To play in Amateur League II next season
Victoria Hotspurs won an historic vote at the Malta FA Extraordinary General Meeting as the Gozitan club were approved as a new member of the local governing body of football.
Delegates of the member clubs gave a strong sign of approval with 41 votes in favour and 11 against.
By this vote of approval, Victoria Hotspurs will now compete in next season’s Amateur League II, with all their fixtures to be held in Maltese stadia.
Victoria Hotspurs submitted a request to the Malta FA to become a full member thereof on October 2, 2023.
The request was discussed on more than one occasion at the Executive Board level and the members of the top brass of the local governing body of football confirmed that the Hotspurs fulfilled the formal requirements established by the MFA Statute.
Last March, the Malta FA Executive Board resolved the subject by asking the Hotspurs to withdraw from membership with the Gozo Football Association and their application would be put to vote to the member clubs.
Prior to the vote, Bjorn Vassallo, the MFA president, said that this issue was different to previous applications as it came from a team that is affiliated with another member association.
“Thus we need a bit of time to study this request so that all parties are satisfied and the interests of the parties involved are safeguarded,” Vassallo said.
“This situation has been followed by the MFA for the past six months, even at an Executive Board level. The Executive Board asked Victoria Hotspurs to send a request to withdraw their membership from the GFA as they couldn’t be a member of two governing bodies.
“The only disagreement between the GFA and Victoria Hotspurs was on the timeline on when Victoria Hotspurs asked to withdraw their membership.
The Gozitan governing body wanted the Hotspurs to pull out immediately while the Hotspurs asked to move out of the GFA once their application was accepted by the MFA.
“At the moment, Victoria Hotspurs are no longer members of the GFA as their membership ended last Friday.
“The Malta FA has no problem in welcoming the Hotspurs as our members provided they respect our conditions.”
Author
