Sports are very important to the Maltese. However, as befits a tiny nation, their ability to support often exceeds their ability to compete. This is not meant in a mean-spirited way, but objective. For example, Malta generally is very passionate about football. Thanks to satellite television, there are a great many supporters of Italian and English teams. I am told that the largest Manchester United Supporters Club outside England is in Malta! For a small island, that is incredible.
However, such a small population will always find it difficult to generate the gate receipts or television revenues that will enable the best teams to bring in the best stars and build great facilities. For example, one of the strongest Maltese soccer teams is Valletta FC, however, because of the small size of the city and it’s historic standing, the team plays outside the city walls – even for home matches. In other words, there are a great many constraints.
In contrast, the water borne version of the game – Water Polo – is very popular in Malta, and the Maltese are very good at it. On a small island, virtually everyone is a good swimmer and so there is a much stronger range of players to choose from and much more competition for places. Both Neptunes and Sliema are amongst the best teams on the island and often slug it out for the country’s honours. Needless to say, the nation is one of strong swimmers.
As might be expected, in a country so dependent on tourism, there are lots of very good quality hotels. Many of these hotels complement their facilities by having some form of outdoors pool area – a lido – often on the waters edge. For lots of tourists, Malta is a place where they can get some exercise and have fun in the water – it isn’t just for the locals.
For reasons unknown to your author, there seem to be lots of ordinary people taking part in extreme sports in Malta. There are certainly lots of swimmers and divers, kite surfers in the winter when the wind picks up, marksmen and even professional poker players!
Your author, for example, knows a number of Maltese that go on one or two trips each year to go skydiving. It turns out that there is not a lot of skydiving in Malta – they go to Sicily and Spain for this, but they are very keen. When thinking of the air, there is actually a pilot school in Malta – based at the airport – to train ordinary people to become pilots. This links quite well to other parts of the economy where the country is a growing force.
In aviation, there is a small, but growing, registry and – linked to the training – rules for Aircraft Operator’s Certificates (known as an AOC). Since Malta is an EU member state, licences and certificates issued can be applied within the full 27 countries of the EU, and typically the other EEA members as well. This is very valuable. The registry has attracted a number of small law firms to offer the associated services, bringing more aircraft into the Maltese system.
A great example of such a firm is http://www.acsmalta.com/further-information/air-operators-certificate/ who are based in San Gwann. While they have a small staff, they have been promoting the sector heavily worldwide and that is having the impact of opening opportunities for them and other competing firms as the benefits of being registered in Malta become more widely known.
This domain is for sale. For more details, please email search engine surge @gmail.com (please just remove the spaces).