This is the fourth season in a row that Ghajnsielem has challenged for the title. However, this present squad is considered by many as the strongest yet fielded by the Blacks. It has depth, as is evidenced by the quality of the players sitting on the substitutes bench, game in game out. It has a blend of experience and youth. There is also a good balance of highly technical players and players who are prepared to do the dirty work for the team. The team is full of players with experience in title challenges, with a considerable number of players that have already won the championship with other clubs. Although, all the team's recent title challenges have failed, the team is full of players who have won numerous team and individual honours in the past. In contrast with the past, the team is not made up exclusively of home grown players. Complementing the nucleus of players that came up through the Club's system is a significant number of imports. So how was this team put together?

Salvinu Rapa, Joe Debono and Loreto Scicluna are the team's senior statesmen. All three were members of the minor league team that brought the third championship of that category to the Club in 1977/78. They were part of a generation of players that was expected to keep Ghajnsielem F.C. at or near the top of Gozitan football. As it turned out this did not happen, for a variety of reasons, the most obvious of which was emigration. Salvinu Rapa, the team's third keeper and assistant coach, worked abroad for a while. Salvinu spent some seasons with Nadur Youngsters before returning to the Club for good. Debono and Scicluna, the Club's captains and liberos, emigrated and missed the best years of their playing life. However, their return has helped the Club. Joe Debono has also spent a few seasons with Victoria Hotspurs. All three players are pushing forty and can consider this season as their last chance to fulfill their childhood dream, of being members of a championship winning Ghajnsielem squad.

Frank Buttigieg and Joseph Scicluna are also Club products and have missed several seasons due to their emigration. Frank spent one season with Qala St. J. These two players have been excellent servants to the Club ready to play at their specialized positions of left wing-back and stopper respectively, but also willing to play in other roles, as was the case for Frank Buttigieg when he played stopper against Xaghra United.

Joseph Attard I represents another generation of successful minor leaguers that has yet to fulfill their initial promise of bringing sustained success to the Club at the senior level. Joseph saw first team action in 1993/94 and, along with Joseph and Loreto Scicluna, has given the Club the longest, uninterrupted service. Joseph has played as a stopper this season, but his best football with the Club has been as a left sided player. Other promising players of his generation are either playing football on loan with other clubs (Jonathan Xuereb, Jeremy Camilleri, Mark Meilak) or not involved in organized football at all (Herman Mifsud, John Pace, George Grech, Larry Buttigieg, Alan Mifsud).

Errol Grima, Joseph Attard II, Brian Meilak, Jeffrey Grima and Matthew Portelli were all members of the Club's championship winning Under/18 side of 1995/96. Their careers have been wildly divergent until this season. Errol Grima, who is the Club's most gifted player, has spent one season with Nadur Youngsters. To his chagrin it happened to be one in which they have not won the championship. One always felt that he was not maximizing his full potential. His great form this season is lending credence to this theory. Joseph Attard II has spent his career in the shadows of a catalogue of imported strikers. When he was pressed into action he has not let the Club down. Back to back premium plus performances from Attard have lifted him to cult status. Brian Meilak's qualities were apparent from a very young age, and the sporting public has recognized him as one of the Blacks' best. He is most feared when he plays at right wing-back. However, this season the Club has looked to him to perform a more defensive role, that of stopper. He was given a deserved rest in the Xaghra match, having been the only Black to play every minute of the first fifteen matches of the season. Jeffrey Grima is the Club's back-up goalkeeper. Like Joseph Attard II, his appearances have been limited by the quality of the goalkeepers ahead of him. Jonathan Xuereb, Salvinu Rapa and now Sammy Attard. His maturity and perseverance will one day earn him his just rewards. Matthew Portelli made the fastest transition from minor league player to senior player. Right up to his injury in the second round match against Nadur he was a regular in the midfield. Until he regains his starting role, he is happy to give tactical flexibility to his coach by coming in at delicate stages of matches to execute specific duties, as was the case in the last two outings.

Joseph Buttigieg is yet another player that has been slowly introduced into the side. He has enjoyed the longest run in the side this season and has not let anyone down. This is the one player to watch for the Blacks in years to come as he is comfortable in virtually every position in the field. He has been deployed most successfully this season as a right wing-back.

Aloy Ihebulu was acquired by the Club during Patrick Vassallo's tenure as head coach. He was brought in as an emergency replacement to Jules Ngangue when the latter received a long suspension. He fulfills a striker's role. He has the scoring rate of an excellent striker. And yet Aloy's knack for going deep into midfield in search of the ball and the manner in which he manages to hold on to it for long stretches of time, make him more a mezza punta.

Sammy Attard came aboard at the start of the 2001/02 and has been the Club's first choice goalkeeper ever since. Downright spectacular at times, his saves in crucial moments have meant that the Club has been there or thereabouts throughout his time at the Club. The most recent example of this was a fine save to keep the side in the match early on against Xaghra, with the Blacks already 0-1 down. He has already won four championships in his career--regretfully, all with Nadur Youngsters.

Martin Cremona, Dione Lautier, Tarik Belhaj, Vince Dimitrov and Reuben Mercieca are all acquisitions made by the Club's present administration for this 2002/03 season. All five players have won the championship at least once in their careers. These are proven winners with considerable talent. Their acquisition represents the Club's decisive thrust to overcome the final obstacle to the championship. Martin Cremona, who had already spent a season with the Club, was brought in to strengthen the heart of the midfield. He has done that and more. Several of his long range missiles have ended in the back of the opponents' net with the help of one or the other of the forwards. Dione Lautier was acquired to partner Aloy Ihebulu up front and to serve as a point of reference in attack. Although, he has not been as prolific as expected, his goals have been a boon to the Club. Ihebulu's remarkable scoring record owes a great deal to the inevitably divided attention of the opposition. Tarik Belhaj and Vince Dimitrov were brought in to add depth to the Blacks' midfield. Both players have been occasionally hampered by injury and have had some difficulty integrating within the Blacks' system of play. While both Tarik and Vince have contributed in terms of style, Tarik has also added substance in a number of close encounters, most particularly the pivotal 2-1 win against Zebbug R. when he scored a scorcher of a goal. Reuben Mercieca was the final piece of the puzzle. A disgruntled performer with his club, Victoria Hotspurs, Mercieca was a mid-season acquisition for the Blacks. He hit the ground running with extremely effective performances in his first two matches for the Club.

Jonathan Debono, Larry Buttigieg and Frank Galea are young members of the senior squad who are still playing for the Under/16 side. They would have seen more action in any other season or with any other club. This trio's time will come as the Club's ambition is not merely to get to the top but to stay there for a long time.