Three years in the top flight - PART 1

“The going will be hard” read the preview of the Times of the 5th July 1996. And hard it was for the young and inexperienced Exiles team.

An opportunity not to be missed.

The previous year’s final classification did not give the team the possibility of playing in the first division after placing second behind a stronger Marsascala outfit. Indications of a possible defection by B’Bugia provided Exiles with a golden opportunity to play with the top teams. The Committee grasped this great chance and decided to go for it.

The Team

It was Joe Sciortino’s second year as coach having piloted the team a season earlier in a tough second division campaign dominated by Marsascala.

The initial squad consisted of Antoine Sciberras, Nigel Camilleri, Skipper Stephen Paris, Peter Apap, Kurt Rossi, Richard Ellis, Michael Paris, Michael Camilleri, Karl Borg, Malcolm Jones, Silvio Borg (back with the team), George Gregory (ex Sliema),
Simon Stilon, Kenneth Incorvaja, Ivan Muscat, Kris Busietta, Stevie Grech and Michael Pace Balzan.

The squad was predominately young and inexperienced however the element of skill was present as well. The Club had managed to get the signature of Georgian Player Revaz Tchomakidze one of the world’s strongest and gifted players. The spectators that thronged the terraces of the National Pool witnessed one of the best players ever to have played in the local scene.  Revaz had played for crack Italian team Florentia whose President Sig Gianni Lonzi was only too pleased to see this prodigy grace also the Swimming Pool at Tal-Qroqq. Revaz eventually changed his passport to enable him play with the Russian national waterpolo team. His presence in the water was and still is a human force to be reckoned with.

A Good Start indeed 

Our debut against 1995 first division champions San Giljan was for the team a memorable one indeed. The match finished 7-9 in their favour. Exiles won the first and third session against the more-quoted adversaries. We drew the final session, but a 0-4 deficit in the second session tilted the match towards San Giljan in whose ranks was Mark Attard an Exiles’ product who wanted to taste top waterpolo. Exiles fought back to close in at 6-7 with a superb goal taken by Malcolm Jones from 10 metres.

The next match against Sirens also produced an acceptable score considering the gigantic difference in the squads. We were on the verge of registering a surprise win when at the start of the last session both teams stood at 4-4 before the class of Sirens and the fatigue on our side emerged to lose the last session 0-5.

The Press was admiring the fighting spirit shown by the gritty team. Praise was being showered on the heartening performances. It with immense pride that members of the team as well as officials of the Club were being congratulated in the terraces of the National Pool. The fine performance against Sirens earned Antoine Sciberras the player of the week award.

The two encounters against future league champions Sliema were among the best matches played that season.  A memorable match was the first one played against Sliema after two sessions Exiles were leading 2-0 before losing the third and fourth session 0-4 and 1-4 for a final score of 3-8. In the second round, Exiles gave a polished display against a team that was sure of the two points and used the match to make use of the turnover in preparation for the eventual league decider which they managed to win against Sirens.

The team lacked depth as was evident when certain key players were either fouled out of the game or else showed signs of fatigue. This did not weaken their determination. There were no-contest matches ending in double scores against our lads. In the first match against Neptunes, Exiles lost the game  in the first quarter 1-5 and never recovered even though  the Reds’ defence took quite some time to control Revaz scorer of seven of Exiles’ final tally of eight goals against the fourteen netted by Neptunes who had registered their first win in the league after five outings.

The second round matches highlighted the disparity between Exiles and the rest of the field with the team giving up too early in the games before reacting.

The Verdict

Ironically, the team did not rise on both occasions when they met Valletta United- what had initially been considered by the Press and Coach Sciortino as being the closest team to our level. The scores in both matches (4-11) and (6-12) clearly indicated that our opponents were tactically and mentally better prepared to ease off  their relegation worries and hand the wooden spoon to Exiles.

For the record, Exiles ended up empty handed but as we shall see in the next part, the team was given another chance the following season to play again with the big guns of the local game.