WATCH | Trouble in Ta’ Qali: What lies beneath the grass debate

Ta’ Qali has long been Malta’s backyard. It’s where families picnic, teenagers gather for concerts, and generations recall their first bike ride or scraped knee. But when a Facebook post in July showed its grass seemingly replaced by a blanket of sand and gravel, the island erupted in outrage. Was Malta’s most beloved public park being runed, renovated or simply misunderstood? 

Between angry netizens, defensive officials, and the quiet science of soil, this storm-in-a-teacup shows how much a patch of ground can stir national emotion. 

A walk-through Ta’ Qali with an arborist 

Jonathan Henwood is a senior lecturer, qualified arborist and freelance environmental consultant. While walking with him through Ta’ Qali, he explained to me his diagnosis of the issue. In the park, the soil is practically clay. When a mass event is held in the area, the soil clumps up under people’s weight and the grass struggles to grow. Moreover, clay tends to absorb water in the wintertime, leading to waterlogging in parts of the land.  

“One of the solutions is to place a layer of sand and gravel, an inorganic matter, so that the soil underneath it can be protected. When the winter passes, the earth keeps more of the humidity,” he said. “However, there are other options. Instead of adding sand, you can add organic matter like mulch. There are plenty of types, most types are not even used in Malta—it’s gone to waste. That could have been another solution. What makes this better than what was used is that, because it’s organic, it adds life to the soil.” 

He believes that the team behind the decision to pile sand and gravel on the grass understood what the problem was in the area. “If you add an inch or two of material, the land below it will remain more humid. That’s true. The thing with sand is that it’s not a living material. If there’s a problem with nutrients, which is a common issue in Malta [...] we could have looked at other options.” 

We walked over to a patch of grass that already seems to be growing through the sand and gravel to take a closer look. While the grass seemed to be growing back, the patch was full of rubbish from a previous event held in the space. “It’s the carelessness of some people,” he said. “A place can only be as good as we keep it. It’s not a government thing, the land belongs to all of us and everyone needs to contribute.” 

Is it sand or gravel? 

One of the things I asked him to clear up is whether the material laid down is sand, or gravel, or some other material. He grabbed a handful of the material from the ground to explain. “Gravel is anything bigger than two millimetres. Sand is smaller. There are different grades according to ISO standards. There’s a whole mix here. Parts are gravel, which comes in different sizes. This looks like fine gravel. You also have sand and other dust. It’s definitely not clay, so if I try to clump it together, it’s not going to.” 

We compared the original soil to the sand layer placed on top using a “ribbon test”. He grabbed a handful of the soil and added some water to it as we watched it form into an oblong shape. When doing the same to the sand layer, the material fell apart immediately. Henwood then mixed the two clumps together to show how the soil becomes softer and less clay-like when mixed with the sand. 

Ta’ Qali was certainly never a lush green space in the summertime, and it certainly never can be. “We need to get used to this. Our climate, which is becoming hotter and drier, is what it is. We can’t imagine having a Central Park in Malta, and we don’t really want that. The amount of water you’d need to keep a space green, and which we don’t have, is phenomenal. This is our countryside at the end of the day. It’s drier in summer, and we have to work within our climate.” 

The Facebook post that started it all 

Many good news stories start out on Facebook—the platform of choice for angry netizens who are Not Being Served by their community. This national outrage started there, after Thomas Camilleri posted two photos of Ta’ Qali on Facebook.  

One of the photos showed a winter scene of the space, with expansive tufts of green grass sprouting from the earth. The other photo suggested that the grass had been replaced by a beige material, something like gravel. “Who is responsible for this?” he asked out into the Facebook ether.  

Camilleri told MaltaToday that he uploaded the post after seeing the park covered in gravel and feeling devastated. “The reason why the soil dust became an issue in the family park is because it has been rented out for several summers to large events. These should not be happening here,” he said. 

His post collected 525 reacts, 154 comments and 132 shares. People started to try and make sense of what happened in Ta’ Qali, which has been undergoing renovation works for a while now. People did their research, traced the works back a bit, and found Jason Micallef at the scene of the crime. 

In July, Jason Micallef, the head of the Ta’ Qali park, made a Facebook post. He uploaded photos of the newly renovated park with an explanation for the new look. The surface of the picnic area had been covered with “special sand” imported from abroad to help reduce the amount of dust during the spring and summer months. He said this was “a much-needed intervention” that gives the site “a fresher, cleaner and smoother appearance”.  

The angry digital mob in Thomas’s Facebook post now moved to Jason’s page, complaining of how the Ta’ Qali management unit turned the green patch into a grey area. But angry mobs are never fact-checked, most especially on social media. Some looked at the photo and assumed the picnic area was concreted over—which it wasn’t. Then, popular podcaster Trudy Kerr visited Ta’ Qali to see for herself what happened to the space. She filmed her experience and uploaded it to Instagram. “The grass area where you have a picnic, walk your dog and enjoy yourself. It’s gone. I’m absolutely heartbroken,” she told her 7,000 followers. 

This was the start of several online tirades from Jason Micallef about the perils of fake news. 

The ‘FAKE NEWS’ epidemic 

In his first post, the former executive chairman of ONE warned of “an epidemic of fake news”. He said “certain failed podcasters” live off spreading fake news as clickbait to make money. He made it clear that no trees were cut down, and no grass was removed (Kerr claimed none of these things). Rather, a “general improvement” was made to the soil to prevent it from turning into dust.  

“Fine sand and specific gravel material were spread across parts of the ground. This was done to suppress the huge amount of dust generated by the soil during the summer months. This fine sand and gravel are special materials used in park grounds, from which grass naturally sprouts again once the autumn and winter rains come,” he explained.  

The situation might have stopped there, but a day later, Micallef threated to take legal action “against those who created the fake news and blatant lie about the picnic area in Ta’ Qali”.  

“The bullying by certain people on social media, who only do it to make money, has had its day, and I will fight it with all my strength. People like the failed and false podcaster Trudy Kerr — their time is up,” he told his Facebook followers.  

This combative approach impressed no one. The Nationalist Party called this behaviour out, as did Partit Momentum and the Institute of Maltese Journalists. After this new round of backlash, Micallef made a third Facebook post about the “poison” of fake news and misinformation.  

“If you take legal action against those spreading fake news—which is worse than a lie—the usual chorus immediately attacks you, accusing you of stifling freedom of expression!! Because now it seems there is a supposed right to lie as much as you want, about whoever you want!” 

The sensitivities of a nation 

Ta’ Qali is a special place. It’s where you learned how to ride a bike. It’s where you scraped up your knee climbing a tree or playing a ball game with friends. You might have had school outings in the area. You might have had a first date there too. Maybe even a second date. The space is filled with the childhood memories of an entire country, so forgive the public for their sensitivities on the matter.  

When journalists asked Prime Minister Robert Abela about the whole ordeal last week, he admitted that some aspects of the renovation should have been explained better beforehand. Henwood spoke similarly while in Ta’ Qali.  

“I think there should have been an explanation of the process,” he said. “It might not be legally necessary, but time has always showed that, if you go to the public and explain the process, yes people will still comment and have their opinion but for others their mind could be at rest that this space is being taken care of in a certain way.” 

The trouble in Ta’ Qali might be less about sand versus grass but instead about how we value shared spaces, and how little it takes for trust between citizens and institutions to fray.  

Until then, the park will remain under scrutiny as authorities, experts and the public wait to see whether the newly laid surface will deliver the promised results once the seasons change.