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James Debono
For the majority of respondents in MaltaToday’s June survey, Brazil are in the run for their sixth world cup title, emerging as the ‘third party’ in the Maltese football world with 9 per cent of respondents defying racial stereotypes and regarding the star Hispanic-Afro-American team as their favourite.
Overall England’s fans outnumber Italy’s fans by more than three points, but Italy is by far the favourite team among the 18-34 age bracket. Among the youngest age bracket, while 46 per cent support Italy, only 24 per cent support England. The situation is completely reversed among those aged over 35.
Unsurprisingly it is the pre-war generation which remembers Italian planes bombing Malta and, along with those born in the post-war colonial times, have a different perception of Italy than those who grew up watching Italian TV, which gives daily exposure to Italian football. Clearly although England is still on top, demographic trends favour Italy in the perennial ‘old firm’ struggle between the former colonial masters and our Latin neighbours.
Sympathy for Italy or for England also runs parallel to the lines of the political duopoly, with the majority of Nationalist party voters supporting Italy and the majority of Labour party supporters supporting England.
While 37 per cent of Nationalist party voters support Italy, only 20 per cent of Labourites do likewise.
The pique between Anglophiles and Italianites dates back to the early days of Maltese politics when the ancestors of the modern Nationalist party yearned for unification with the Italian patria and the forerunners of the Labour Party striving for closer ties with the United Kingdom.
The pique between supporters of the two rival teams stands out as the most long lasting legacy of the language question which pitted Italianates against Anglophiles.
Labourites are more pluralistic when it comes to football than Nationalists. While only 1.3 per cent of Nationalists support Brazil, 12.5 per cent of Labourites support the Latin American team.
Not surprisingly, this time round England’s supporters are more optimistic of winning the world cup than their pro-Italian rivals.
With Italian soccer rocked by calciopoli – the bribery scandal that has Juventus at the heart of a police investigation into footballers and club managers and directors alike – only 20 per cent of Italian supporters think that Italy will emerge as winners. Brazil emerge as the clear favourites of Italian fans.
On the other hand, 25 per cent of England’s supporters think that their team is set to win its second title since 1966 when they had beaten Germany at Wembley stadium.
Over the years Germany has also retained its niche of supporters in Malta with five per cent supporting the central European giants.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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