(Article 22)

1999 - A year of Transition

A year of transition it was in 1999. The candidate taking over after the departure of Dirk Dowling needed the right credentials. The next coach had to instill the confidence into the players’ minds following the previous season’s low ebb at the top-level waterpolo. That choice fell on Sasko Popovski whom the Committee felt would be the right person to steer the team in an effort to regain first division status. Sasko had played for Gozitan team Otters when foreign players were allowed to participate in the domestic leagues. This short coaching stretch at Exiles proved to be of good experience for this Macedonian lad who was still active as a player having played for teams in continent.

Changes in the Squad

Some players had sought their luck with other clubs and did not feature in the 1999 line-ups: the previous year’s top scorers Silvio Borg, Ivan Muscat, Kurt Engerer, Cain Pavia and Mark Attard remained in the first division environment. Exiles had wanted to make partially up for these defections and managed to get Jason Vella – a strong centre - in their ranks. During his seven-year stint with the club, Jason proved to establish himself as one of the pillars of the team. His strong presence in the hole created numerous man-up situations which statistically the team did not reap the desired results arising from the numerical superiority in the water. The departure of certain regular players created space for new faces like Stevie Grech and Neil Kerr. Together with Karl Borg, Jason Vella and Michael Grima, Stevie and Neil were now the team’s marksmen as well the staying power of a relatively young team.

The Campaign

The competitions were dominated by Marsaxlokk. They made a clean sweep of the honours by winning the double. The rest of the pack was practically of the same level with the matches being decided by the odd goal. Exiles made a strong debut against Ta’ Xbiex (9-4) but missed their second encounter against eventual winners Marsaxlokk (5-6) in a very close encounter. Our opponents paraded an experienced and heavy side  and were a hard nut to crack. This defeat was followed by a drawn encounter against Valletta (6-6) and by a string of three straight wins before we met the leaders for the second round match. Marsaxlokk won with ease 6-3 to hypothecate their league championship practically after having finished off our side. Exiles managed another three wins to secure a runner-up position five points behind the winners.

Not a good harvest

The nineties proved to be a mixed decade. Other than the three seasons between 1996 and 1998 when the team competed in the first division leagues organized by the ASA, Exiles finished in the runner-up position in the remaining seven seasons. It was a question of so near but yet so far. The only cup lifted by Exiles was in 1991 when the second division knock-out competition was won thanks to a gallant effort by a decimated team lead by coach Alfred Cachia.

In the next articles we will read about the new millennium and it looks as though things look brighter.