Queen's visit postpones football matches

Despite the dwindling crowds at domestic football matches, the Malta Police Force’s extraordinary commitments during Queen Elizabeth's forthcoming visit will mean that the Premier League matches scheduled for the last weekend of November will be moved to another date.

In a statement issued by the Malta Football Association, secretary-general Bjorn Vassallo said that given the police’s commitments at the CHOGM meeting between 27 and 29 November and another “state event,” all football matches falling on these dates will be rescheduled.

He said that no police officers will be available to man the football stadia as officers will be solely committed to the state events.

Apart from the CHOGM event, which will see some 53 heads of state from Commonwealth countries including Queen Elisabeth II participate in the conference in Malta, the country will also be hosting the Valletta Summit on Migration, a meeting between EU states and key African partners, between 11 and 12 November.

Earlier this month, Peter Paul Zammit resigned from his position of Head of Security for International Events but in comments to MaltaToday he said this had no bearing on the security and organisation of the events scheduled for November.