.png)
.png)
.png)
Bruised pride – national anthem cut short, and war against the Calabrians
MFA chief executive says Mifsud was handed English text for pre-match message.
Malta's disciplined game against Italy was only marred by a last-minute goal that gave the Italians a 2-0 victory in Modena.
Malta national captain Michael Mifsud was unable to read out a pre-match message in Maltese yesterday evening, because the Maltese were handed a text in the English language.
Malta Football Association chief executive Bjorn Vassallo was quoted by inewsmalta.com saying the Maltese national team in Modena was handed a message in the English language - and not in Maltese - while the Italians were accorded the necessary respect to read out their pre-match fair play message in Italian.
But apart from being prevented from reading out in Maltese the pre-match message, the Maltese national team also had to endure a rudely-interrupted national anthem with Robert Samut's composition cut short before it was played halfway through.
While the Maltese national team played a disciplined defensive match against the mighty Italians, ranked sixth in the FIFA global rankings, conceding a last-minute face-saver to the Azzurri, back home the Maltese vented their anger against an overzealous Italian restaurateur who specialises in Calabrian fare.
On Facebook, the restaurant owner invited a patriotic backlash and boycott of his restaurant after a message he posted on the social media site raised the ire of Maltese supporters - 1,700 claim they won't eat at his restaurant.
"It was a just a joke... we're all Maltese brothers, united by the same problems of daily life. Don't be offended by the joke," the owner posted on the Facebook page that calls for his restaurant's boycott.
•
Il-calabrese gej minn south of the Po jigi fieri skond nies ta pajjizhu parti mill-Africa ghax skond dawn l-itaja tibda mill-Po 'l fuq. Camorrista li gejt hawn Malta tlaqqat ghax sibt ambjent li jghodd ghalik. Buffu.
•
We might be baboons but we have a nation island of our own and that means a lot.
Why did he hit his comments to the Lega Nord…. I am sure that they would call the Calabrians ‘zappa terra’ (i.e. bidwi in Maltese)!! Or worse 'Morti di Fame'
Anyway rest assured that from our part, relatives, work colleagues and friends we will not be setting foot in his restaurant…enjoy your pride!!!
•
with regards to the match itself the first goal was an offside while the second was preceded by a pazzini handsball. but all in all it was a pleasant match. with regards to the protocol next time round we should present the italian with an english or french text...as to their national anthem we could put the lega lombarda anthem from verdi's nabucco and see how the the corraggio fuggiamo take it.......as for the calabrese well there is one thing that maltese can do.....skip his restaurant.
•
Our esteemed guest surely knows that back home his fellow citizens deem all italians living in the southernmost part of the peninsula as arabs.
•
This Calabrian restaurant owner need not worry about us being bedouins. His Italians compatriots up north regard all Italians south of Rome as 'Saraceni'. He is among friends here.
•
This serves as a lesson that no foreigner is going to do anything for us. We have to do it ourselves. No wonder Mintoff's call was "Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox" because that's how foreigner feel about their country yet here in Malta we still idiots at the top that think that by using english instead of our native tongue we are somehow going to look better. Shame on the MFA for providing an english text message.
