Perception towards sport is changing, MOC director believes after second successful GSSE

As Malta comes off the back of a second successful Games of the Small States of Europe, the Maltese Olympic Committee’s Director for Sport has told The Malta Independent on Sunday that she believes local perceptions around sports are starting to change.

Charlene Attard, herself a former Olympian in athletics, has been the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC)’s Director for Sport since 2021, and she played a key role in the contingent which won Malta’s first ever Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in 2023 on home soil and in the most recent GSSE in Andorra, where Malta registered its best ever result for a foreign-held games.

Attard agreed with the notion that people’s perception over the last few years has started to slowly change in such a manner that sports is being given more of a priority, especially among youths.

“Maybe it’s my opinion or perception, but in the last three years I think that the number of parents supporting their children in sports has increased,” she said.

“We can see it in the sacrifices that the parents make; we have a good number of athletes in the youth teams who are dependent on their parents and the sacrifices that they do,” she added.

She said that recent investments in new facilities across the country have also helped, as better facilities attract more people – but all in all she said it all comes together as one holistic system.

“It’s not just the MOC, the clubs, the federations, or SportMalta… it’s all of us working together,” she said.

Attard was interviewed a week after Malta registered its best ever showing at a foreign-hosted GSSE, as the country’s athletes came away from the week-long Games in Andorra with a total of 56 medals – 13 of which were gold, eclipsing the pre-tournament target of nine.

Asked how the MOC moves forward from this achievement, Attard said that like with all editions of the games, the MOC will start working with the local federations. 

“We’ve got the list of sports for the 2027 and 2029 games – some sports are in every edition, but when a new sport is added there is an extra special focus on it to make sure we have a team to take to compete with,” she said.

One example of a new sport for 2027, she noted, will be archery.

Sailing is also making a return – a sport in which Malta picked up three out of eight gold medals during the 2023 GSSE – and waterpolo – a sport in which Malta consistently qualifies for the European Championship – will be a part of the tournament as well.

Asked about the prospect of these two sports being a part of the games, Attard said that the MOC is looking forward to having waterpolo in the contest – although she wryly noted that so are Montenegro. 

Montenegro finished in 6^th place at the last Waterpolo European Championships held in 2024, while Malta finished in 15^th.

“There is sailing as well where we have a good team, but they are very competitive events so we definitely cannot approach things saying that we will win this or that – but we are preparing the athletes to be the best they can be,” she said.

On what the MOC is targeting for the 2027 GSSE, which will be held in Monaco, Attard said that it’s difficult to say from now because while the sports that will be in the tournament have been identified, the actual events have not.

“Like always, we’ll focus on doing the best – but I definitely can’t tell you from now what the results will be,” she said.

Apart from the GSSE though, Attard pointed out that there are other events coming up.  One such event is the European Olympic Festival which is taking place in North Macedonia next month, and to which Attard said that some of Malta’s GSSE athletes have qualified.

“It’s an ongoing spectrum of events; obviously there is a lot of focus on the GSSE but it’s really non-stop,” she said.

The table tennis controversy

The one blemish on this year’s GSSE was controversy over the selections for the Malta table tennis team.

The MOC was criticised for the Malta Team being made up of four athletes who were not born or raised in Malta, but rather were awarded passports by merit prior to the last GSSEs in 2023, while the country’s national champion – Gabriel Grixti, who was amongst the most vocal about the controversy – was not selected.

Asked about it, Attard said that the MOC had followed the rules of the Games in terms of the athletes’ nationality, and had issued their conditions for selection months before the Games on their website “so everyone knows what there is.”

“At the end of the day those who make the cut will be part of the team and those who don’t are not part of the team – that’s how it works,” Attard said.

Asked, however, whether it was concerning to her that there was that degree of online backlash and that there didn’t appear to be all that much support from the public even after the Maltese table tennis contingent brought two gold medals home from Andorra, Attard said that she had not followed what was said online during the Games.

“It’s people’s opinion and preference, media is strong, and we don’t have control on what people like or comment… but I don’t really have an opinion about it,” she said.

MOC’s engagement with youths and sports federations

Asked how the MOC works with federations in order to prepare the teams and athletes for competitions such as the GSSE, Attard says that after receiving funding through the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) the MOC had restructured many of its previous systems.

The MOC received €5 million in funding from the NDSF – which is funded by the income of Malta’s golden passport scheme – after the successful 2023 GSSE which were held on home soil.

She said that funding is now on the basis of results through what is called the Carded Athletes Scheme.

The MOC says on its website that this system “enables a more targeted approach in providing support and resources, tailored to each athlete’s specific needs and potential” and “is sport-specific, taking into consideration factors such as age, maturation, the nature of the sport, and the Maltese sports environment.”

Attard explained that it also has a pathway system where support is granted depending on the events of a particular Games, with Carded Athletes potentially getting more support over and above.

“We also help the federations with funding for competitions, training camps, coaching systems, courses – there a lot of areas where we can support the federations and their national team activities,” she said.

Attard said that the MOC does not work at a direct grassroots level – its Sports for All programme is “very basic” – but it does get involved in supporting federations in youth development.

“We are working in youth fields with different federations so that they have a youth coach and a development coach because we understand that we need a good base of youths,” she said.

“It’s already very hard to find people to make the step up to a higher level and the smaller the base, the harder it is.  So we want a bigger base of high-level youths in order for more to eventually make that step,” Attard said.

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