Another Honour for the Club

In 1991, the Committee wanted to give a fresher look to the side. The bulk of the players that had formed the previous year’s squad were still there though a few of them had given up as the season progressed. It was Alfred Cachia’s turn to take over the side. Alfred was instrumental to convince two ex Sliema players to have a go with Exiles. One was Adrian Meli who had won every honour that the local waterpolo scene could offer whilst the other player was Karl Borg who has a hearing impairment but yet managed  with his strong swimming to contribute a couple of seasons to the Club. There was no doubt that through Karl’s signing, brought the Club great admiration by the sporting circles and the Committee was proud of making this bold move. Karl never felt inferior to any other player friend or foe except when he was occasionally hit by an opponent during play since he hardly knew what retaliation meant.

That season saw also the debut of Silvio Borg who was to become a mainstay in the Club’s successes.

The league competition was a two-horse race with Barracudas. Exiles had a formidable trio in the attack with Colin Gambin, Simon Bianco and Adrian Meli doing the damage and scored at leisure. The results against Otters, Ta’Xbiex and Marsaxlokk ended up with double scores in our favour. Moreover we conceded fewer goals than our main contenders thanks to a solid defence.  In the first encounter against Barracudas that ended in a pulsating draw, Exiles were trailing by two goals before they rallied in time to level and postpone the fight to another day. In the second and crucial match Exiles were tactically outsmarted with Barracudas playing a tight zone caging the dangerous Meli in the hole and taking the risk of shots from the outside. This paid dividends as they scored on the fast counter attacks where the Exiles’ rearguard did not repeat the usual consistency shown in previous outings. In my view Exiles could have at least salvaged a draw when a penalty was awarded in our favour but for some odd reason it took longer than usual to be taken. This was obviously a tactic by the opposing team to disturb the penalty thrower. Steve Agius missed it and the championship went to the St Paul’s Bay team for the first time in their history.

‘Exiles’ revenge in tale of missed chances’ read the banner of the Times of the 21st September 1991.

That knock-out competition was destined to us. It was really a case of missed chances as Barracudas frittered all the 12 man-up occasions they had earned whilst Exiles netted one out of the seven chances given. For that match the Coach had formation problems as some of the regular players had for some reason or other defected. Of the13 players on the team list, young teenagers Alfred Naudi, Richard Ellis and Michael Grech were drafted in by Alfred Cachia in case of an emergency. He was quite close to making use of them as the match took the toll on the team as the major expulsions reduced our squad to the minimum. He had basically ten players to choose from including the two goalkeepers Antoine Sciberras and Michael Scerri. The latter ended up playing outside. It was Michael Scerri who served Adrian Meli to seal the match 5-3 to lift the trophy for the sixth time in the Club’s history.

The squad in this memorable final was also made up of skipper Stephen Paris, Karl Borg, Peter Apap, Colin Gambin, Simon “Sussa” Camilleri (scorer of one of the goals), Simon Zammit (one goal) and Silvio Borg who scored a brace.

In the next Article we recount two tough seasons under the same guidance of Alfred Cachia.

Did you know that………..

The recent trip to Barendrecht was the third time that Exiles have taken their youths teams abroad.  It was in Easter of 1991 when Stephen Muscat and Francis Pace Lupi were in charge of nineteen youngsters for a visit to this Dutch town between the 27th March and the 7th April as guests of Dutch team Profus.

On the 29th October 1999, under the guidance of Coach Brian Camilleri the Under-15 team visited Rome as guests of local club Vis Nova 2000. The contingent was lead by members of the Committee Kevin Camilleri, Victor Zammit, Peter Sullivan and Sandro Bruno who organized the trip.

The last trip held a few days ago saw the youth’s team under the leadership of Club President Andrew Paris and coach Kurt Dowling experiencing another memorable adventure for these youngsters hoping that they pursue a career which this fascinating and exciting team sport offers.