Noel Debattista HSYN Secretary & Tournament Director

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3 Hamrun Spartans Youth Nursery is once again organising the Annual Easter Tournament dedicated to its Founder, Tony Bajada. The 11th edition of this Tournament will inaugurate the Nursery s 25th anniversary celebrations. The Tournament will once again be an international edition with the participation of Athlone ADSL from Ireland who will be taking part in the 1998 category. The Tournament, which will be held between Wednesday 4th and Wednesday 11th April, is once again being organised with the collaboration of the Hamrun Local Council. In this year s edition, a total of 13 local football nurseries and the Irish team are taking part in four different categories: children born in 2003, 2002, 2000 and Matches in the younger categories will be played on a round robin system without declaring any winners while the 1998 category teams will be competing for the Tony Bajada Challenge Cup. In the younger categories, everyone s effort is important to achieve what one would expect from such festivals. The respective coaches should give all children enough time to play and the parents should leave their children enjoy the time they spend on the field and encourage them through positive support. RESPECT THE OPPONENT ON & OFF THE PITCH is the slogan being proposed for the tournament in order to promote fair play amongst all teams. On behalf of the Organising Committee, the sponsors and the participating Nurseries, I would like to welcome Athlone ADSL from Ireland for their first visit to Malta and their participation in this year s edition of Tony Bajada Memorial. I am confident that this will be a positive experience both for the foreign and local teams. I would like to thank all the sponsors who have supported once again this Event and especially the Hamrun Local Council for their collaboration throughout the year. Noel Debattista HSYN Secretary & Tournament Director 3

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6 25 years have passed since Tony Bajada, who became a great friend of mine through our children who used to play in the same team, came up with the idea to set up a football Nursery in Hamrun, an organisation that would encourage children from our home town and help them increase their talent. It was always when and how his dream would come through. Finally we decided to go forward and speak to Mr. Victor Tedesco, the former Hamrun Spartans President, to have his views on Tony s Idea. He Immediately accepted our proposal and were offered one of the rooms at the Club s premises. The first official committee meeting was held on Wednesday 16 th December Through these 25 years the Nursery produced many players with most of them making their debut in senior football with the parent club Hamrun Spartans. Apart from their parent club there were players who made it in top flight with other clubs. Today, I have another ambitious project I wish to see completed, that of the Nursery premises extension. Together with the hard working Nursery Committee we finally were given the green light from the MEPA to undergo this project. Preparations to start the works are in final stages now and soon we will be laying the first concrete! As I look back I wish to congratulate and thank all those committee members who year after year contributed in Tony s dream, whom today he is still in everyone s heart. I wish all participants every success and enjoy this week of football were the most important is that enjoy football while they learn, words Tony used to say in such Festivals! Noel Attard HSYN Chairman 6

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10 25th Anniversary, how years gone by. I can still remember when, at a young age, my son Denis, my nephew Gilbert Mifsud, Laurence Attard (the present Nursery Chairman's son) and other boys who came from the locality of Hamrun used to attend football training sessions at "Skola Sport". Most of the time, they used to be accompanied by their fathers and seeing that they were quite a good number of boys, my husband Tony and present Nursery Chairman Noel Attard made arrangements for them to play with Maltese and Gozitan teams. It used to be fun for the boys as well as all the family as we used to go and watch them play and give them our support. The wish of my husband Tony, Noel and others was to have a Youth Nursery representing Hamrun Spartans Football Club. It was not an easy task! However, the first committee was formed on 16 th December One of the first tasks involved working hand-in-hand with the Executive Committee in the negotiations with the Maltese Government to acquire the piece of land to build a football ground, which ground would eventually be used by Hamrun Spartans FC Youth Nursery as well. Years later, after a lot of hard work and numerous meetings, the football ground was built and named for the great gentleman who always wanted the best for the Hamrun Spartans Football Club and supporters - Victor Tedesco. Memories of these twenty five years, bring both joy and happiness. Most of all, one appreciates that a good number of boys and girls benefited from the hard work of coaches and the hard voluntary work of officials and helpers. Violet Bajada 10

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12 ATHLONE - THE HEART OF IRELAND The town of Athlone is located in the very centre of Ireland on the banks of the River Shannon and is the thriving commercial and industrial capital of the Irish midlands. Athlone owes its origins to its position as an ancient fording point on the River Shannon. A man-made causeway across the river has existed since the year 1000 AD at least, while the earliest recorded bridge was built in The first stone castle was erected in 1210 and from the mid-thirteenth century Athlone was a walled town. Athlone was of huge strategic importance with the famous two sieges of Athlone in 1690 and 1691 during the Williamite and Jacobite Wars in Ireland. Today Athlone is regarded as the capital of the Irish midlands. The town and its hinterland has a population of around 25,000 and is a vibrant commercial, retail, industrial and tourist centre. Athlone is also home to an Institute of Technology on a 45 acre campus and has more than 5,000 students. The Athlone District Schoolboy/Girls League (ADSL) was founded in 1977 and provides organised football for 1,400 young players for age-groups from Under-9 up to Under-17. Athlone has a long and very proud football history and tradition. The town s senior club, Athlone Town Football 12 Club, founded in 1887, is the oldest senior club in the Republic of Ireland and Athlone was a stronghold of the game outside Dublin in its formative years. Athlone provided four of the first international team to represent the country after independence at the 1924 Paris Olympics and the first two captains of the Ireland team were Athlone players. Athlone Town was the first Irish club to win a UEFA Cup tie and its most famous day was in 1975 when beating AC Milan 0-0! Athlone also won two League of Ireland Championships in 1981and Athlone has produced more Irish internationals than any other town of comparable size and football is the biggest sport in Athlone. The team that will compete in the Hamrun Spartans Tournament is drawn from the ADSL Under-14 Development Academy. This tournament is part of the preparations for the Kennedy Cup which is the most prestigious schoolboy tournament in Ireland and which takes place in June. All the players are really looking forward to their visit to Malta. For more information on Athlone see and for more information on the ADSL see

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16 FREELANCE SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER

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28 Hamrun Spartans F.C Tony Bajada Challenge Cup Winners The Officials with the respective Team Captains before the 2011 final Captain Luca Bugeja soon after the presentation U.S. Triestina, Italy finalists 28

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30 RULES AND REGULATIONS 1. Nurseries registered with The Youth FA, nurseries registered with the Gozo Football Association and foreign football schools/ academies/nurseries are eligible to participate in this Football Tournament. 2. Children born after 1 st January 2006, children born after 1 st January 2002, children born after 1 st January 2000 and children born after 1 st January 1998 are eligible to participate in this tournament. 3. Before the start of the Tournament, each participating team taking part in the 1998 category has to present three copies of Registration Forms. Thirty minutes prior to each game, the line-ups must be filled in in triplicate by each team and presented to the Organising Committee. The Youth FA card of each player must be at the disposal of the event organisers. Officials of teams participating in categories 2006, 2002 and 2000 have to present one Registration Form before commencing their first game. 4. Each participating player has to play the entire Tournament with the same number as listed on the Registration Form. 5. In category 2006 every team may register up to ten (10) players, categories 2002 up to fourteen (14) players and categories 2000 and 1998 up to eighteen (18) players. 6. Category 2006 games are played on a four (4) v four (4) basis, category 2002 games are played on an eight (8) v eight (8) basis, while games of categories 2000 and 1998 are played on an eleven (11) v eleven (11) basis. Each team can make use of all substitutes. A player who has been substituted cannot enter the pitch again in the same game. 7. Duration of matches: 2006 Category: fifteenth (15) minutes each half, with ten (10) minutes rest Category: twenty five (25) minutes per each half, with ten (10) minutes rest and 1998 Categories: thirty (30) minutes each way, with five (10) minutes rest. 8. In Categories 2004 and 2002, the OFFSIDE and BACKPASS rule will not be observed, while in Category 2006 KICK-IN will be applied instead of throw-in. In categories 2004 and 2002, the normal GOAL KICK will be applied from the imaginary line with the opponent 5 meters from ball. In category 2000 and 1998 the normal rules and regulations of the game will be applied. In Category 2006 play will be in the form of Fun Games without goalkeeper and with smaller goal posts. 9. In the 1998 Category, if a player is shown two yellow cards throughout the tournament or shown a red card in a match, he will be automatically suspended in the following game. Other actions may be taken by the Disciplinary Board. 10. Each team participating in Category 2006 should present a ball size three (3), while teams in the 2002, 2000 and 1998 Categories, should present a ball size four (4) for their games. 11. Only registered players, coaches and two officials are eligible to enter the pitch during the games with their respective teams. Coaches and officials should stay in the area allocated to their team. 12. Football shoes with metal studs are not allowed. The use of shin guards is mandatory - they will be inspected by the match officials. 13. Categories 2006, 2002 and 2000 play in a round robin league format. In these categories, no winners will be declared. 14. In the 1998 Category, the teams will be divided into two groups and will play in a league format of one round. The team classified first in Group A will play against the team classified second in Group Band the team classified first in Group B will play with the team classified second in Group A. The winners of the Semi-Finals will contest the Final. The losing teams of the semifinals will play for third and fourth place. Teams classified third, fourth and fifth in Group A play against the teams classified third, fourth and fifth in Group B respectively. 15. In the event of teams ending up with the same number of points in the group stage of the 1998 category, first the direct encounter will be considered, then overall goal difference and then the overall number of goals scored. In the event of remaining the same, five (5) penalties will be given between the two teams. 16. If a Nursery or team fails to honour a fixture, this will be reported to The Youth FA. 17. In case any argument that may arise is not covered by these rules and regulations, the rules and regulations of The Youth FA will be applied. 18. The Organising Committee's decisions are final and cannot be appealed. 30

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