| |
|
History |
Tennis in
Malta
A brief history of the Malta Tennis Federation
1966 will for long be remembered as the birth year of tennis
in Malta. Although previous organizations had been set up
way back in 1920 and 1949, these LTA’s had been disbanded.
The sport which we now see flourishing on our islands, in
its first years had been restricted to a limited number of
players, with access to the then few existing clubs being
considerably difficult for Maltese citizens. However tennis
has, since its very first years, enjoyed a good popularity
among the Maltese citizens, mainly due to the British
Military presence on our island. In fact tennis wise, we owe
a lot to the British as tennis courts mushroomed over Malta.
These were mostly located in chosen parts of the island,
with the main courts being at the Union Club and the United
Services Sports Club (now the Marsa Sports Club).
The 5th day of September of 1966 saw the first meeting of
the MLTA, when the promoters of the association – Mr. A.
Herrera, Mr. O. Tanti and Mrs. F. Herrera, opened an
important page in the history of tennis in Malta.
The setting up of a working committee, and the drawing up of
a statute immediately led to the official birth of the Malta
Lawn Tennis Association on the 10th October 1966, chaired by
the late Mr. L.B. Pinto; Mr. A. Herrera and Mrs. P. Vassallo
started the series of secretaries and treasurers
respectively. The first committee meeting was held on Monday
17th October 1966 at the USSC when various items of national
importance were dealt with. Few of the items on the agenda
comprised the approval of the association’s rules by club
representatives, a coaching course to be led by Mr. Pinto,
affiliations, and the possibility of holding a Malta
Championship the following year. This was in fact held in
1967, and since then has been organized without fail.
Tennis in Malta is now in its thirtieth year and since its
existence has seen the setting up of various major and minor
clubs. With further direct interest in the game always
flourishing, several clubs were created, some of which date
back to the first years of the MLTA’s existence. In fact,
apart from the Union Club and the Marsa Sports Club, there
were the Rabat MPFA, Hamrun Tennis Club, Banks’ Sports
Association, Civil Services Sports Club and Exiles Club.
Some of these are still very active members of the Malta
Tennis Federation, joining more recent clubs such as the
Vittoriosa Lawn Tennis Club, Tennis Club Kordin, Catenians,
Balluta Rackets, Swieqi/St. Andrews Tennis Club, Rinella
Tennis Club and Zejtun Allcomers Tennis Club – to mention a
few. Obviously, we cannot forget the club on our sister
island Gozo – the Gozo Island Tennis Club. The most recent
additions to the list of affiliated clubs were the B’Kara
Tennis Club, St. Aloysius Tennis Club, Medical Tennis, Malta
University Tennis Club and Zebbug Tennis Club.
In its strive to further improve the game in Malta, the MLTA
soon aimed at International levels, and in 1985 Malta was
accepted as a full member of the ITF during its AGM held in
Barcelona. This enabled the Men’s National Team to
participate in the Davis Cup in 1986, while the ladies took
part in the Federation Cup. This membership also meant that
Malta could organize official ITF events, which turned into
reality in 1987, when the first Satellite Circuit was
organized.
1989 opened another important chapter in the milestones of
the history of Maltese Tennis. The ETA accepted Malta as a
full member and entrusted Malta with the organization of
another ETA tournament.
During the years 1990-2000, considered to be the golden
years of local tennis, big leap forward were experienced.
The local association not only participated in a number of
international tournaments abroad, but proved itself capable
of organizing such international events in Malta with
honourable success, reaching international standards. No
less than four European Championships, two Davis Cup ties,
three ATP Challenger Tournaments, two ITF Junior World
Ranking events, as well as other friendly encounters were
orginised.
The 1994 Annual General Meeting of the MLTA brought with it
a new name – the Malta Tennis Federation. That year’s AGM
also saw an important change in the Federation. The previous
‘Malta Tennis Umpires Association’ was amalgamated to the
Malta Tennis Federation, leading to the forming up of
another sub-sector of the MTF the MTFOC (Malta Tennis
Federation Officiating Committee).
The President at the time of the Malta Tennis Federation,
Mag. Dr. Lino Farrugia Sacco, who was also active in the
administration of the early MLTA era, formed part of the
Administration team of the European tennis scene. In fact,
Dr. Farrugia Sacco was a member of the European Tennis
Association’s Men’s Committee – an honour indeed for the
Malta Tennis Federation.
Peter Zammit became President in the year 2000 after Mr
Justice Farrugia Sacco became President of the Malta Olympic
Committee. Peter Zammit continued the good work and during
his tenure the Davis Cup Zonal Group and the Tennis Europe
Junior AGM were held in Malta.
In 2004 Tony Cilia Pisani took the Presidency and during his
tenure the MTF had a very active period organizing once
again the AGM of Tennis Europe, the FED Cup, the Coaches
Symposium, and the ITF Level II Coaching Certificate.
Dr. David Farrugia Sacco [son of Lino] was elected in 2008.
During his tenure to date, there has been a steady increase
in the number of international junior tournaments organised
locally which now total six per year from the original two,
the setting up of the Junior Academy, the organization of a
FED Cup, a level 1 ITF Coaching Course, and the composition
of the Officiating Section. The MTF is currently working to
launch a national coaching programme to be spread in local
schools.
Tennis has also proved to be one of the leading sports in
Malta as regards Small Nations’ Games. To date tennis has
brought over five gold medals, six silver medals and
seventeen bronze medals.
|
|
|
