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sport
today
Sport
is my life – Teddie Borg
Teddy
Borg, Super One's head of sport, who is also well known for producing
and presenting the programme Super Sailing, has been in sports since
he was a kid. He has been involved in different kinds of sport disciplines.
RAY ABDILLA spoke to the man who has dedicated his life to sport.
"My love for sports can be traced to my early childhood. Needless
to say, a boy of modest means, growing up in the late thirties and
forties had little choices regarding recreation time. In those bygone
days, one simply did not have the various amounts of toys and games
that exist today, not to mention all that technology has produced
to tempt to teach a child.
"We had to be very creative, and maybe the word recreation
was a more appropriate description of how we enjoyed our leisure
time. Every opportunity to run outside the house and to be with
our friends was extremely valued, as boys of course loved football,
a game that could always be played no matter how poor one was.
“A rag ball was our football, hardly round, but it gave us
many hours of joy." This is how Teddy Borg recalls his days
as a youth.
He stated that during this time there was no access to world-wide
sport, the only means of communication with foreign affairs be it
sport or otherwise was that wooden box which appeared in every household
like a sacred shrine known as Redifussion. Sports news was poured
into all ears and all those great players of fame, were to everyone,
living heroes.
Mr Borg said, "One got a glimpse of them only in the cinema
news, if one managed to get hold of some soccer star's picture,
then that made our day. Therefore it was hardly surprising that
joining a team and playing football for one's town or village was
something that every energetic young fellow desired. I for one began
playing football with "Rabat Magpies" as I grew up in
Mdina in those days, really a silent city.
"I was over the moon when I was chosen to guard the goalposts
for Rabat in the First Division during the years, 1956/58. One match
that will stay prominent in my memory is when we beat Floriana in
their best days, for the first time in Rabat's club history."
Obviously that game he remembers quite vividly. Beating Floriana
in those days was not easy but Rabat, although not a giant side
in those days proved that they could do it.
Nonetheless football was not only the simple and unchastely pleasure
in childhood. Teddy's relatives, whom he grew up with, since he
lost his parents when still of tender age, used to spend the summer
at Marsascala, at an area nicknamed "Wied il-Ghaks".
Teddy told SportToday that this gave him all the opportunities to
have fun at sea. His uncle had a very small gig, with no engine
just oars and Teddy being young and healthy was the perfect rower.
"Off we went as often as possible out to sea and fish, I can
honestly admit that these fishing trips generated in me a great
love for the sea and they also provided me with unlimited information
regarding navigating manoeuvres, of course of a primitive kind.
Nonetheless whenever I sail up to this day, which I might add is
one of my most valued pastimes, especially now in my senior citizen
age, I find that early knowledge always comes into good use,"
explained Teddy.
These simple pleasures as they were regarded in those days are what
injected him with a love for all kind of sports. Needless to say
as time passed and progress took its cue, Mr Borg gained excess
to sport holistically and another venue that came his way was motorcycling.
It happened that he found this love for speed in its initial stages,
another opportunity to develop it and thus increase its well-earned
enthusiasm.
This adventure began in 1972, when out of the blue a small group
Rabat bike enthusiasts had approached him and in their most stylish
and vigorous manner managed to convince him to organise a moto-cross
race with some sort of rules at least.
About all this Teddy said, "Following this, I managed to acquire
a piece of land at Mtarfa ditch which was to serve as the initiation
of a well marshalled 400 member organisation known as "Ghaqda
Maltija tal-Muturi." Though this kind of presidency literally
killed me, as regards organisation, I do admit that I loved every
minute of it."
The year 1979 turned out to be a milestone for the Head of Sport
of One Sport. Representing Malta in the World Congress of F.I.M.
(Federation Internationale de Motocicliste) he managed to convince
the 250 members at Lausanne to let us hold the following congress
in Malta, even though we were the smallest associate member in the
world at that time. This of course developed into a great event
a year later since it involved the participation of 52 countries
from all over the world.
Apart from that we hosted also the current World Champions including
the great Agositini, better known as Pele of motorcycling. This
international success was the cause of the 1982 award that he received
as the best official of the year, one honour that he cherishes a
lot.
"Though these events and many other commitments kept me from
realising that I am getting old, somehow I managed to keep a constant
relationship with the sea adventures. I grabbed every opportunity
that promised a good sail and from just a good pastime this sport
turned out to be a demanding commitment itself later on as I ventured
myself into a new challenge completely different to what I was familiar
with. I decided to try my luck in producing a new TV sporting programme
better known as "Super Sailing: some time in the year 1994.
"Laboriously I built this programme to what it is today, I
might add that the fruit of my labour was awarded many times over,
as this non-stop weekly series for six years has been awarded as
the best TV sports programme by the Broadcasting Authority for three
consecutive years 1997, 1998 and 1999," Teddy explained.
Later on, this commitment also landed him the role of shouldering
all the responsibilities that he now handles all the sport programmes
in Super One television, naturally with the co-operation of the
31 producers and presenters that form part of ONE SPORT department.
At the end of our interview Mr Borg had this to say about his experience
in the sports world. "On reflection I might here warn all enthusiasts,
beware of the monster you create, though in all honesty, I must
admit that I still cannot get enough of a good thing. When I look
around me these days I realise that one has excess to an overdose
of sport events and hence one can indulge with abundance into the
world of sport. However the pleasure that sport offered me all through
these long years has never diminished a will carry on till I am
no more."
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