Will history repeat itself?

Here we go again!

It’s back to 1971 when Malta met England for the first time in a competitive international match.

I have written extensively about that famous encounter. Therefore, today I want to limit myself to the build-up for that big occasion. In 1971, the match was part of the European Championship qualifiers. This time the two countries will meet in the qualifying phase of the 2018 World Cup.

No event in the history of Maltese football had such a massive build-up as that meeting and with good reason, seeing how the game on the islands was introduced, fostered and developed by the British.

The English influence crept into the Maltese game not only with regards to the style of play, but also in the administration of the game.

Before the war, British officials served in the MFA while British referees controlled nearly all matches played here.

There are also on record many instances when Service trainers and masseurs were engaged by Maltese clubs.

Famous English clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United, Ipswich Town, Chelsea, Norwich and Portsmouth all made historic visits to the islands.

Only one thing was missing. Never in the 100-odd year history of the game had a British representative side visited Malta.

This was something every Maltese enthusiast instinctively waited for.

The game had progressed a lot from the days of the Mile End. Malta became independent and took its place among the nations of the world. The pupil had become a fully-fledged citizen.

All that remained, now, was the ultimate test against its former master.

I remember quite clearly the great wave of enthusiasm that hit the country in the summer of 1970 when it became known that Malta had been drawn against England, Switzerland and Greece in the Nations Cup group qualifiers.

In those days, I was serving in the RAF and, when Frankie Camilleri broke the news to an unbelieving nation on television, I was having a drink at the mess with Malta centre-half Edward Darmanin.

Darmanin went mad with joy when he heard the news. He expressed the feeling of every player in the national squad with his leaps of joy. One does not always get the chance of playing against England at Wembley Stadium.

Of course, Darmanin was not the only one to be delighted with the news. The MFA and the stadium management saw this match as a God-sent chance to fill their coffers.

Plans were made to improve the stadium pitch and also to increase the ground capacity.

The Malta Football Association appointed Carm Borg as national coach and embarked on an ambitious programme of training for the squad.

In the meantime, the news that Malta will be playing against England aroused the interest of the British media.

The Evening News carried an article by Victor Railton which gave the views of Stanley Mathews on Maltese football.

Matthews described the forthcoming match as a ‘minefield’ because, in his opinion, many traps awaited the England team.

He said that the pitch could be very difficult and warned manager Alf Ramsey that the worst time on this pitch was midway through the game when the sand flew all over the place.

Shooting from outside the penalty area, he added, was a waste of time.

The Evening News also reported that the Malta-England encounter was regarded as the greatest event in the islands’ soccer history.

‘The visit of the 1966 world champions has Malta bubbling with excitement. The Maltese do not expect miracles but victory for Malta would be the biggest ever soccer sensation since England was beaten by the United States 21 years ago.’

No pushovers

Reg Drury, of the News of the World, warned Ramsey not to take any chances believing that Malta were no pushovers.

Frank McGhee, of the Sunday Mirror, gave a detailed description of the conditions the England team would meet at the Gzira stadium.

He said, however, that this should not, of course, affect the result of the match. England should be able to field any of five different teams and still win comfortably.

Finally, Ken Jones of the Daily Mirror, writing about the possible exclusion of Bobby Moore from the England squad, commented:

‘The match in Malta is one which will demand the elimination of careless error rather than the need to cope with potential threat. England dare not make mistakes but Ramsey is comforted by the fact that even without Moore’s tremendous experience and skill, he has the equipment to deal with any problems.’

Malta opened up its Nations Cup programme on October 2, 1970 with a 1-1 draw against Greece.

Among the large crowd at the Gzira stadium on that occasion was the England manager.

The British media made fun of Ramsey for bothering to come to Malta to spy on a bunch of ‘Spanish waiters’.

The joke, however, turned sour when tiny Malta held the reigning world champions to a narrow 0-1 defeat.

Will history repeat itself in 2016?