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Fourteen meetings of the Council of the MFA were held with the atmosphere being quite serene except for some time when the crisis was still unsolved. The Executive Committee met 24 times. The Executive had to discuss the proposal of a new TV rights offer put forward by the Premier League Clubs Standing Committee. This item was led to the first verbal clash during the AGM.
Joe Caruana Curran said that the contract offered by VH Sport Media, the alternative TV rights contract proposed by the Premier League Clubs Standing Committee, was substantially better than the one Dr Mifsud had sealed on behalf of the MFA in August 2000 with CWL. He said that for a game against Germany VH Sport Media offered Lm982,000 while CWL offered Lm425,000 while for a game against Italy, VH Media offered Lm 600,000 as opposed to around a hundred thousand offered by CWL. He asked Dr Mifsud to confirm whether he was ready to drop the contract signed by the MFA in August 2000. However Dr Mifsud said that he would drop that contact and try to match that contract with CWL. If they offer a similar contract, the MFA would sign a new agreement with CWL. Here Caruana Curran accused Mifsud of inconsistency and lack of transparency on the fact that he was going to use the right of first refusal with VH Sport Media.
Hibs president Anthony Bezzina claimed Dr Mifsud had said that he would opt for the agreement with VH Sport Media if it was better. Mifsud denied saying that and said that the MFA had to seek first another offer by CWL. Caruana Curran asked Dr Mifsud how could he admit that VH Media's contract was better and then say that he would try get a similar offer from CWL. Caruana Curran said that the Premier clubs presidents stood to gain nothing from this contract. However, as he said last year, since it was the clubs who obtained such a good contract, all the clubs within the MFA would benefit from any profit. Dr Mifsud rebutted claims of lack of transparency, saying that it was irrelevant which company was the deal going to be sealed. He said in the next meeting of the Executive Committee he will put forward a proposal to cancel the contract signed with CWL last year. Mifsud said that he will be using the fact that the contract was not valid since it was signed by just one official. Caruana Curran, Bezzina and Robert Arrigo pointed out that this meant that Mifsud was admitting breaking the statute of the association. After claims by Bezzina that Gunther Netzer of CWL is 'threatening' VH Sport Media of legal action if they sign a deal with the MFA, Mifsud said that he had every right to inform CWL. Bezzina accused Dr Mifsud that he was not a gentleman but Dr Mifsud said that "whoever bribed players was not a gentleman". A number of presidents insisted that Mifsud withdraws the accusation who accepted this request. However the president passed on a sarcastic remark that there was no bribery in football.
The format for the Premier and First Division leagues will be retained while that for the Second and Third Division leagues could be changed in the near future. There is the possibility of reducing the number of teams in Division 2 and 3 to ten and creating the Fourth Division. The Competitions Committee will be discussing this matter.
The Reserves League replaced the Under 21 League. This will be retained for next season. However as from next season, the maximum age of players playing in this league would be 23. In the Youth League, players aged 16 to 19 will be eligible.
Fourteen doping tests were carried out with 56 players being tested. Only one tested positive.
This item was discussed once again during the approval of the Audited Accounts.
The association is now trying to make the Health & Leisure Centre once again profitable and not to register a loss in operating the Centenary Stadium by more interest in the competitions held there in order to receive more income thanks to spectators and sponsorship. There should be good marketing for the facilities at the Millennium Stand to generate more income.
The association is feeling the need of setting up a new body which makes sure that all money spent is according to the budget of the association. The MFA should have a marketing department working on a professional basis which prepares and follows the association's business plan.
Besides the income received from FIFA and UEFA, all the other income is generated from the use of the facilities of the MFA by foreign clubs, TV rights, adverts in stadiums for domestic and international games and sponsorship.
As regards sponsorship, the sponsor of the national team, Maltacom plc has not renewed the sponsorship. Tuttosport were the kit and equipment sponsors through Italian firms Kronos and Errea. The association is currently discussing the renewal of a sponsorship agreement with Melita Cable from which member clubs used to benefit. Other sponsorship agreements were those with Go Mobile regarding Second and Third Division clubs, Central Cigarettes regarding the national leagues, FA Trophy, Super Cup and the international tournament which comes to an end this year, Lowenbrau regarding the pre-season tournament which has been renewed and the Public Lotto Department regarding the quadrangular tournament (Super 5 Cup) which was extended for another year. The association is discussing the renewal of other sponsorship agreements with Melita Cable regarding the Reserves League and HSBC regarding Youth and Women's competitions. Another sponsorship was that of Air Malta. Thanks to these partnership agreements, clubs received a total of Lm72,714.
During the discussion of the part of the accounts related to the Millennium Stand, there was another heated dispute between Caruana Curran and Dr Mifsud took place as it emerged that the Millennium Stand will be costing the association Lm3,281,476. Vice-president Mr Ludovico Micallef said that the initial estimate was that of Lm 2.5 million. Asked by Caruana Curran, Dr Mifsud said no feasibility study had been done but without pool and other amenities, the cost would not have been much less. The target was to provide spectators with excellent facilities. Caruana Curran said that the MFA could have easily spent 'a bit' more to add the canopy. Mifsud said that the MFA was not ready to spent another Lm1 million for something which is not essential. After a heated argument between the two, Dr Mifsud said he was surprised that there were no other candidates for the presidency of the association.
Among the new amendments which were approved, no Officer of the Association can divulge any information relating to the association or the contents of any document of the Association which has come to his knowledge or in his possession because of his office. Any officer who breaks this clause will be guilty of breach of trust against the MFA and the president would be entitled to bring before the Executive Committee a motion of no confidence. If the Executive Committee agrees with such motion, the Officer has to relinquish his Office and will not be eligible to hold any position within the Association for 5 years. The Association will have the right to claim damages against the Officer.
Third Division clubs Birzebbugia St. Peter's and Zejtun Corinthians proposed an amendment to the statute regarding the number of members who represent the Second and Third Division. They were proposing that the number of seats occupied by Council Members in the Executive Committee will be made up of an equal number of Members representing each Division plus one member representing the Youth FA and two representing Member Associations. Another proposal on the same clause, this time by Sta. Venera Lightnings was to have two members representing the Youth FA. However both amendments were withdrawn following a request by Dr Mifsud who announced that an Extraordinary General Meeting will be held soon to discuss changes in the statute.
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Export Lions now take part in a tournament in Holland.
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