One of MAFA’s youngest club presidents at 24 years of age, Karl Borg is not only Naxxar Victorians’ leading man, but was also its founder just a few years ago. He has seen all of its ups and downs, and together with his delegates in the different committees over the years, they have been through it all. Borg sat down with naxxarvictorians.com for an exclusive mid-season interview where we get to know more about the club from the eyes of its founding father.
Asked if he had ever expected to make it this far, the president said that “I never imagined we’d make it this far, yet here we are!”. He added that it was only possible with the help of the committee members and players “we have created a united group which has successfully made a huge step forward.”
However, before all of this, things were very different. Back in 2010, Borg had just decided to end his football career as a player. However, little did he know that this was just the start of something new, something much larger. Borg claims the brain-child which is now called Naxxar Victorians began as a 5-a-side team of friends who used to meet up regularly to play. Two years later, in 2012, the first expansion of the team happened when FAL organiser Chris Micallef introduced him to the 8-a-side league played in Gharghur.
“We played in FAL for four straight years but after that much time, I began to think about bigger things.”, Borg admitted. “I grew interested in 11-a-side again, so I spoke to the committee of the time and we agreed to join MAFA. That’s how we are here now.”
To him, the best moment in the story of the club’s trials and tribulations was actually last season’s first win of the league over derby rivals Mosta Vikings. It was the start of a good league run in the second half of the season in which the club finished in fourth place. It was also the first official win for the team in the MAFA league. He remarked that it being the first and being against Mosta makes it even more special. He said, “The only thing I always keep in mind is to never give up in whatever you do. That and strength lies in unity.” In fact, this has been the glue which has held the club on its feet especially in troubling times like the disappointing first round of the 2018-19 season.
‘I want us to win trophies’
Borg admitted that despite being ambitious as a person, his ambitions depend on the effort of others as well. Primarly he referred to the interest towards the Maltese league becoming something larger than what it is, where non-league teams have the chance to play against MFA teams. “This way, [players] without the chance of playing in the third, second, first and Premier divisions would have a chance to prove their worth”, Borg said. “Obviously just like any other team, I want us to win trophies!”
“The thing I love the most about our team is the fact that we are very close together and we constantly look to help out when in any kind of trouble”. Borg made it very clear that even if he had to look for something he disliked about the club, this would be impossible because of the love he has for it all. This resonates also with the support the club has been receiving since the beginning. Borg said that despite the limited number of fans the club has, he is very happy that they are there. “I would like to thank every supporter who has come to watch us play at any point of the season.” He mentioned Antoine Farrugia, who is probably the club’s biggest fan and who has never missed a match since the club made its debut in MAFA. “Antoine has believed in us from the start and I would like to thank him for that” Borg said. He added that just like Farrugia, he believes there will be others who will join the club’s support in the near future if the club’s mentality remains the same.
From the Naxxar Victorians and naxxarvictorians.com team, we would like to thank all the members of the committee and team for their efforts; more importantly we would like to thank all of our supporters and partners for putting their faith in us.