St Georges FC

Dalli carried on playing up to 1958 when a series of injuries forced him to retire. As a matter of interest, although a great header of the ball, Dalli only scored one goal for Floriana.

This came on October 19, 1952 when Floriana were beaten 2-1 by St George’s. The scoresheet was still blank when Pullu Demanuele was injured and had to leave the field.

No substitutes were allowed in those days and Floriana had to carry on with 10 men. Half-an-hour later, Willie Xerri was injured and the Greens had to battle on with nine men.

A quarter-of-an-hour from the end, Oscar Bartolo scored for St George’s. Gritting his teeth, Dalli went up with his forwards to head the ball into the net for Floriana’s equaliser.

His joy, however, was short-lived as a minute from time Bartolo, again, scored to give the Saints a very rare victory over their old rivals from Floriana.

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It is always sad to see a great club down on its knees, although this happens all the time in football. Traditions count for nothing in this game and when a big club strikes a bad patch then everything seems to go wrong.

An example of this is the club of St George’s. Once the pride of Cospicua and Maltese football, the Saints started on a downward slide in the mid-1950s from which they found it difficult to recover and return to former glory.

The period 1958-1963 was characterised by inconsistency for St George’s and, perhaps, lack of ambition to really make it to the top. I remember the team of that period quite well and would not hesitate to name it as the best St George’s team of the post-war period.

In 1958-59 the Saints walked away with the Second Division championship, playing a kind of football rarely seen at the stadium at the time. A look at a typical line-up of that era showed a crop of players who were the envy of all the other clubs.

Players like Ellul, Frendo, J. Mizzi, J. Scerri, Schreiner, C. Mifsud, Ciantar, Scicluna, Lolly Cuschieri and Stivala were all first-class players but the stars of that fine team were the elegant Freddie Delia, the incomparable Eddie Mizzi and the one and only Peppi Delceppo. All these players would carry a hefty transfer fee on their heads nowadays.

Back in the top league in 1959-60, St George’s went through a very good season finishing in a healthy fourth place in the final standings. The highlight of their season came in the Christmas Tourney when playing against crack Austrian club ASK Grazer.

Playing with their traditional zest and enthusiasm, and a certain amount of skill, they beat the Austrians 1-0. The vital goal came from a perfectly-taken penalty by Eddie Mizzi.

The next year the Saints kept up their good form, finishing fifth in a season in which they were never in serious relegation trouble. It seemed for a while that the good old days of the Cospicua club were back again.

They certainly had the credentials but the next season, the Saints failed once again to sustain their progress.

1961-62 was a disastrous year for the team from Cottonera. They only managed seven points from a possible 28 and only avoided the drop because that season only one team was relegated.

What can one say? The players were there and they certainly had the potential to go places. However, the old problems cropped up again. Freddie Delia was transferred to Hibernians with whom he won two championship medals and Mizzi migrated to Sliema Wanderers. One by one, the other players abandoned ship and at the end of the season the Saints were relegated.

The club entered a rut and the same old record would be replayed over and over again. The team would win promotion only to be relegated again after a short stay in the top division.

By the end of the 1960s all the players of that fine team of 1958-1963 were gone, except, of course, Delceppo.

He remained loyal to the club up to his death, filling any position in which he was needed.

Since that time, St George’s have had a number of fine teams but none, in my opinion, as skillful and exciting as that of the 1958-63 period.

Ghalkemm l ma tanx niftakar succesi fl ghola divizjoni ghal Bormla xorta ghandi memorji sbieh ghax min eta ta 5 snien dejem kont nitla narhom ma missieri gewwa l s stejdum tal Gzira dak iz zmien bil lambretta.kelni iz zju charlie “God bless him ” kien jahdem hemm ukoll u fejn ma kontx nitla ma missieri kont nitla mieghu + hekk iz zijiet kollha kienu kienu fisati kemm fuq il futbol kif ukoll fir regatta, iz ziju zuzu scicluna RIP ghamel xi zmien fil kumitat ta St.George’s ukoll. ghadni niftakar li ziju ta Ommi iz ziju Ganni li kien sankristan fil knisja ta santa Tereza kien ikollu nervi kbar meta kienu jitilfu Bormla. Allura kif nista jien ma nkunx inhob lil klab tas St.George’s u Bormla regatta. fin 1974 ghalkemm kien ghat kelli 11 il sena niftakar sew dal l istagun li dik is sena konna gejna it tielet fil first(premier tal lum) konna ntighilu il ground min hafna qabel u kont niehu gost bdik il folla enormi tati suport u theggeg li team ta Bormla..