H. E. Dr. George Abela Visits MAAA Head Quarters

The following is an official communication of the MAAA:

On Wednesday the 20th of May, 2009, H. E. Dr. George Abela paid a curtsy visit to the offices of the Malta. Amateur Athletic Association at its Headquarters in Marsa, where he was welcomed by Mr Anthony Chircop, President of the MAAA and other members of the MAAA Council as well as some Presidents of the various clubs affiliated to the MAAA..

In his welcome address to the President Mr. Chircop gave a brief overview of the progress that the sport has made these last twenty years or so, going back to the time that the track at Marsa was first laid with synthetic rubber which made all the difference to performances in local athletics.

He then described how the sport continued to improve since the first Games of the Small States of Europe were first held in Malta in 1993. It was thereafter that the MAAA started receiving funding from the Maltese Olympic Committee, the IAAF and the EAA which helped the association to strengthen its Coaching structure, continued the President of the MAAA. Mr. Chircop in fact gave credit to the coaches, the clubs and the dedication of the athletes themselves for the winning of a considerable number of medals in these games especially those won when the event was held in Malta followed by the games held in San Marino and in Andorra, in more recent years.

Mr. Chircop then recalled the fact that as Coaches and athletes became more professional they started requesting more facilities such as gym equipment, medical facilities, physiotherapy and message services as well as re-habilitation facilities such as a jaccuzzi and saunas so that athletes could recover more quickly after tough training sessions as well as to help prevent injuries. He continued to say that one usually finds all these facilities all grouped together in a ‘high performance training centre’ of which there are several around Europe. The MAAA had made plans precisely to build such a performance centre at the Matthew Mciallef St. John, Mr. Chircop explained. He cited that the Association had applied for EU Funding required for the project. Unfortunately the MAAA was told that such projects cannot be funded from EU funds before the government includes sports as one of the the Priority Axis in the Operational Program.

Mr. Chircop explained to H.E. the President that it was not just athletics but most of the sports disciplines in Malta that would be able to benefit from EU funding to improve their facilities to international specifications if they could be able to apply for EU funding assistance.

Mr. Chircop then handed two letters to President Abela. The first letter was from Mr. Lamine Diack. President of the International Association of Athletic Federations and the second one was from Mr. Hansjorg Wirz, President of the European Athletic Association. Both Presidents thanked President Abela for honoring the Maltese Association with his visit and augured him a successful and fruitful tenure.

President Abela thanked Mr. Chircop for the welcome address. He confessed that being a long time member of the MAAA he considered himself among friends. He had a lot of admiration for the work done by the Council of the MAAA, appreciated the improvement in the level of athletics in the more recent years but would like to see it moving forward and managing its own track facilities.

He also stated that he loved all sport and would be looking into the situation to see if Sports could be included in the list of Priority Axis so that local Sports entities would be able to apply for EU funding to improve their facilities.

He finally also expressed the wish that the MAAA would help him raise funds for the Community Chest Fund through the organization of a Road Race. President Abela, who is a very keen long distance runner himself, declared that he would personally participate in a road race hoping that his participation would help attract more interest and perhaps help raise more donations for the Community Chest Fund.

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