Disciplines · Athletics Fact Sheet

There are records to show that in 1877, the English province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Fathers) opened a College for secondary education at St. Julians. In the teaching curriculum they included some sports disciplines, including athletics, so much so that records show that the first athletic meeting was held on the 14th May 1888.

However, even before that date, it appears that by 1888, there was already in existence, The Malta Athletic Club, when the members presented a Silver Cup to the Organising Committee to be given as a prize during the first athletic meeting.

The first initiatives for the formation of the Malta Amateur Athletic Association were taken by Mr. J. Gracey, who according to an article, which appeared in The Daily Malta Chronicle 21 January, 1929, was the founder of the association. He called for a preliminary meeting of a few interested persons, namely, Mr. R. Flores, Mr. P. Giorgio, Mr. H. Scerri, Mr. J. Holland, Mr. H.R. Pitre, Mr. Ransley (RN), Capt. H. Briffa and B.W. Cordwell who acted as Chairman. This meeting was at 152 Strada Zecca, Valletta, on the 29 November 1928. The members present agreed to form the Malta Amateur Athletic Association and a sub-committee was formed to draw up the Rules of the Association.

The first Track and Field Championships organized by the MAAA were held at the Empire Sports Ground, Gzira. Apart from the normal track and field events, the distances were, at that time, measured in yards. The tug-of-war was also included in the programme.

On the 21 April 1936, the Council of the MAAA decided to participate, for the first time, in an international event, the Berlin Olympic Games, which were held in August 1936. They also decided to hold the necessary trials in July on that same year to select the athletes. After the trials, the Association selected A. Cassar Torregiani (100m), A Bencini (100m) and P.E. Pace (400m).

Like most other associations, the MAAA suspended its activities during the war years and it was in fact on the 31 May 1946 that the Council held its first meeting after the war. It was during that meeting that the members agreed to issue an invitation for clubs to apply for affiliations. This meeting was held at the Melita Football Club, St. Ignatius Junction, Sliema. In the meantime athletic meetings were being organised separately by St. Edwards College and Stella Maris College followed years later, by The Lyceum and the University of Malta.

Malta was again represented in the Olympic Games that were held in London in 1948, by Nestor Jacono. Jacono who was clocking 9.8 seconds (for the 100 yards) placed 5th in the first heat.

At the beginning of 1950 there were only two clubs affiliated to the MAAA, namely the Pegaens AC and the Hermes AC. But it was during that time that the Council was making extraordinary efforts to increase the popularity of athletics in Malta. In fact by the end of that same year, seven other clubs were formed and also joined the MAAA and these were, Combined Secondary Schools, The Malta Catholic Action, St. Edward’s College, The Archbishop’s Seminary, Government Technical School, Hamrun, St. Albert the Great College and Atlanta Sports Club, The Boy Scouts Association became new members in 1951.

The Association also took part in the first official Mediterranean Games held in Alexandria in September, 1951 with the participation of George Bonello Dupuis in the 100m and the 200m, and Edward Turner and Lino Bugeja in the 400m and the 800m respectively.

Six years later, in 1958, the Association sent Mike Cialanzo to take part in the 400m event in the fifth edition of the European Athletic Championships where were held in Stockholm, Sweden. Since then the MAAA continued to participate in various other international events.

Athletics became more and more popular with athletic meetings and road races being organized by clubs, schools and the Association on a regular basis throughout the year. The standards in the performances of the athletes started to improve dramatically and athletes started to train more professionally when the Matthew Micallef St. John Athletic Track, at the Marsa was up-graded with a synthetic surface. This was done in preparation for the Games of the Small States of Europe, which were held in Malta in May 1993. We have nowadays an Association which has fourteen clubs affiliated to it and which works hand in hand with the IAAF, the Malta Olympic Committee and the Ministry for Sports in the further planning and development of athletes in these Islands.

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