The MFA has banned rugby clubs from training on synthetic pitches.
The only reason for that can be the fact that they’re scared shitless of somebody in the new government realising they’ve been pumping millions into the wrong sport. Dear MFA, you don’t get ahead by stopping others from participating, you get ahead by bettering yourselves. You haven’t managed to stop rugby from growing through the last 13 years, although not from lack of trying, and you will still not manage to stop it from growing now. Keep your pitches, our national rugby team could train on sand and gravel and still get better results….you’re a disgrace to sport, and should be ashamed to call yourselves Maltese.
Debono's Dumplings 
Well said! Looks like the MFA are starting to panic after all the excellent results that MRFU is achieving. Trust a football organisation to “get dirty”!
Did they state WHY they don’t want rugby clubs training on “their” pitches?
Yes apparently the sport of rugby damages the synthetic pitch…which many have told me is an outright lie, although I cannot vouch for that myself as I haven’t conducted or researched any studies on the matter. What I can say however is that it is irrelevant whether the pitch needs more maintenance with rugby use because that is why you charge rent for its use, and a huge rent at that in most cases! If it’s broke, you’ve charged more than enough to get it fixed.
with all due respect .. more people on the pitches causes the pitch to wear away faster + the scrums tear the pitch up really badly. and maybe a torn up pitch is ok for rugby but for football it doesnt go since the ball is played on the ground. why not save up get a permit and make your own synthetic turf pitch (not stadium ) and then come back to me n tell me how after 2 years the pitch needs re surfacing rather than renting pitches out at such i high cost
Dear Fred, with all due respect, all this is irrelevant because the increased wear and tear with use is the reason you charge rent for its use. With your argument you might as well close Ta Qali gym and pool then, because opening it to the public increases its wear and tear! But you don’t because you charge its users enough to cover that cost (which is the way it should be) and so do your pitch owners. In fact they were happy to let rugby use the pitches for years. It was good income for them. It’s the MFA who’s putting a stop to it and using it as an excuse. I suggest you research rugby training because no scrummages take place during it!! So take your excuses and shove them where MFA have shoved theirs!
Yes yes of course but there are those clubs who rent their football pitch for rugby matches. Yes at first these clubs saw it as a good way of earning some revenue to cover the cost of the pitch but when the damages started to arise from the rugby match it wasnt worth it because paying lets say 100-200 euros for a pitch doesnt not cover the cost of wear and tear which causes tens of thousands (SCRUMS). from then on rugby matches were no longer held at these clubs. I suggest once more that rugby in malta invests in its own ground/s rather depending on the pitches of football clubs who some of which have been around for almost a century. Football was once played on sand and gravel pitches but finally in recent years there has been great developments in 70 percent of the clubs in malta. Saying this, after such a long wait, every club wants their ground to last as long as possible and so, if clubs see that rugby matches/training damage pitches which have been heavily invested in, then these clubs or associations have every right to stop it. With rugby in Malta, all that is being done is the renting of pitches and no other developments or any aid from the international governing body. So how about you take your excuses and shove it and perhaps start investing in making your own grounds instead of complaining.
Do your research before you comment. Aid came from international organisations and the government at the time shuffled its feet causing us to lose the grant that was offered. You wouldn’t know what that feels like because you’ve seen nothing but support from all governments. I suggest you spend a season in our shows, trying to run the sport on the smallest of grants, then tell me how you are going to save for facilities. This coming from the sport with a pitch on every street corner! You greedy greedy people! Don’t forget you did nothing on your own. You got help from everywhere. So don’t you dare preach to us about saving up to build facilities.
Actually i do know what it feels like as once upon a time, football was in this situation but slowly slowly it, developments were made ….whatever, youll have your opinion and ill have mine,i honestly do think that more ought to be done to help the sport (rugby) in malta grow, seeing its good results internationally, just as long as the ground i train on and my game as a player is unaffected.
If you were on the committee that tried to raise funds for football to grow, as you say you know what it means, you can’t possibly still be a player! Which is it? Of course I don’t want football to be negatively affected. I am at Ta Qali for every international fixture supporting my national team. But this move was not about protecting your pitch. This was about thwarting the progress of others who we feel are a threat to us. Rather than bettering itself, the MFA tries to stop rugby from growing. That’s the bitch. And for the record, I want every sportsman in every sport to enjoy its success and to have facilities.