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Mr. Carmelo Mallia together with Fr. Bernard Hersey
is rightly described as the father and founder of the
Ghajnsielem Football Club. Mallia was also the Club's
first coach. He was in charge of the team from before
the first official match against Victoria Scouts in the
Zammit Cup until the late forties.
Mallia was born in Sliema in 1898. He
married Helen nee Vella from Birkirkara and came to Gozo
in 1934 to work as Chief Nurse at Fort Chambray which in
the meantime had been converted into a hospital for the
mentally ill. When he came to Gozo he was already a
lover of the game and was instantly interested in
‘footballers’ in the ditch. He tried manfully hard to
instil some sense into their play with little success at
times. But to understand Mallia's involvement in the
foundation of the Club, we also need to take a brief
look at the developments that were taking place in
Ghajnsielem. |
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The story of the clubs started in
the early 30’s when an energetic Franciscan friar who loved
sports, the out-door life and people was disappointed with the
lack of clubs or places where young people could meet and use
the time profitably. Soon he was at work and in no time at all
gave birth to the Ghajnsielem Sea Scouts. But one thing Fr.
Bernard Hersey was happily surprised to discover was a
rudimentary kind of football being played by Ghajnsielem’s
youths. Soon the idea was conceived…a football club for
Ghajnsielem, and not only for Ghajnsielem but for other places
in Gozo as well. At the same time the game in Malta was living
through a great boom and a number of Gozitans used to cross over
for the great Sliema-Floriana encounters. In Gozo however no
attempt had ever been made to organize one single club, let
alone an association.
So now the ditch at Chambray began drawing Fr. Bernard Hersey
and it was here that he met Mr. Carmelo
Mallia who used to work as Chief Nurse at Fort Chambray which in
the meantime had been converted into a hospital for the mentally
ill. As soon as Fr. Hersey and Mr. Mallia made each other’s
acquaintances they discovered a mutual love for football and
interest in the footballing youths of Chambray. From there
things moved fast and with Father Hersey organizing things and
Mr. Mallia coaching the youths the Club started taking shape.
Together they pushed for the
realization of a long-harboured dream—a ground fit for
competitive play. Around 1934 and 1935 friendly games of a sort
were being played in one of Chambray’s ditches, but the site was
obviously inadequate for competitions under recognized rules. At
last in 1935, the ground at Xewkija was completed and named the
Silver Jubilee Ground to mark the festivities then being held to
commemorate the 25th anniversary of the accession of
King George V to the throne.
And so we come to 1936, the year
Ghajnsielem Football Club was born. Hersey and Mallia were
determined to launch the Club officially that year, but
competition was a problem. What was the use of forming a club
when no other clubs existed? Groups of youths from different
places were banding together to play friendly matches, some of
them at Chambray, but no organized teams were yet in evidence.
Meanwhile, football was catching on in Victoria through the
Scouts, with whom Fr. Hersey had a lot of contact and it was
thus that the idea of the first competitive match in Gozo
emerged. The Victoria Scouts and the Ghajnsielem team agreed to
play a game at the Silver Jubilee Ground for
a challenge cup sometime in May of
1936. A Silver cup was soon procured, sponsored by the Prince of
Wales Engineering Workshop owned by Mr. Bernard Zammit of Marsa.
The Silver Jubilee Ground was
officially inaugurated on this important date in Gozitan
football history. The contest for the Zammit Cup represented the
first official match for the Gozo Football Association and for
our Club. The honour would be the first won by any club in Gozo.
It was a game of firsts and it is fitting that Ghajnsielem, the
community that had first taken up football in Gozo would be
rewarded with a 2-1 triumph over the Victoria team. Carmelo
Mallia prepared the team and there was great anticipation for
this match. Finally the date with destiny arrived. At the end of
the day the historic victory was the fruit more of will,
strength and determination than football wits and technique.
The Zammit Cup is one of the many
symbols of the Club's greatness. Virtually all of our Club's
subsequent achievements can be surpassed by other clubs and many
have been. However, there is absolutely nothing that other clubs
can do about the myriad of firsts set on May 21, 1936: oldest
existing club in the G.F.A. (the Victoria Scouts are no longer
around), participants in the first official contest and winners
of the first honour. The silver cup itself, the oldest piece of
silverware in Gozitan football and as such priceless, is proudly
displayed and preciously guarded in the Club's trophy room,
surrounded by dozens of other trophies collected by the Club in
the course of its history.
Statistics during his coaching
era
Mallia was also the Club's first coach
|
Season
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1936 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
|
1938/39 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
|
1944/45 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
13 |
|
1945/46 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
9 |
|
1948/49 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
22 |
3 |
4 |
15 |
21 |
50 |
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