Antonio Briguglio is regarded as one of the best referees Maltese football has ever witnessed. His no-nonsense approach earned him the respect of players, coaches and club administrators during a career that spanned almost three decades. On Monday, Briguglio is celebrating his 90th birthday, and to mark this achievement he sat down with Valhmor Camilleri to share his career memories.
Since I started my career in sports journalism, there have been very few football referees that had the charisma and enjoyed the respect of Antonio Briguglio.
For everyone associated with the ‘Beautiful Game’ Briguglio represented the highest benchmark one can aspire to in a refereeing career.
Football was always in Briguglio’s blood, so much so, that before starting a career in officiating, he was a young football player with Balzan.
“During my years at the Lyceum, a friend of mine asked me to go and play football with Balzan FC,” Briguglio told the Times of Malta.
“I started to play with the Balzan U-18 side but then when I turned 18-years-old, my father got sick, and I had to start working.
“Inevitably I could not train the way that I wanted as I didn’t have much time. And I decided to pursue a career as a referee.
“I attended several referees’ courses both in Malta and abroad and slowly established myself as one of the top referees.”
Briguglio started as referee in 1960 and remained as one of the MFA officials until 1986.
He enjoys the record of being one of the most long-standing international referees in Malta, having served UEFA and FIFA for 17 years. In all he was given 68 international appointments, with the first being the clash between Germany and Turkey where he acted as an assistant referee.
“Among the most prestigious international appointments for me was being appointed for the 1972 UEFA U-21 Championship final clash between England and Germany at the Nou Camp, in Barcelona,” Briguglio said.
“Added to that, I was the only Maltese referee to be chosen by FIFA to officiate in the Asian Championships. I was given five appointments, with the most high-profile one being the clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which the latter won 3-0.
“I was also blessed to be given several appointments for UEFA club competitions, where I officiated top teams such as Tottenham, West Ham, Napoli, and Atletico Madrid.”
As regards, the Maltese football scene, Briguglio was one of the top referees in the top-tier of Maltese football and enjoys the record of being appointed the referee of the FA Trophy final for a record nine times.
“My secret behind my success was that I was someone who did his job with the maximum of professionalism,” Briguglio said.
“I had great passion for my career of referee and gave a lot of importance to my physical fitness, and that enabled me to always be close to the action on the pitch.”
Following his retirement, Briguglio was joined by fellow Maltese referees Joe Cassar Naudi and Paul Bonett and other European officials on the UEFA panel to upgrade the Laws of the Game for a four-year period.
Briguglio served as a referee not only in football but also in basketball.
“I started my involvement in basketball thanks to Joe Farrugia, the former Malta national coach,” Briguglio said.
“He approached me to be a team manager with a local club and during my time I started to get attracted to the sport’s refereeing and I became a basketball referee.
“During my time in the sport, I also had a number of international appointments in England and North Africa but my biggest satisfaction was that I was chosen as a neutral referee in the World Championships along with Louis Micallef.
“We fared very well in that tournament, so much so that I was given the appointment to referee the semi-final while Louis, who had an outstanding tournament, was given the job of refereeing the final.”
Asked on his views on how football changed, Briguglio said that today, the collective effort was more important than individual brilliance.
“Good players are still very much appreciated in football but what mainly makes the difference is the collective effort of a team. Added to that, the job of goalkeepers today is not just to effect saves but they are key players in the team’s build-up play.
“The VAR technology is a useful tool for referees. Unfortunately, it received a lot of criticism and a few weeks ago there were calls for it to be abolished. Personally, I think that technology has an important role to play in football but it has to be used well.”
Briguglio said that the Malta Football Association is doing everything in its power to help Maltese referees to develop their talent.
“Foreign referees’ coaches are brought here regularly to help our officials, and that is very important,” he said.
“I believe that we have referees that are not inferior to officials from bigger countries.
“The MFA tries to provide them with all the opportunities they can so it sees Maltese referees continue to advance in their careers.”
Briguglio’s sterling contribution to sport was rewarded in 2022 when he was awarded the Medal for Services to the Republic (Midalja għall-Qadi tar Repubblika).
Apart from his contribution in football and basketball, he was also the first president of the Federazzjoni Klabbs tal-Boċċi, was part of the administration of the Malta Table Tennis Federation and for 15 years was senior coach at SkolaSport, working with youngsters.
“Sport has been an integral part of my life and I thank God for giving me the strength to enjoy so many experiences and I hope to have a left a positive mark on all the people I met throughout my career.”
