History is a harsh arbiter and probably there will be no more than a footnote reserved for them should Ghajnsielem fail to finish the 2002/03 season in first place. We are of course talking about the committee members and coaching staff who have assumed responsibility for this unabashedly bold attempt to bring glory to the Club. So who are these people?

Club president, Vincent Cutajar needs no introduction. Chapters can be written about his worth to the Club as a player. In what is a short career by modern standards, Vincent re-wrote all the Club's scoring records. He set the Silver Jubilee Ground alight every time he stepped on its playing surface. The Club stayed close to his heart even though he was so many miles away from it, as is evidenced by his continued financial support. But this is his first involvement at the administrative level. His enthusiasm is infectious. Although not physically present here for much of the season, his spirit could be felt everywhere and the players responded with thirteen wins in sixteen outings. Now that he is back in town he is exerting the same motivational force as in the days of yore, back in the time when many a young Black went to battle heartened by the sight of number 11 darting left and right mesmerizing his opponents.

Club secretary is Gino Cauchi. This is also his first official involvement with the Club. However, he has spent his entire life in an environment where the Club is a daily concern. His father Joseph could be identified as one of the pillars upon which this Club was built. Not only did he play for the Club, but was never away from it until the day he sadly passed away. His brother, Joe Cauchi was Club president for most of the nineties, the period in which not only the Club had its pride on the field of play restored, but also the period in which the Club broke new ground in administrative matters. Two of his brothers-in-law are none other than Nikol Cutajar and Frank Xuereb, two automatic choices in any best Ghajnsielem XI of all time. Gino's contribution amid all this has been moral and financial support. A unifying influence in a town often at war with itself.

Club treasurer is Mario Xuereb. This is yet another rookie in the triumvirate that effectively runs the Club. Mario is the youngest member of a family whose sons quite literally were born with a black and white shirt on. His father, Loreto Xuereb and uncle Frank Xuereb, were prominent members of the team in the fifties. His grandfather, Mariano Xuereb was a great benefactor of the Club. His brothers Joe, Charlie, Victor, Alfred and the above-mentioned Frank have all played for the Club. Blessed with a great physique, it can be argued that he could have been the best of the lot. His playing days were greatly reduced first by emigration, then by a debilitating knee injury. He often joins in practice matches and gives the impression that he is just one operation away from resuming his football career. A good listener, a hard worker and benefactor, he is definitely a great asset to the Club.

Willie Cutajar is the Club's vice-president. Willie rarely gets any credit for his playing contribution to the Club in the mid-sixties when the Club brought the Independence Cup and the Galea Cup to the Club for the first time. Could it be because he happens to be the older brother of Karmnu, Vincent and Nikol Cutajar, a trio bathed in glory in the prodigious plunder of the 70's? No sooner had he hung his boots, Willie took on the anxiety-filled and thankless task of urging on generation after generation of young Blacks to honour the Club and, by definition, the name of Ghajnsielem. Indeed, his generosity and caring involvement is tangible wherever you go in Ghajnsielem and not just the Club. He has been virtually in the Club committee for decades, whether as an activity organizer and fund raiser in New York, or the right hand man and financial supporter of all the Club's presidents since the nineties.

The rest of the committee is made up of Victor Xuereb, Joe Xuereb, Alfred Grech, Noel Grima and Angelo Portelli. Victor, Mario Xuereb's brother, is also in his first official involvement with the Club. He has contributed greatly this season with fresh ideas and motivational support. Victor has played for the Club in a career fractured by emigration and injury. He is driven by an ideal of a Club in perennial happiness, and before his direct involvement this year, has supported the Club morally and financially. Joe Xuereb, an ex-minor league champion with the Blacks in the seventies, is always ready to help at the Club, especially in matters relating to the upkeep of the premises. He is the person that is closest to the pulse of the Club and is the person that can probably relate best the trials and tribulations of the Club since its move to the new premises. Like Joe, Alfred Grech has played for the Club at youth level. Also like Joe, he is often involved in matters relating to the premises. He has been directly or indirectly involved in the administration of the Club for over a decade. His brother George Grech was one of the Blacks' brightest hopes in defence, before his emigration late last season. Noel Grima is yet another member who is in his first official involvement with the Club. Noel played briefly for the Club at youth and senior level. He has been lending moral and motivational support for years. Angelo Portelli, the Club's own Matthew's father, has past experience in the administration of the Club and is involved in various tasks at the Club. Nothing would please him more than to see his son lift the cherished championship trophy, especially after the ordeal of Matthew's frightening injury earlier this season.

Alex Spiteri has either played with or been involved with the development of every homegrown player at the Club. Alex is the head of the Club's nursery, he is the Club's G.F.A. delegate and is responsible for several senior pre-match matters. He was captain of the 1977/78 minor league championship winning team. He broke into the senior team still shy of his fourteenth birthday, quite possibly a Club record. His playing career was cut short by emigration. He has been involved with the Club more or less since his return from abroad. His enduring contribution to the Club, however, remains his work at the nursery level. His efforts have yielded results for the Club both in terms of the steady pipeline of players that have come up through the system and in terms of honours won by the youth teams since the early nineties.  

Salvinu Rapa is the Club's third goalkeeper, ready to step in should an emergency develop, but more importantly he is assistant coach of the senior team. Like Alex Spiteri, he was a member of the 1977/78 minor league team. He broke into the senior team at the same time as Spiteri. However, he went on to a long career with the Blacks, interrupted occasionally by work abroad. He played briefly with Nadur Y., where he shared in one championship backing up our Sammy Attard. He returned to the Club where he has remained in a coaching capacity. Salvinu is a person driven by fiery determination. His friendliness has time and again kept the team together during times of great strain. Very knowledgeable about the game, and intimately aware of every player's strengths and weaknesses, he is the unsung hero in the senior team's success so far this season.

Last but definitely not least is head coach, Peter Caruana. Nothing that is said in this feature can do justice to what he has meant to this Club throughout his life. Few are the trophies in the Club's trophy room that do not have his fingerprints on them, as a player, but mostly as a coach. Some of the saddest chapters in the Club's life involve the instances in which the Club and Peter had to live temporarily separate and apart. No matter what happens this season, justice was done when the decision was made to entrust Peter with the task of coaching this year's team in what seems to be the Club's final charge towards the sixth title. This is because it was Peter, then a very young coach, that led a fine, young team (which included his not so young brother Karmenu) on that glorious march to the first title in 69/70. For five years the Blacks marched on and the championships were adorned, as if they needed to be, with a multitude of cup triumphs and individual glory. With the passing of the years, Peter has been much-maligned for growing "soft" and for employing "outdated" coaching and training methods. It is no coincidence, however, that the Club has turned to Caruana again in this time of great peril. His honesty and commitment to the Club overwhelmingly compensate for any technical weakness, imagined or real. It is with Peter at the helm that the Club wanted to win or lose, in this the mightiest struggle of them all.