Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512734
13 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 DECEMBER 2023 MALTA'S international successes in football have been few and far be- tween. Most of the success has been at men's club level with significant progress registered over the past few years in European competitions, al- though the group stages have so far escaped us. The men's national team has had far less success with the odd victory or draw that sparks some hope only to be dashed soon after. But the women's national team has broken the mould with an im- pressive run in the UEFA Nations League. The team yesterday not on- ly obtained promotion to League B but did so in the most impressive of ways. It was truly an unparalleled run. The statistics are nothing like Mal- ta has ever experienced in football: 13 goals scored, a single goal con- ceded by goalkeeper Janice Xuereb, five victories, one draw and not a single loss, and Haley Bugeja emerg- ing as top scorer of the tournament with eight goals. The women aced it from beginning to end and they deserve all the ac- colades and praise from a sporting public that has been yearning for such a victory. But the figures only tell one part of the story. It has to be acknowledged that the promotion is a crowning moment for the development work that has been taking place over the past two decades to improve wom- en's football in Malta. The success is not coincidental or borne out of luck. The game at a local level has improved and the national team today boasts of a handful of Maltese players who are playing at a professional level in foreign leagues. This is testament to the important work done at grassroots level by the Malta Football Association and other administrators at club level. The project that started 20 years ago now has a proper youth system for women footballers ranging from under-12 all the way to under-19 thus creating strong foundations for long-term success. But there is another factor that un- derpins the success – the winning attitude imbued by the inspirational national coach Manuela Tesse. In the coach's own words, the play- ing style has been revolutionised with the team playing possession football and adopting a pressing game. The Maltese women football- ers have confidence and it is evident that they walk onto the pitch with the intention of winning. This confidence and never say die attitude is often lacking in Maltese athletes but not the women's nation- al football team. And the effort and the success do not depend on singu- lar players despite the presence of the magical Haley Bugeja. Tesse has called up 46 different players during her tenure as coach over the past six months. "All play- ers understand that we have to re- tain a good level for every game," Tesse told MaltaToday last month. This drive to achieve better is visible on the pitch. Women's football is experiencing significant global growth, and its upward momentum shows no signs of diminishing. In parallel, Malta's women's team is also on an upward trajectory, which we are sure can continue in earnest if the right re- sources are poured into the game. The analysis of this splendid suc- cess is important because it can in- form future decisions. But for the time being we can put aside the numbers and toast this historical success for women football in Malta. Malta is proud of what these wom- en have achieved for the country, for football and for young women. Their fighting spirit and professionalism are an inspiration to the younger generations. This leader joins the rest of the nation in applauding this team and its historic achievement. All hail the queens of football. All hail Malta's queens of football maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt So… erm… what do you reckon is REALLY the likeliest explana- tion, for the (by a huge coinci- dence, 'German-led') European Commission to suddenly come out with such an extraordinarily daft idea, as 'to lower the driving age to 17'? Is it: a) 'to increase safety-levels on European roads'? Or; b) to give Germany's ailing automotive industry a little 'shot- in-the-arm'… by compensating for the loss of its lucrative Chinese market, through the instant crea- tion a whole new domestic one, numbering anywhere up to – wait for it – 8,000,000 potential con- sumers!!! (Because THAT, folks, is how many people actually exist, between the ages of 16 and 18, in the European Union today…) Naturally, I'll leave you to work out the answer for yourselves. (Even for the simple reason that, erm, it's not exactly 'V-2 rocket science', you know…). By the same token, however: '8,000,000' is also the maximum number, to which the quantity of new cars on European roads might conceivably grow… if Euro- pean countries are daft enough to actually ACCEPT this insane pro- posal (instead of rejecting it out of hand: like Malta is trying – but, alas, so far failing – to do). And just to put that figure into a little perspective: in Malta, the same statistic would work out at (very approximately) 5,000… a figure I reached by dividing the total number of Maltese citizens in the 15-19 bracket (20,000), by four. OK, I'll admit it's somewhat im- precise - mainly because the NSO doesn't provide more detailed breakdowns, than that - and in any case, it only represents the very maximum of 17-years-olds who may exist in Malta, today (as opposed to how many of them that will actually 'buy a car', as a result of this directive)… … but it does, at least, give us a rough indication, of how many new 'drivers' (and therefore, 'cars') might be instantly added to Malta's already over-burdened road network, if this proposal were to go through. And when you also consider that – just a few weeks ago – the same road network managed to get itself hopelessly 'clogged up': just because a single event (the Sigma conference) unleashed an estimated 2,500 taxis onto our streets, all at during the same morning rush-hour… … I shudder to even imagine what the traffic jams would be like, if Malta's eligible driving population were to suddenly ex- plode by roughly the same num- ber (or possibly much more, up to a maximum of around 5,000) … only not just 'on a single day', this time; but… … EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK!! FROM NOW, UN- TIL THE END OF TIME!!! Because THAT, when all is said and done, is the only real effect this astonishingly harebrained proposal will ever achieve, in practice. Far from 'increasing Eu- ropean road safety levels', it will only ever increase the number of cars (and therefore, congestion; pollution; accidents; injuries; deaths; etc., etc.) on European roads. (And to add insult to injury: all this, at a time when the EU is sup- posedly committed to doing the very opposite… by 'phasing out the combustion engine by 2050', remember?) Then again, however – and I on- ly mention this, to end on a slight- ly more 'hopeful' note – there is a small silver lining, to all this in- sanity. For if we really were short-sight- ed enough to add another 5,000 more cars to Malta's roads (over and above the 16,000 new ones we already import each year, as things stand today)… oh, our roads will certainly become 'saf- er', all right! Not, of course, because of any 'improvement' in the maturi- ty-levels of Maltese drivers… but simply because it would become physically impossible, to ever ac- tually 'drive on Malta's roads', at all! And viewed from that angle, at least: who knows? Maybe it's not such a daft idea, all things consid- ered…