The Joys and Hurts of the World Cup

It only comes about once every four years, but when it does, a football feast and fan frenzy obviously ensues. The World Cup has, over the years, provided its fair share of frills, spills, drama and excitement, and the South African edition of this seems to be no different - not for the abundance (read: 'lack') of goals that its producing, as a general rule, but because of the various storylines developing both on and off the field.

Of course, while the French continue to hog the headlines for being the most dysfunctional team of the whole tournament (judging by the way things are going at the moment, coach Raymond Domenech won't have any players at his disposal for the match against South Africa and have to play himself in the match!), English and Italian supporters have also had their fair share of heart attacks till now, and if recent form is anything to go by, then they might be going back home quicker than they expected. Both sides were expected to stroll through their groups, but both sides are massively struggling and can't hit the back of the net to save their lives. England, for all the hype surrounding Wayne Rooney's fantastic season, haven't seen their strikers hit the target yet; while Italy have fared precious little better - they've scored two goals in total, one of which was a penalty (and no matter how soft it was, it indeed WAS a penalty, just as much as New Zealand's goal was offside - stop whining about it!!)

While the English have looked toothless all over the pitch, as well as relatively uninterested in troubling the opposition; the Italians have at least attacked with some intent but have the worst bunch of strikers ever taken by their national team in World Cup history, which obviously doesn't help their cause one bit. Indeed, something positive to draw from the Italian performances is that they've showed some form of resilience in both of their games so far in order to come back from losing positions. The English, on the other hand, relied on a customary goalkeeper howler to let the USA back into their first match, and parked the bus in front of the Algerian assault on goal. Perhaps Don Fabio wasn't exactly the saviour that the English were hoping for - so far. In any event, both teams still know that in reality, due to the equally appalling performances of the other teams in their groups, they still have their fate in their own hands - win their matches and they get through to the last 16. But that too might be too much of an ask for these nations in their current form. And that's obviously not to speak of Capello's confident admission that England would reach the final of the tournament.

Having however seen some big nations falter, it's been the World Cup of the underdog so far. Shock results have been recorded pretty much across the board - Italy's draw with New Zealand, England's draw with Algeria, Germany's loss to Serbia and Spain's loss to Switzerland have all been unexpected, to say the least. That's not to say that each of these nations will now go on to win the World Cup - on a personal level, I still believe that the Spanish suffered a minor setback in that game against the Swiss and have the talent and the overall team to win the title - but at least, we're seeing that the minor nations of the tournament have managed to really close the gap on these superpowers. A group comprising England, the USA, Slovenia and Algeria definitely does not send any shivers down one's spine, but look at the position England are in at the moment, despite being predicted to steamroller one of the weakest groups, on paper, of the tournament.

The problem is that the superpowers have also underestimated their opponents. It's clear that a laissez-faire attitude is unacceptable in tournaments like these, where anything can pretty much happen. It also means that teams must be willing to go out there, fight for every ball and not enter each match thinking that they've won it from the start. Teams have become plucky over the years and are no longer willing to just roll over because the likes of Italy, Argentina, Brazil, France and England have come to town. Actually, for them, it's an opportunity to create a shockwave that the rest of the world will get to know about and even justify their places at the tournament. Perhaps it is for this reason, for the sheer unpredictability of it all, that this World Cup could be classed among the greatest at the moment.

God Bless You all!
Matti

Let's GO, Melita!

Finally, something actually worthwhile that I can write about.

I have to admit, when reading the recent news that Melita had lost the rights to transmit Barclays Premier League matches from season 2010/11 through to season 2012/13 to GO plc, I was extremely shocked. To say the least. This means that a large chunk of sporting action that I see on the weekends would indeed be gone from my very eyes, provided that I remain with Melita for the next three odd years. Which, judging by the way how it's going downhill, I don't think will really be the case, but anyway. Anyhow, as a response to this, Melita claimed that they are still the leaders in providing sports to local households, and they also still retained exclusive rights in items such as the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

So far, all is fine and dandy. It was the typical response that I expected from Melita, one which obviously tried to make them look in as little a bad light as possible while, at the same time, promoting the programmes which they show. Of course, they did forget to mention that Saturday afternoons will probably be spent, after August 2010, with replays of old Italian and German football matches being shown on their (now excessive) eight different channels dedicated to sport; these interspersed with everyone's favourite show, a bout of horse racing from Sweden. Naturally, I'm hoping you're noting the sarcastic tone here. Furthermore, they also conveniently forgot to tell us customers that the price of the sports package will probably still be going up due to some fabricated administrative cost, or something of the sort. In brief, Melita will indeed become more pathetic than they already are come the end of Summer 2010.

However, while thinking over it, I ended up by coming to another conclusion vis-a-vis what is happening with GO and Melita. Perhaps it is a bit far-fetched, but I think it's worth stating it nonetheless. I noticed a trend in Melita's declining sporting list year after year: in 2007, GO announced that they would be transmitting Wimbledon from 2008 onwards; in 2008, GO announced that they had managed to obtain the exclusive rights to transmit Formula 1 from 2009 onwards; and now, in 2009 GO announced that they will be transmitting the Premier League from 2010. (Of course, Melita's prices never decreased despite the fact that two major sporting events were not transmitted over the last two years; and I fully expect this trend to continue come 2010, hence the reasoning for my logic above). Coincidence? I think not.

My belief is that both Melita and GO are currently in breach of the law. To be more specific, I think that these two companies are breaching Articles 5 and 9 of the Competition Act (in Malta), or Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU, the ex-EC Treaty), i.e. there is collusion going on between both Melita and GO with regard their television services, meaning that there is the notion of market distortion in this sector and abuse of a dominant position. I will start with the latter point though, as this seems to be easier to tackle.

For a start, with regards abuse of a dominant position, there must be two criteria satisfied; i.e. dominant position in the relevant market and abuse. It can clearly be argued that combined, both Melita and GO have got a majority share in the television market, especially with regard to the relevant product market (sporting events), as both providers show pretty much everything, be it football, Formula 1 or wrestling. The geographical and temporal markets do not have any relevance in this circumstance. Secondary to this, there must be abuse. Now, while this is not a notion that us students have exactly tackled just yet, I can understand that there is the potential for the constant switching of services from one provider to another to be classified as abuse. Both providers may indeed be doing this to simultaneously increase their shares in the market relating to sporting events, and hence increase clientele and profits accordingly. If this is proven, and of course, it is obviously much more difficult to do so other than just stating that which I am currently stating, then there already is a breach of Article 9 of the Competition Act or Article 102 of the TFEU.

This brings me to my second point. Is there collusion going on between Melita and GO, which are, for the purposes of the law, classified as two undertakings? If I had to apply my theory, as I briefly outlined in bold above, then one could argue that there is a horizontal agreement between both television providers. However, such a horizontal agreement would have to be proven by means of oral or written communication; and quite frankly, I doubt both companies would do something as stupid and as ridiculous as that; and is hence extremely difficult to prove. Prima facie, one might also argue that this could fall under the heading of a concerted practice between undertakings, but upon further examination of this notion, one must realise and understand that this is "a form of coordination between undertakings which, without having reached the stage where an agreement properly so called has been concluded, knowingly substitutes practical cooperation between them for the risks of competition". Therefore, one cannot classify that happening between both companies as such a concerted practice, for the purposes of Competition Law.

The second part of Article 5(1) speaks of market distortion. The law states that "any agreement between undertakings... having the object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition" is prohibited. It is necessary to look at the conjunction 'or' over here, as this means that not both the object and effect must be proven, but if one is proven, then it is enough. One could seriously argue that both undertakings' actions are currently having the desired effect. But do these actions fall under the exceptions to the articles in question? After analysing the law accordingly, I cannot see how the exceptions as outlined in Article 5(3) or 101(3) apply to absolve both companies of colluding to distort competition. However, it must be noted that this line of attack, I believe, is significantly weaker than that found in Article 9/Article 102.

Of course, being just a student, I could be wrong in both circumstances. Indeed, after theorising a bit too much about it, I'm starting to doubt the validity of these arguments myself. But I'll leave it to anyone else with proper judgement to go ahead and comment on the situation at hand; even though I still believe that something fishy is going on between these two major players within the Maltese communications market.

God Bless You all!
Matti

The Highlights of 2008

2008 has come and passed fast enough, and 2009 is already upon us. Stating the obvious, true, but it's a fact that has to be acknowledged - 365 days may seem like a huge number, but in reality, they zip by with the blink of an eye. And there's no doubt that this will, once again, be the case in 2009.

2008 has, however, been a year with its typical ups and recessions (no pun intended). In a similar method to that that The Times adopted recently, I will be using seven key words to really summarise the events of 2008 - both positive and negative, and both my own and that that happened on the national and international scenes. After all, simply including everything would be too lengthy to write and too impossible to remember.

Elections - 2008 was without doubt a year determined by elections both on a local and international level. In Malta, a relative majority (49.14%) of the public reconfirmed their faith in the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN) and their leader Lawrence Gonzi for another five year term in Government, condemning the Partit Laburista (PL) and their leader Dr. Alfred Sant to their third successive electoral defeat, and fourth in total if one considered the referendum result in 2003. This was the catalyst for a real bidu gdid within the PL, as Dr. Sant 'irrevocably resigned' from his post after the PN victory was confirmed and MEP Dr. Joseph Muscat, only 34, was elected in his place. Subsequently, Muscat has revamped the PL administration from head to toe, with Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela now his deputies, but despite rumours of conflict and an ultimatum issued, Jason Micallef still holds the coveted General Secretary position. America also saw the battle for the White House, which was a three-way tie between Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama in the preliminary stages. McCain and Obama eventually won the Republican and Democrat nominations respectively, and Obama comfortably went on to defeat McCain on the November 4 election. He will assume office, and become the country's first ever black President, on January 20.

Recession - An economic clout has been upon the world's doorstep for the last three months, all instigated by the collapse of financial giant Lehman Brothers in September. The bankruptcy of the company led to many countries becoming victims of the credit crunch, especially because assets shared were now lost and hence money went down the drain. Particularly badly affected were the USA and Iceland, who, prior to this, had a stable financial backing. Iceland are now seriously considering joining the EU in order for the ECB to help out in their crisis. Meanwhile, Malta was minimally affected by the entire scenario, with some assets that the Bank of Valletta had being lost, but retained a relatively stable economy throughout. However, people are now spending their money more carefully and in fact, this Christmas, businesses did not sell as much as in 2007.

Sports - The international sporting world saw a load of firsts in 2008. In football, Manchester United and Chelsea contested the first all-English Champions League final... in Moscow. After a game that didn't disappoint, albeit the 1-1 final score, the penalty shootout that ensued provided tension and drama as never seen before. The reaction of John Terry, after his missed penalty, still lives in the minds of many Chelsea supporters as that converted spot kick would have given the Blues their first Champions League title. However, United went on to win the shootout 6-5 and become champions for the third time. They backed this up with their first World Club Championship, beating South American champions LDU Quito 1-0 in the final in Yokohama. Spain also won their first trophy in 44 years after winning the EURO 2008 tournament in Switzerland and Austria, beating Germany 1-0 in the final and hence finally shedding their tag of perennial underachievers. Rafael Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year, and subsequently became the first person to defeat the all-conquering Roger Federer in over 60 matches on grass. Nadal finally became World Number 1 - at Federer's expense - in August. The Olympics in Beijing also took place and were heralded as the best Olympics ever. Both Usain Bolt (athletics) and Michael Phelps (swimming) enthralled the world of sport here in different ways. Bolt won the 100m and 200m finals comfortably, breaking the World Record in both instances, and Phelps won an unprecedented 8 gold medals in the swimming pool, becoming the most successful Olympian of all time. Finally, Lewis Hamilton became Formula 1's youngest ever World Champion, and the first black person to do so, after finishing 5th in Brazil, which was enough to win the title by a single point from Ferrari's Felipe Massa. In the most enthralling finish to a title race in years, Hamilton overtook Toyota's Timo Glock at the final corner in Interlagos to deny Massa, who had already won the race, the title. Had Hamilton remained behind Glock, both he and Massa would have finished level on 97 points but the title would have gone to the Brazilian based on more race wins within a season.

Euro - The beginning of a new financial era for Malta began effective January 1, 2008, with the introduction of the Euro instead of the Maltese lira. Upon entry into the EU in 2004, Malta was forced to adopt the Maastricht criteria that stated that new member states must eventually join the Eurozone. Malta was praised by the EU for its effective and efficient awareness campaign - no doubt aided substantially by the FAIR campaign - as well its smooth transition period, both widely considered to be among the best Europe has seen to date. Compulsory dual pricing came into effect July 1, 2007 and ended June 30, 2008, allowing the Maltese a period of one year to get used to the exact exchange rate between the lira and the Euro. However, a recent poll on the Times of Malta website has shown that the majority of the public - from the sample who voted - still seem to translate prices listed in the Euro to the Maltese lira before buying a product.

BOOM! - 2008 was also a tragic year for many Maltese families, as various accidents and murders took the lives of a substantial amount of people nationwide. A few days after the General Elections, Malta was plunged into mourning after fireworks stored in a garage in Naxxar exploded, destroying 3 houses and killing two people, including a 33-year old mother of two children. The dust had barely settled on that tragedy when another one struck the islands this summer, as four people aboard the now infamous fishing boat Simshar were killed following an explosion on the boat that destroyed it completely. Only one of the crew members survived the ordeal - barely alive - after being found following a week out at sea. There were also various murders throughout the year. Among the most controversial was a mother being killed by her 15-year old daughter in Mensija, San Gwann, on February 26, this following an alleged argument between the two after the mother asked her daughter to get some drugs. There were also two murders in Qormi within the space of two months and another murder in Xemxija between those two events. Finally, there was also the attempted murder of 20 people at a PN club in Mqabba, which left no people killed but some injured. It seems as if criminality in Malta is on the rise.

University - Life at University was full of controversy this year too. The much talked about Debate on Campus proved to be a hit from many a student's perspective, but also proved to be a massive talking point in the media. The PL apologists brought Insite's independence as a student media organisation into question by stating that the debate was an organised Nationalist Mass Meeting, while the PN claimed that this debate really showed the leader that the majority of the students were backing. This once again led to damaging claims being thrown by members of the opposition, who went to the extreme of labelling students as marmalja and hmieg, and also led to some sectors of the public questioning the true quality of individuals that the highest educational institution of the land produces. Insite were not reported to have taken legal action against any entity in terms of damage of reputation. Meanwhile, no elections to elect a new KSU office were held after Pulse withdrew from the running and no independent organisation opted to contest. Hence, SDM were reconfirmed in office, and Roberta Avellino took over from David Herrera as President. Finally, the University welcomed its new batch of students - the majority of which born in 1990 - amidst a construction site; after the administration decided to undertake renovation work on the Library and extend the Administration building over the course of summer.

Y4J - Finally, ending on a personal note, and probably saving the best till last. 2008 was finally the year where I felt that I did something worthwhile, and substantive, with my life. Joining Y4J was undoubtedly one of the best moves I could have ever made, because it has allowed me to make a whole host of new friends, become closer to others who I already remotely knew, and, most importantly, allow God to enter into my life. If I had to describe anything else pertinent to this, I could simply go on forever. The times we have shared together, from meetings, to Soul Survivor, to Stronger, and the moral support that we have established for one another is something incredible. It's made me believe that there is a tangible God out there, contrary to me previously thinking that God was simply an entity, and made me change my perspective of religion almost entirely. Praising God and becoming Jesus' friend is cool! However, unfortunately, opinions differ greatly, and I've come to realise that the good that one does for himself may often be shot down and ridiculed by other people. I'm just hoping that come the New Year, come a new attitude by such people.

God Bless You all - and may everyone have a super 2009!
Matti