From The Courtyard - Issue 133

FROM THE

COURTYARD

February-March 2020

In This Issue:

The Troop takes to the water, the Crew travels the world, and we delve into the previously unseen history of some of our group’s earliest members.

The St. Aloysius College Scout Group Newsletter - Issue 133

The Pack put their fire and cooking skills to the test

Turn to Page 3

The Troop brave the high seas

Turn to Page 5

A 1917 sports event and a look into the Group’s first members

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The Rover Crew travel the world in iScout

Turn to Page 19

What’s On Not much, sadly. The situation with regards to the outbreak and subsequent spread of Covid-19 means that the Group has been forced to cancel all weekly meetings and activities for the foreseeable future. Rest assured that we are following the directives released by the Health Authorities, and that we will be back as soon as it is safe for us to be back!

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to follow all the directives issued by the Health Authorities, and to stay safe in this unprecedented time.

Newsletter Editor: Albert Galea

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A Note From Our GSL Edward Cassola

What’s happening?

February started off very well with a number of successful events held by the sections in the Group.

The Troop held a cookout, the Pack too and the Venture unit participated

in a 5-a-side football tournament. You will read more about these events in this newsletter.

Annual General Meeting On February 12th we held our AGM at the college sixth form hall. The event was well attended by parents from the Pack section but regrettably not many turned up from the Scout section.

During the AGM, the Group Scout Leader gave an overview of what happened in 2019 and also provided the Group’s plans for 2020. We have around seventy events this year. The Group treasurer provided an overview of the financial accounts of the Group before having them approved in order to submit them to the Association. After these presentations, the Pack and Troop held an investiture ceremony for the new recruits. At the end of the evening we held a short reception for all members and parents.

We thank parents for their support during the evening.

Other News A rafting event for Scouts was held on February 29th. On the 1st March we helped out at the Malta Marathon wherein manned a water station on Mdina Road in H’Attard. Scouts, Ventures and Rovers all helped to man the station.

COVID-19 Although we were planning our Easter Camp at the Mosta Battery limits of Mosta overlooking the valley leading to Bidnija between 6th to the 11th April, we have now had to cancel. The annual parade planned for April 19th has also

been cancelled.

Eurojam 2020 Poland This event is also threatened by COVID-19 and it may also be cancelled. We have not yet had an official statement about it.

If it goes ahead, two of our leaders VSL Andre Brincat and SL Bernard Maniscalco shall be part of the contingent leadership taking our members to the Euro jamboree in Poland next July. We shall be one of the best represented Groups from Malta as eighteen Scouts and ten Rovers will be attending. The latter shall be forming part of the international service team.

Rover MOOT 2021 Two of our leaders RCC Pierre Sant and ASL Andrew Agius are also part of the organisation team for the Rover MOOT being held in Ireland next year. This is an international gathering for Rovers who get an opportunity to participate in events rather than organise them themselves.

It is a great opportunity for 18 to 26-year olds to experience the great outdoors within an international context of Rovers from all over the world.

Weekly Meetings This is the first time in the Group’s history that we have had to cancel meetings. It seems that all meetings until the end of April will be cancelled. It is a bewildering experience for us leaders who have been part of the Group for so long, however health is paramount and we shall follow directives issued by the Health Authorities. In the meantime, our leaders are trying to maintain the momentum through social media and electronic means to keep kids occupied and interested.

We’ll let you know when meetings resume.

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From The Pack

Baptism of Fire for the Pack...

Literally!

David Pace

The Pack put some newly learned skills to practice in a fire-cooking activity at our HQ last February.

After having had a number of arrow work sessions and small activities related to Fire and Cooking towards the beginning of the year, the Cubs got the opportunity to put all that they learnt to practice with a cookout session at our Headquarters on the 21st February 2020.

The Pack met up at 1800hrs at the Scout Group Headquarters where they found several tables laid out with all the ingredients and equipment they would need for the ensuing activity. Following the Grand Howl, the Pack started off with a brief teambuilding game, as it was important to start with some minor basics and to remind everyone about certain basic points about working together.

This would be necessary as the cubs’ teamwork

would have to be up to scratch seeing that they would be working together under the pressure of a time limit.

The teambuilding was followed by a short quizzing of our Bronze Arrow members in order to establish certain open fire safety rules.

Having settled down around the respective tables for each Six, the Cubs were informed that they would be cooking Beef Kebabs, Jacket Potatoes and Garlic bread. They then got to take a look at what ingredients would actually be available and with the leader assigned to each team, they discussed how best to go about the division of tasks, with the Gold Arrow cubs being encouraged to take

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a more active and leadership role in the cooking and preparation of the food.

After finishing the food preparation, the Cubs finally got to the part of the activity which they were looking forward to the most: the actual fire lighting! With some help from the leaders assigned to each Six, the Silver Arrow Cubs quickly managed to get their fires going and everyone was immediately captivated by the beauty of the fire! After letting the flames die down, the Cubs started the cooking of their kebabs and jacket potatoes, with the garlic bread going on after as it required less heat.

After everyone had finally eaten and had their bellies satisfied, the leaders reminded the Cubs

that part of cooking also involves the clean-up afterwards and that points were also awarded for this. With that both leaders and Cubs worked together to quickly bring the Headquarters back to how they had found it!

The activity was then concluded with a brief game of Kingy, an evaluation session and Grand Howl!

Through the feedback, the Pack established that the activity was a fun one and enjoyed by everyone, with the beef kebabs and the garlic bread being major hits, whilst the Jacket potatoes being less popular! Leaders take note, we will be thinking of new innovative methods to cook potatoes over open fire for next time!

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From The Troop

Troop takes to the Mistra waters in annual rafting event

In what is one of the highlights of the year, the SAC Troop took the cold February waters in Mistra Bay in the annual Rafting Competition. We hear the experiences of two patrols who took part.

In the Bull patrol, the Acting PL was Sean Cassar Karl Camilleri - Buff Patrol This year, the St Aloysius College Scout rafting took place on Saturday the 29th of February 2020. In our patrol, the Buffalo Patrol, we were five members, almost the full patrol. Patrol leader (PL) Karl Camilleri took charge in guiding the rest of patrol, while the Assistant Patrol Leader (APL) was David Caruana who helped the PL in guiding the rest of the patrol. As Aaron was the next most experienced member at the event, he took the role of being the Senior Member. The other two remaining members which attended were Nigel Borg Pullicino and Kayden Grech.

as their usual PL couldn’t attend. There was also Damien Cassola, Ben and Gianluca. Only two people showed up in the Wolf Patrol; the PL Karl Dazzi and the APL Andrea Ciappara attended.

Jon Vural was the PL of the Tiger Patrol, joining Jason Dykstra, their APL, Nathan Axisa, Dimitri and Julain. The last patrol is the Hound patrol, made up of their PL Julian Galea, APL Ryan Chetcuti and the rest of the patrol being Nikolas Camilleri, Anton Vural and Matteo Pansavecchia.

The PLs and some APLs, including the patrol’s PL Karl Camilleri and the patrol’s APL David Caruana, met up at the HQ of St Aloysius College

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Scout Group at 8:00am so we could put all of the spars, barrels, pallets, ropes, oars and life jackets amongst other things into the truck so to take them to Mistra Bay. This took some time as there was a lot of supplies to pack. The PLs and APLs arrived at Mistra Bay with the rest of the equipment an hour later, at about 9:00am.

At 9:00am, the whole Troop met up at the bay, eager to start the next competition. We started by emptying the van with all of the equipment and supplies on the bay’s concrete jetty, except for our patrol’s supplies, which were placed a bit further along the bay. Our patrol was one of the three patrols which had a double-rimmed barrel, having won it because all our patrol members had their scarf on. After half an hour of taking everything out of the van, we started building our raft.

Our raft (below) was in the form of sort of a cross, as the mid-point of the raft was shifted a bit to the side, so the weight was evenly distributed. We used four 4-metre spars to make up most of the raft and act as a frame for the raft, as shown in the diagram. 4 barrels were used to give the raft buoyancy. There was then the pallet, which was used as a support for the raft, while also providing space for the whole patrol to stay. This ended up leading to our downfall as the pallet added a lot of weight to the already heavy raft.

When we had all understood the plan of how the raft was going to be built, we immediately got to work. We had from around 9:30m to 11:15am to build the raft, making that about an hour and 45 minutes of work. We worked well as a patrol and

even Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) Julian Formosa came from time to time, sometimes to help, and sometimes just to annoy us and poke fun. After an hour and a half of tying knots, fixing flaws in the raft design, and of course working on the raft, we were finished with it. Stepping back to admire the big piece of wood and plastic, we had realised that we were the fourth to finish the raft, with 15 minutes left on the clock, and the Hound patrol still finishing up the final few knots on their raft.

After a brief 30-minute break, we flipped our raft and carried it so we can take in the water, so It can fulfil its purpose, to take us around a bobber in the sea and back. The Tiger patrol were first to go on the raft after putting it in the water, then we were to go. We took our places on the raft and were surprised to see that the raft was still floating, as it was quite a heavy raft with quite a heavy load! The next were the Hounds and as their members got onto the raft, it snapped in two. This caused them to have to fix their raft as quickly as they could, causing them to have a five-minute delay.

We were off to start the race. We started off at second place, just behind the Tiger patrol’s raft, but after 2 minutes in the water, the weight was starting to affect the raft and we started to slow down. After seeing the Bull patrol and the Wolf patrol skip us, we thought we still had some chance, but of course, the worst had to happen: one of the barrels got stuck on a rock, loosening the ropes and dismantling the raft for us. We had pretty much lost hope at this moment. The raft started to dismantle even further, and we were disqualified. This inspired us to call the now dearly departed raft ‘Titanic’ as it had met the same fate as the giant cruise liner.

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We pulled the raft out of the water, sad to know that we had lost rafting, but glad that we at least participated. The PL and APL of the Buffalo patrol, with the help of the SPLs, carried the raft back to the jetty so we can dismantle the rest of the raft. Afterwards we did a quick clean up to pick up any plastic and other rubbish with gloves, and at 2:00pm the activity was over, happy to have more experience under our belts.

checked the knots for minor mistakes for the last time. Finally, after we were done, we flipped the raft and had our lunch.

After we had our lunches, we fell in line. The Hounds were the first to put their raft in the water.

The Wolves were the last to put their (mini) raft in the water. After some time, the Hounds’ raft split in two. They quickly brought the raft back to land and had redo their lashings. Whilst they were racing against time, we had started our own proper race.

The Tigers quickly rose to the first place whilst the other 3 patrols were approximately in the same pace. The Wolves began to fall back and the Hounds were in the game again. The Buffs’s raft who had been doing so well also split in two.

Both SPLs had to run and help them bring the raft back on land. The Tigers won first place and our patrol followed. The Wolves finished 3rd and the Hounds arrived in 4th place. (According to the Buffs’ PL, theirs began to capsize not because they had bad lashings, but the rocks were delaying them of reaching 1st place.

After all the rafts were brought to land, we changed into dry clothes and began to dismantle the rafts.

The van came and we loaded all equipment. After a cool ride in Mike’s car, we began to unload the equipment at the HQ. We put all the spars, barrels and pallets on the roof. We washed the ropes and put them in the sun to dry.

Sean Cassar - Bull Patrol Sean Cassar, the Acting Bull Patrol leader for this activity (the patrol is pictured above), takes us through the activity from his patrol’s perspective.

We started by doing a T-shape frame as the basis of our raft, something we finished within an hour.

After we finished doing the knots, we tied the barrels on. We thought it would be an easy job but after Scout Leader Ian Meli and Daniel Busuttil inspected the knots, we had to redo them all. It also didn’t help that in the final 30 minutes we had to do the harnesses. Even SPL Robert Sciberras Herrera was not pleased with our work and we had to redo some further knots. I then

The majority of the scouts really enjoyed the activity. This activity was important for everyone to learn new lashings, pioneering and sent a message to the young scouts not to give up and the importance of team work.

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From The Troop

Group helps out at the Malta Marathon for another year

Helping out in the Malta Marathon has become something of a tradition and, while 2019’s edition was rained off, the Group was back at Ta’ Qali for the 2020 edition - this time in altogether better weather.

Andrew Agius - ASL The Malta Marathon this year was held on the 1st March. Every year the group is asked by the organisers of the Malta Marathon to assist in what is the largest sporting event held on our islands.

Although it involves waking up rather early on a Sunday, we always participate and it’s a yearly appointment we strive to keep.

This year SAC Scout Group was assigned the water station on Mdina road, along the part of the route that heads towards H’Attard from Saqqajja. This is one of the busiest stations as both the full and the

half marathon routes pass through this station, with the full marathon runners passing twice as their route loops around Ta’ Qali. Inevitably runners from both the full and the half marathon end up passing through the station at the same time, and with an attendance of approximately 4,000 runners this year, we knew we were going to be in for a busy morning!

Bright and early at 06:30 some of our leaders were on-site to receive the delivery of three pallets of water bottles. A while later, at 07:00 the rest of the scouts started turning up. The Troop had been asked to help out in this event, but a lot of help

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from older members was needed as well, so the group leadership turned up in force, as well as members from the Rover Crew and the Venture Unit. All in all we were 21 people manning this water station.

We allocated roles; some of us were to hand out water to the participants, others were to keep them supplied constantly with ready opened bottles, and others were to stay by the pallets to keep unpacking, opening bottles ready to be picked up. A fair bit of organisation for a simple water station!

COVID-19 was already spreading throughout Europe, and although it hadn’t yet been detected in Malta, there were still concerns about being in the midst of such a large group of people. Gloves, hand sanitiser and alcohol wipes were the order of the day and we made sure that everyone was aware of how to properly dispense the bottles so as to avoid as much as possible contact with the open neck. Especially when collecting the empties.

the full and half marathon participants came by all together. It was about 5 minutes of hectic bottle tossing, but we managed to get everyone the water they wanted without slowing anybody down unnecessarily! Unfortunately, as things progressed with COVID-19, this turned out to be the last event that the Troop - and indeed other sections - could participate in, as shortly afterwards the health authorities and scouting authorities both recommended precautionary measures that necessitated the suspension of scout meetings and activities.

Despite meetings being suspended, we will try our best to keep up the scouting spirit and to engage with our members using alternative means at our disposal. We wish all our members and their families good health, and stay safe!

The event went very smoothly for us, although at one point the water station was completely overrun with runners (pun intended!) when

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From The Archives

Malta’s first Scout Commissioner addresses the group in 1917

And a fascinating insight into who the Scout Group’s first members were, and what became of them.

College Team (cheers), and that the Team had won its victory in strict accordance with the rules of sport and Overleaf is a page taken out of The Daily Malta fairplay (cheers)”, the article reads.

Chronicle, dated June 9. The article on the left hand side of the page, commemorating the first anniversary Bonavia does make an observation, according to the of the famous Battle of Jutland indicates that the year writer: namely that, for the good name of the Scouts of publication of this article is 1917 - meaning that the of Malta, that after learning how to win, the boys in scout group was, at the time, set up for less than a year. question would learn how to lose.

Albert Galea & Matthew Zammit

The article speaks of a ceremony organised to commemorate the group’s exceptional performance at a sporting event. It was attended by the group’s founder, Alfred Edward Green, and the Honourable Edgar Bonavia, one of the highest ranking Maltese officials within the British adminstration during World War One and also Malta’s first Island Commissioner of the Malta Boy Scouts Association.

In what is a marvellous insight into the people who made up the group at the time, the article goes on to list those members who brought honours home to the group.

Frank Busuttil was clearly the group’s standout performer – bringing home four medals besides the tug of war cup. He won 1st prize in the High Jump, Long Jump, Rescue Race along with Roger Strickland, After congratulating the group on its showing at the and 2nd prize the three-legged race with John Asphar.

Empire Day Rally in Valletta, Bonavia then moves on to congratulate the Troop for their “remarkable” Sistori Mifsud won 1st prize in the 440 Yard race, while showing at a Sports event held at the Mile End Ground Bertie Busuttil won 1st prize in a different class of 440 – Malta’s foremost sports ground until the Empire Yard race, and third prize in the 100 Yard race. Victor Stadium was opened in 1922 – reserving special praise Mifsud won 2nd prize in the Mile Race, and J. N. Camilleri won the 3rd prize in the Scoutmaster’s Race. for the Troop’s performance in the Tug-of-War Cup. Here the Troop were victorious – although the article The Tug-of-War team meanwhile was of Frank Mifsud, notes that, in true SAC fashion, there was some John Asphar, Frank Busuttil, Louis Tabone, Hector Paris, Victor Vella, Salvino Cassar Mallia, and Victor controversy in the win.

Mifsud.

“Unfortunately, there had been an incident which for a time threatened to mar the cordiality of the The story does not stop here however. For perhaps contending teams – but after a full, careful, and the first time, we shall delve deep into Malta’s National absolutely impartial enquiry, it had been established Archives and other places in order to attempt to pinbeyond the shadow of doubt that the Tug had been point who these scouts – perhaps some of the very first fairly pulled (cheers), that nothing had been elicited scouts to form part of St. Aloysius College Scout Group that could cast any reflection on the honour of the - were.

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Who are the Scouts mentioned in the Daily Malta Chronicle’s article?

From the 12 winning members spoken of in the Daily Malta Chronicle article, we have managed to trace details and pictures of 10 of them – giving an unprecedented insight into some of the group’s first members.

Most senior amongst the winners is Joseph Napoleon Camilleri, who was a Scoutmaster when the group was founded and in 1917. Camilleri was born on 10 March 1893 in Cospicua, and by 1937 he was living on Amery Street in Sliema. He stood at 5 feet 7 inches, and worked as a Clerk within the Malta Civil Service.

Further research specifically shows that he entered the civil service in 1921, and began working at the Superior Courts in 1930. As of 1938, his salary was of £290 per year – quite a substantial sum at the time.

marks Aden as his ordinary place of residence – and Strada Stretta in Valletta.

Victor Mifsud meanwhile was born on 28 May 1899.

He resided in Strada Zecca in Valletta and worked as a merchant. At the age of 20 though, he, his wife Carmela Grech Cumbo, and their 5-month-old daughter, Mary, registered for a passport to take them to the United States of America. A census taken in 1930 reveals that Mifsud did in fact go through with the trip, and was, at the time, working as a Bank Manager in New York City.

Bertie Busuttil was another medal winner mentioned.

He is the brother of Frank Busuttil - who we will hear more about later - and we know for certain that he was an avid football player. He played with Sliema Wanderers in the 1920s and 30s. The picture on the opposite page is taken from the team photo of a match between Sliema and Czech team SK Meteor Praha in 1932, which Sliema won 3-2. Busuttil gave a penalty away in the match, which was saved by Sliema goalkeeper Josie Nicholl.

Another Sliema boy was John Asphar. Born on 16 February 1900, with brown eyes and chestnut hair, and standing at 5 feet 6 inches by 1934, Asphar lived on Strada Reale in Sliema. The 1938 Malta Blue Books indicate that Asphar worked as an Auxiliary Clerk within the Lieutenant-Governor’s office – a post he had Last, but certainly not least, was Roger Strickland. He held since December 1928. His salary is marked as was the youngest of the group, having been born on 4 being a very respectable £135 per year.

May 1905 – meaning he would have been only around 12 years old at the time of the article being written.

Victor George Vella was born on 4 August 1901, also in Sliema, and eventually took up residence in Valletta. Roger Strickland was the nephew of Gerald Strickland First working as a merchant, he later served as a civil – one of the most famous politicians in Maltese history. servant before going on to become the private secretary He eventually followed his uncle’s path into politics to Prime Minister Gerald Strickland between 1927 with the Constitutional Party. Roger was a member of and 1930. In World War Two he commanded the 2nd the Legislative Assembly for over a decade, having been Batallion of the King’s Own Malta Regiment and was elected through a casual election in 1927 after his uncle awarded the OBE in 1946. In 1947 he became private vacated his seat, and then being elected again in the secretary to Prime Minister Paul Boffa, and in 1950 elections of 1932 and 1939. He became the leader of the was appointed secretary to the Imperial Government. Constitutional Party in 1940 - a post he held until 1945.

His last appointment was in 1958 as CommissionerGeneral for Malta in London, which is ultimately However, besides this, Strickland was a career soldier. where he died on 12 April 1963, at the age of 61.

He entered the army in 1923, at the age of 18 and continued to serve until 1945. An interesting little fact Hector Paris was born on 5 July 1901, resided at Strada as well, is that Strickland was one of the four people who San Domenico in Sliema, and went on to work as a founded a company called Virtu Steamship Company Clerk. Louis Tabone meanwhile was born on 13 April in 1945, which is still around today as Virtu Ferries.

1900. He was Gozitan, but resided in Rudolph Street Strickland died on 10 May 1975 - six days after his 70th in Sliema. birthday.

Frank Mifsud was born on 25 November 1900 and also That leaves the athletic star of that day in 1917 - Frank worked as a Clerk. He was born in Aden, modern-day Busuttil. His athleticism, it turns out, took him far Yemen, and lived between there – a passport in 1930 beyond the scouting sports field.

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John Asphar

Joseph Napoleon Camilleri

Bertie Busuttil

Frank Mifsud

Roger Gerald Strickland

Louis Tabone

Hector Paris

Victor Mifsud

Victor George Vella

1934

1920

1919

1937

1933

1919

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1932

1918

1928

Frank Busuttil - SAC’s star athlete; Sliema Wanderers’ star footballer they ended the season unbeaten, having only conceded one solitary goal in five matches.

Busuttil was also part of the Sliema team that eased to a clean sweep of the MFA competitions in the 1923/24 season – although this was a season mired by controversy and the eventual decision by Floriana and two other clubs – Hamrun and Marsa – to boycott the MFA as a result of a ticket revenue dispute.

Pictured in 1936

Needless to say, this resulted in an easy task for the Wanderers to to take all four honours put forward by the MFA that season. They ran away with the league, winning the title with maximum points and marched on triumphantly winning the other three Cup competitions - the Cousis Shield, the Cassar Cup and the Portanier Cup becoming the first club in local history to win the Quadruple Crown.

With four first place prizes to his name for the scout group, it is clear that Frank Busuttil was a man of a Busuttil himself scored in all three Cup Finals, and certain athletic prowess. notched a remarkable hat-trick against Vittoriosa Rovers in the Cousis Shield Final, which Sliema won 3-1.

Born on 25 September 1899 in Sliema, Busuttil’s footballing prowess was immediately clear to everyone.

Busuttil’s prowess would eventually take him further At the age of 10 years old, he played for Sliema Rovers afield from Sliema, and from Malta in general. before debuting with Sliema Wanderers – then one of the best teams on the island along with Floriana – at the At a point in the mid-1920s, Busuttil moved to Sicily age of 15, when he played for this club against Valletta in order to continue his studies to be a doctor at the United in the cup final of the 1914/15 season.

University of Palermo. The President of Palermo Football Club Valentino Colombo and the club’s coach Standing at 5 feet 9 inches, with brown eyes and hair, Ermenegildo Negri soon got wind of Busuttil’s presence Busuttil’s footballing career would begin to peak in 1919 in their town and, having heard of his reputation from – and he helped lead Sliema Wanderers to their first ever Maltese football, signed him up for the 1925/26 season. league title in the 1919/20 season.

Palermo took part in the Girone Finale B of the Italian Championship with Alba Roma (who eventually faced Known for his eye for goal and electric feet, Busuttil soon Juventus in the final for the Championship), Bagnolese, made a name for himself as one of the most exciting Pro Italia, and Maceratese. Palermo’s only win came players in Maltese football during the 1920s. against the latter, where Busuttil’s hat-trick powered them to a commanding score of 6-0. Busuttil scored a While still playing, Busuttil continued his studies and further three goals in the games against the other teams became a Doctor – indeed he became easily recognizable – meaning that he had an impressive tally of six goals in on the field of play due to the fact that he used to play four games. wearing a pair of gloves. This was so to protect his hands from the tough, hard-baked gravel surfaces of the Mile Palermo however were more focused on Sicily’s First End Group and the Empire Stadium and from infection Division that season however – known as the Lega Sud. – which would have affected his day-job.

They eventually came up against Messinese in the final in January 1926, and Busuttil was one of the protagonists as He along with other stars of the game such as Ruggieru he once again scored three goals – one in the 11th minute, Friggieri – known as iz-Zibga – would lead Sliema to another in the 41st minute, and the last in the 77th another league triumph in the 1922/23 season, where

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minute – as Palermo romped to a 7-0 win. Messinese won the return leg 1-0 – where Busuttil didn’t play – but it was a formality: Palermo triumphed 7-1 on aggregate.

The season wasn’t over for Busuttil yet however. His old team, Sliema Wanderers were in the midst of a hardfought championship against old foes Floriana. The title came down to a crucial deciding match on 21 March 1926, to be played at the Empire Stadium.

Unbeknownst to Floriana, Sliema had approached Busuttil and arranged for him to come back to Malta to play in the fixture. This was in a time where football was not sinking in the bureaucracy of player contracts and registration procedures, which meant that Busuttil was free to play with his old club.

although they were probably altogether more shocked when Busuttil fired home another trademark hat-trick in the 15th, 19th, and 60th minute to secure an incredible 4-1 victory for Sliema.

In 1927, Palermo went bankrupt. They merged with Vigor, but Busuttil did not join up with them – and in fact he returned to Sliema for the 1926/27 season, after which he called time on his footballing career.

Busuttil continued working as a doctor for the rest of his life, until he passed away at the relatively young age of 50, on 22 March 1950. His passing signified the passing of one of the last links to the early days of Maltese football played at the Mile End Ground – the same ground where, in 1917, he won four first prizes for the St. Aloysius His appearance in Sliema’s first 11 shocked Floriana – College Scout Group.

The Sliema Wanderers Squad in the 1923/24 season, when they won the League, the Cassar Cup, and the Cousis Shield. It was traditional for players to wear all the medals they’d won in their career in such photos - third from left in fact is the legendary Ruggieru Friggieri who was reaching the end of his career by this point. Frank Busuttil is seated third from right.

The traditional match between the League Champions - in this case Sliema - and The Rest of the League for the 1923/24 season. It took place on 23 February 1924, and Sliema were held to a 0-0 draw. Amongst the VIPs in attendance were Governor Lord Plumer, and the Honourable Edgar Bonavia - who addressed the Scout Group in 1917. Frank Busuttil is standing third from right, while his brother Bertie Busuttil is sitting third from left.

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From The Unit

Unit taste footballing triumph in 5-aside tournament St. Aloysius’ Venture Unit took on Units from Naxxar, Zebbug, Hamrun, and Attard in what may become another annual staple event to look forward to.

Thomas Sciberras Herrera The SAC Venture Unit was kindly invited by Naxxar Scout Group to participate in a football tournament, which from this year on was suggested to be held annually.

Five different units took part in this tournament which were: Naxxar, Zebbug, Attard, Hamrun and us; SAC. The tournament as a whole was very well organised, it was held in the Naxxar playground opposite the local council on the 19th of January.

The participation fee was that of €15 per team, our entry fee was paid by the profit made by

the Christmas party organised by the Venture Committee.

Each team was composed of six to nine players.

We Aloysians presented a team of six: goalkeeper Alex Siegler, fullback Luigi Farrugia, midfielder Jake Busuttil, and attacking-trio Matthew Muscat, Thomas Sciberras Herrera, and Daniel Soler, ably coached by our Leader Andre Brincat.

Chairman Luigi delivered a speech just before the tournament and emphasised that as a team we were mentally prepared (even though we hadn’t trained together like our fellow competitors).

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The tournament format was that of a round-robin league (even though on the trophy there is written tournament) and that team with the most points would win and in a case of equal points a decider was to be played.

The day started off well, with a comfortable 6-0 victory against Attard. A hard-fought 3-2 win against Hamrun followed, but two goalless draws against Zebbug and Naxxar stopped the winning streak as the team reached the business-end of the tournament.

Those results put us on top of the table tied with Zebbug on a tally of 8 points. Hamrun and Naxxar both finished on 4 points, while Attard propped up the table with a solitary point.

scout group enthusiastically supporting Zebbug.

However, against all the odds, WE CAME OUT VICTORIOUS, with a win of 3-2.

During the award ceremony Naxxar GSL praised the organisation of the event and hoped for this “new� event to be carried along the years as it promotes sportsmanship, he then presented us with the trophy and awarded each of us medals.

It was a great success and honour for all us players to play for such a prestigious group and to win on its behalf!

The decider was very intense, with every other

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From The Crew

Rover Crew registers another strong performance in iScout 2020 The international competition iScout is one of the highlights of the Rover Crew’s annual calendar, with all members eagerly awaiting the first Saturday of March for the worldwide event.

Run by a team of volunteers in the Netherlands, it equally pits the brains and the resourcefulness of Rover Crews across the face of the planet.

The game, which runs for a total of four hours, incorporates three main elements.

that makes them all the more satisfying when the correct answer is indeed found. Answering a Travel Question correctly grants the team a Travel Point, which is ultimately what ranks one group over another in the final standings.

The first, and most important element, are the Travel Questions. These are questions the answer of which lead to a specific point on the map of the world. They are presented in various formats – from riddles, to seemingly undecipherable languages, all the way to oddities from the most recent news cycle. The key point in answering these questions is knowing your way around the internet and its search engines – answers are sometimes obscure and extremely difficult to find; although

However, to unlock these Travel Questions, one needs to have Credits. These are acquired by carrying out the second element of the game: Tasks. These tasks can range from collecting a set of items, dressing up to mimic something, getting some form of pioneering skills out into show, or capturing the latest trend on photo or video.

The third element of the game is a wildcard – the Project. This is in essence one huge task, with the

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difference being that its successful completion can potentially award the group valuable Travel Points to add to their final tally. The word ‘potentially’ is used because simply completing the Project may not always give a positive yield. One needs to give up two Travel Points in order to submit, and there is the possibility of receiving either just one Travel Point back if the Project is deemed to be poor; four Travel points if it is deemed to be good; and six if it is deemed to be excellent.

The Task teams – of which there were four – had to, amongst other things, make themselves invisible to facial recognition, present a traditionally unhealthy snack as a gourmet dish, transform a bus-stop into the best Netflix & Chill location ever,

2020 is the 11th edition of the competition, and the sixth in which the Group’s Crew has taken part.

It is an event that is taken extremely seriously by the Crew, with preparation starting from several weeks beforehand.

A mock-event for the team is generally held a week or two before D-Day – so to speak – with this year’s once again being organised by Albert Galea and Matthew Zammit. The mock aims to present the Crew with questions and tasks very much akin to what would be faced in the competition-proper, generally acting as preparation for the actual event.

On the day of the competition – Saturday 7 March – the Crew gathered at HQ at 4:30pm, at which point a generous amount of take-away pizza was consumed as fuel for the upcoming hours of frantic running around or mental acrobatics – depending what element of the competition the person was working on.

At 6pm – one hour before the starting time – the final set-up of computers or team strategising was being done, after which the traditional group photo was taken and submitted to the competition organisers, who would be our judges for the night.

Having finished in an incredible 20th place in the 2019 edition, we knew it would be a tall order to repeat the same feat – especially given that, with 528 other teams taking part, this year’s field was the biggest yet.

replicate a Vietnamese instructional dance which shows people how to wash their hands, and create a moving circle pattern with six people.

All members performed admirably well, and by the end of the four hours they had successfully completed all of the 30 or so tasks given to each team.

The Project meanwhile was a throwback to Carnival. “Throw in a coin, press the buttons with timed precision, pray that the crane picks up your favourite stuffed animal, and holds it long enough for you to be able to take it home. We know from experience that most of the time the claw is not strong enough to hand you your price. Therefore,

There was, once again, an interesting variety of tasks. Certain tasks which we had seen in previous editions – such as pitching a tent upside down – made an appearance, while others of varying degrees of complexity all found themselves in the list.

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one of you is going to become the claw in your own lucky crane”, the project brief read.

“Your lucky crane has to be just like the one on the carnival, but only a bit bigger. There are a lot of (preferably large) prices to pick up, the crane moves both from left to right, front to back, and can go up and down. And there is some fitting music playing in the background”, it continued.

And so, our team got to work. Soon enough a complex set of ropework was set up across the

courtyard, while every child’s soft toy dream was contained in a box in one corner. Our lightest member was nominated to be the crane, and the deed was filmed and eventually submitted.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the HQ’s Troop Room sat seven members at their respective laptops and computers, breaking their brains on the Travel Questions.

the Netherlands do a fantastic job of keeping us on our toes, making us take nothing for granted and leading us on a journey of discovery throughout the globe. How else, if not for iScout, would we have found out this year the location of a pink see-saw on the US-Mexican border, the traditional pea soup dish served to the victor of a Dutch chess tournament since the 1960s and the location of an underground rainbow in Stockholm?

Ultimately, all three of our question-answering teams came through with flying colours, posting a collective score of 55 correct answers. These along with the score received from the submission of the carnival-themed project saw us amass a total of 57 points; our best ever to date in six years of participation in the iScout competition – placing us in 37th place out of 529 teams and retaining our ever-present position as foremost amongst the competing scout groups of Malta.

At this point it would also be remiss of us to neglect to mention the contribution of the Swieqi Girl Guides, from whom a small contingent joined us and without which we would have undoubtedly suffered.

Alas, the next iScout now lies a year away, and as far as we are concerned it cannot come soon enough.

Preparations at SAC are already underway, and we have every intention of continuing the upwards points trajectory which has been the mark of our every participation thus far.

As with every year of the competition thus far, the Travel Questions were divided into three sets, each containing around twenty questions.

With attendance slightly lower than last year due to various commitments on the part of some members of the Crew, teams of two people were each allocated a set of questions to get through.

Answering the questions is to a certain extent an exercise in logic, general knowledge and on occasion plumbing the depths of the most obscure corners of the interwebs in a bid to find out the price of wool in an Uzbek sheep market, which will then translate into the coordinates for a small town in rural North Dakota. Every year, the organisers in

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From The Crew

Blindfolds and frying pans out in force for two Crew monthly activities

In order to keep things fresh and varied, the Rover Crew organise a different activity each month. In these past two months, it was Luke Cassola’s and Daniel Mifsud Baron’s turn to come up with activites. teammates - who also had some tricky restrictions.

Luke Cassola This year the Rover Crew decided to continue something which, for some reason, had stopped happening towards the end of the year 2019. This is where a different activity is organised every month by a different member of the Crew. For the month of February it was my turn to host an activity for the rovers and I decided it would be based on communication, some basic scouting skills, and strength.

However there was a slight twist to the activity. The person who had to attempt all the challenges was blindfolded and therefore had no idea what he had to do and where to go next. So in order for him to know what he had to do, he needed the help of two

Their goal was to try and guide their blindfolded team member through the challenges and across the finish line as quickly as possible. The other two team members were placed facing each other one metre apart, one of them facing the obstacle course and challenges and the other facing the opposite way, not able to see any part of the course. The one facing the course had to give out instructions to the team member opposite him by means of actions and movements without being able to talk or make any sounds. If the member facing the opposite way of the course understood what the other member had to say, he would shout out the instructions to their fellow blindfolded member, hence guiding him throughout the challenges.

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The activity was a mixture of an obstacle course and relay race with a series of different challenges along the way. In all there were a total of seven challenges to be tackled.

The first task consisted of 3 benches joined together in the form of a maze where the blindfolded member had to crawl along the path of the benches with the help of his team guiding him through the whole process. The second challenge was to tie a specific knot given by myself while the third one was to stack six buckets in the form of pyramid, making sure none of the buckets fall. The fourth challenge

involved being directed to a rope somewhere in the activity area and neatly coiling it. The fifth involved first aid, wherein the blindfolded member was given a rolled up bandage and had to apply a wrist bandage on me. The penultimate and the last challenge were about strength. These included in having a pallet race for 10 metres all the way to the last task. In the last task, the blindfolded member had to push a wheelie bin over the finish line with me in it making it all the more challenging.

All three teams performed exceptionally well in all the challenges and all seemed to enjoy the activity.

The times of the teams were also very close together and only a few seconds separated them. In third place was the team made up of Daniel Pace, Andrew Zammit Montebello, and Nigel Grech with a time of 7 mins and 47 seconds, in second place was the team made up of Luca Tufigno, Matthew Zammit, and Albert Galea with a time of 7 mins and 24 seconds, while the team made up of Adam Vella Cardona, Lorin Grima, and Daniel Mallia emerged victorious with a time of 7 mins and 23 seconds, just one second apart!

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March’s monthly activity, organised by Daniel Mifsud Baron, took a more refined, culinary format.

Daniel Mifsud Baron March’s activity meanwhile, held during the last meeting before health authority restrictions meant that meetings had to cease saw the Rover Crew put their blindfolds away, and bring their frying pans out instead.

The activity was a relay cooking activity, the purpose of which was to improve the Crew’s communication skills.

With the Crew split into three teams of four, the rules were simple: one person could cook, and the others could only watch and guide that person. The organiser, Daniel Mifsud Baron, would then call for a switch to take place, and the person cooking would be replaced.

The first challenge was to cook the perfect poached egg - the prize here being exclusive use of a deep fryer, which would come in handy once the rest of each team’s menu was revealed.

Indeed, all three teams had different menus, which made things even harder as there was no way to copy what other teams were doing.

Team 1 - made up of Luke Maistre, Albert Galea, Daniel Mallia, and Andrew Zammit Montebello - had to cook Super Spicy Chicken nuggets, buffalo wings, a classic chicken burger and fries. Team 2 - made up of Daniel Busuttil, Luke Cassola, Lorin Grima, and Nigel Grech - had to cook conventional chicken nuggets, Chicken Kievs, barbecue wings and fries. Team 3 made up of Luca Tufigno, Simon Gauci, Jonathan Pace, and Kyle Mangion - had to cook original pieces of chicken, a classic burger, sweet-and-sour wings, and fries.

It was Team 1 who won the coveted deep fryer, and they put that to good use, eventually emerging victorious after all the food had been judged.

Still, the judges were quite impressed with the final result of all three teams, making this a succesful activity - and making a good dinner as well!

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Contact the Group Pack - cubs@sacscouts.org Troop - troop@sacscouts.org Unit - ventures@sacscouts.org Crew - rovers@sacscouts.org Newsletter Editor - newsletter@sacscouts.org