President's Address during the AGM

by Joseph Zammit - 9th June 2012

The Club President gave this address during the Annual General Meeting which was held yesterday at the Club's House.

Although my first year as a president ended without any main honours apart from the First Division League won by the Women's team, I'm convinced that it was a positive year. We ended up in the third place and we kept our rhythm in the participation for the 16th year in the UEFA competitions, which is a record for Maltese football.

My first challenge was to unite the Club. With modesty I can say that I managed to find a method to unite all the Birkirkara supporters within our Club.

The administration, led by me, encountered a number of problems which weren't easy to tackle. This was also reflected in the team's initial results in the beginning of the season. It's a pity that these difficulties decreased our chances to qualify for the 2nd qualifying round. I'm sure that if we faced the Albanian side without these hurdles, we would have qualified for another round which means more financial income to Our Club.

To continue on the administration of our Club, I wish to first of all thank the twelve of my team-mates for their non-stop work throughout the year in our weekly meetings. I'm saying twelve because two of the elected members from the previous year, for a reason that it is known only to them, almost did not attend a single meeting throughout the whole year. I'm sure that when one offers himself to be in the helm of the Club it means that one will be of a service to the club and not the other way round. This is not only the sacrifice of time but also a personal one, especially with regards to the responsibilities towards the players, the club itself and you, the supporters.

When this committee was elected we made some positive administration changes. The position of vice president was decreased to one instead of four as in our opinion four posts were of little use. We, the twelve committee members were responsible for everything that happened, irrespective of our position. All of us contributed for what is best for our Club and to keep Birkirkara in the position that it deserves, which is amongst the best in Malta since 1996 when our Club built its strong foundations leading us to where we are today.

When it comes to the technical sector, I can say that the beginning wasn't an easy one. In fact, we had to make new acquisitions to remain competitive and to qualify for the UEFA Competitions. Due to this shaky opening, we had to make signings to strengthen the team.

One of the biggest decisions taken early in the season was to call back Mr. Paul Zammit to take the helm of the technical sector.

With our coach, we made a full program to see how we are going to fix the situation.

As I already said in the beginning, it was not easy because we clearly had to make a number of changes, to at last keep our record of sixteen consecutive years participating in UEFA Competitions and, maybe, one of the two honours of Maltese football. Unfortunately, we won neither of the honours but I'm sure that for the coming year, with some changes we could be challengers for these honours.

I feel that we made important acquisitions to build a stronger squad for the future. Players like Gareth Sciberras, Reuben Gauci, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, Rodrigo Pereira, Shola Shodiya, Nikola Vukanac and Jorge Santos Silva all increased the level of the team in a satisfactory way.

I also need to mention the contribution by our youngsters namely Ryan Camenzuli, Ryan Scicluna and Michael Camilleri amongst others.

I wish to mention the great collaboration that we, the administration, have with the technical sector led by Paul Zammit and assisted by Peter Pullicino. These were instrumental to our staff because besides further uniting our team with new acquisitions, they strived to include Birkirkara's home grown talent, such as Ryan Camenzuli and Ryan Scicluna, who are nowadays are regular choice within our team.

It is in the pipeline to continue strengthening the squad and discussions with the coach have already commenced for this to be achieved. But, we also need to be realistic. Yes, we believe in the talent of our players and we are convinced that we can be challengers like any other team in the Premier League, even if this means financial sacrifice. We believe that we are able to maintain the Club's positive reputation which has been built sixteen years ago, when from a club with no honours we are now considered a major one.

Our challenge will begin in few weeks time in the Euro Cup and then in the 1st round of the UEFA Europa League. We are the only Maltese team seeded in this competition and we hope that the draw, to be held in two weeks, will be a good one so that we can qualify for another round which will bring both a prestigious honour for our Club as well as substantial financial income.

While I am mentioning finances, I cannot fail to mention our sponsors and the Supporters Sub-committee. Without their help the financial problems on the administration would have been much harder.

Like other Maltese clubs, finances remain a problem and were it not for the personal sacrifice from the members in the administration it would have been impossible to manage a big club like ours.

Our plans for next year are like those of the previous sixteen, all aimed at keeping our Club's name among the top in Maltese football. One of our greatest satisfactions for all of us and all the supporters was in the last football awards when our club was awarded and named the best club in the previous ten years. Our aim is to live up to this title and keep this club as the best!

Thanks once again to you, my colleagues, the technical sector, the women's team for their success, our nursery, sponsors, supporters club, Carmelo Calleja who is in charge of the BKR Radio and everyone who helped the Club to stay where it deserves to be.

I believe that anyone who has ever stopped and dedicated even at least five minutes to our Club should be acknowledged for it.

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