I mean the mere notion of a journalist being labelled as a venomous snake for reporting football and giving an opinion on the state of affairs, is a sad episode indeed.

The Ghaqda Kittieba Sports (GhKS) did well to issue a news statement condemning the attack on the media. The sports programme sponsored by the MFA and broadcast every Thursday on Smash TV was originally thought of as the ideal platform to promote football and strengthen the ties with existing stakeholders.

Following a period when the MFA did not exactly see eye to eye with the GhKS, in recent years the two entities have enjoyed a harmonious relationship.

In biology, a symbiotic relationship is described as one which benefits two creatures. Through the comments expressed by the MFA president Joe Mifsud on this sports programme, it seems that the MFA fails to grasp this concept vis-a-vis its relationship with sports journalists.

With no professional status and no union to support their livelihood, sports journalists are definitely not the breed of venomous snakes ready to pounce on their prey.

Industrial action has never been on the agenda. We carry on with the job because we believe it is sacrosanct to our profession and we do not expect a pat on our back for our work.

We soldier on even when doors are slammed in our faces and obstacles litter our paths. We, the unique breed of venomous snakes found in the Mediterranean, are the guardian angels of Maltese football.

Wiping us out means that Maltese football will experience a slow and painful death. The other alternative is for the MFA to realise that sports journalists can be the remedy of an ailing disease that can easily reach epidemic and fatal proportions.