It was exactly thirty years ago on the Monday, the 8th September 1975 in the morning when Exiles won their first ever honour, the Knock-Out Competition by beating B’Bugia 4-1 with goals coming from Peter Paris (2), Brian Camilleri and Ray Manara. In the run-up to the final, Exiles easily disposed of Ta’Xbiex (8-2) and beat newly crowned champions Marsascala 7-5, which according to press reports proved to be the best match of the Knock-Out competition. In 1975 the team had started under the helm of Bertie Portelli a former stalwart of the local game however as the season progressed, he resigned and a tandem made up of Charles Grixti and Vanni Bruno took over for the rest of the season which saw a marked improvement in the team’s style of play from the previous years.
The following year Exiles engaged Paul Dowling as coach with Sergio Manara looking after the physical training. The former instilled determination, discipline, and the encouragement, which are needed to complement the technique and method of play, which the team had acquired following the previous year’s success. Sergio was tough and disciplined in the approach to his training methods. The sessions at the University Sports Pavilion and the adjacent running track will be recalled by all the players forming the squad. They will definitely recall the 4 X 40 sprints at Exiles pitch with Sergio sitting on a chair with his whistle and stop watch. Their awareness of being physically superior to their opponents changed the players’ mentality; proved to be a winning factor.
In addition to the 1975 squad, Exiles obtained the services of Stephen Dimech who helped the team immensely especially in the swimming power. Exiles carried forward their brilliant form to season 1976 with three excellent displays against B’Bugia (7-4), Ta ’Xbiex (6-1) and Marsaxlokk (7-1) to end the first round as clear favourites. There was a break of 28 days from the last match played and B’Bugia managed to sign from cold storage, none other than Freddie Grixti one of the best waterpolo players Malta has ever seen. He was instrumental in the three encounters that followed. Exiles just lost 5-6 to see the two point lead in the classification fizzle out and lost the decider 4-6 with “Freddie Grixti’s experience seeing B’Bugia side through this difficult test” (The Times of Malta 4th September 1976). He had scored a hat-trick. In the Knock-Out match two days later, B’Bugia beat Exiles 5-3 in the semi-final.
There was a glimmer of satisfaction at the end of a tough season when Exiles stubbornly wanted to prove that were worthy of playing in the top division a few years after affiliation. Coincidentally a year after lifting their first trophy, the team beat Valletta United (indeed it was a depleted side) 4-2 in the first Division Knock-Out competition which was open to all clubs. I remember the match was played in the morning at B’Bugia Pitch in a heavy downpour. Exiles were two goals down before recovering and scoring four goals in a row without a reply from the citizens who also missed a penalty in the process. The stamina and preparation of the duo Dowling / Manara paid dividends as the press showered Exiles with praise describing the team’s performance as impressive. It was a tour de force for the team having played no less than five matches in 12 days with the last one against Sliema in the semi-final, which we lost 0-5.
1977 can be considered as one of the glorious chapters of the club when the team won a notable double crushing all opponents. The team was strengthened with three acquisitions namely John ‘Buffalo’ Curmi, Edgar ‘Guge’ Grech and Mario Vella Laurenti. In the five matches played (there was one walk-over), Exiles scored 45 goals and conceded just 10. In the knock-out competition, 22 goals were scored against three. Leading the team during this season was the duo Paul Dowling and Vanni Bruno with the latter taking over at the end following Paul’s decision to part with the club.
Another good performance in the White Label Trophy crowned an excellent season for the team when we lost by one goal (4-5) against San Giljan. “Though losing they were never outclassed” The Times of Malta 9th September 1977.
Francis Pace Lupi, Adrian Farrugia, Brian Camilleri, Ray Manara, Pierre Cauchi, Peter Paris, Andrew Mallia, David Abela, Karl Fabri and the undersigned also formed part of the team.
This short cycle of three seasons ended as in the following year, for various reasons the unexplainable happened when instead of consolidating or strengthening, the team had to start from scratch after several of the first team players defected as we shall see in the next article.strengthening, the team had to start from scratch after several of the first team players defected as we shall see in the next article.
