A few months before the first Maltese basketball club in 32 years makes its debut in European competition, Starlites BC, who will play under the name ‘VisitMalta Starlites’ are set to find out their opponents in the official FIBA Europe Cup draws on Friday.
The experience, highlighted as a ‘dream’ for Starlites is said to have been a plan on their minds for several years, and now, this ambition will become reality.
In a press conference on Tuesday, club president Ivan Riolo said that the challenge which stemmed from head coach Paul Ferrante was not yet confirmed until a few weeks ago, however, he explained that a sub-committee was formed to make all of this possible.
“A few weeks ago, Starlites Basketball Club submitted its application to take part in qualifiers for the FIBA Europe Cup and this application was approved. In turn, after 32 years, Starlites Basketball Club will be participating in European competition,” the club president told the press conference.
“We are honoured because this is a new thing for us – the challenge is ambitious both financially and administratively. However, with effort from the club and this sub-committee, this experience will become a reality.
“We hope this will not be a one-off and our internal agreement is that we are going into this looking for a positive experience as we wish to carry this out for years to come in both the men’s and women’s categories.”
Meanwhile, head coach Ferrante said it will be a task which while difficult, could be made easier with support.
“We’ve been able to see what kind of teams we might face and most of them have more than eight foreigners on their roster. The more help we can get locally in order to bring along import players who can help our nucleus of local players, the better,” Ferrante said.
“We’ve just lost two important players – Matt (Attard) and Alec (Felice Pace) who are difficult to replace within the local sphere. We’ve made one signing in this regard which will be announced when the time comes. At the same time, we won’t have a limit on foreign players.
“Do we have a chance to progress? That chance is small but whenever there is a competition with a score, a game can be won or lost so we’re going into this with that mindset.”
Rewriting the history books
Riolo, who was part of the Luxol team of 1992 who faced Bulgarian side Slavia Sofia in the first round of qualifying for the same competition believes that just how he was lucky to experience such an event, it is now time for Maltese players to do the same.
Speaking to Malta Basketball, the Starlites supremo said that while it will be difficult, it’s a start.
“As a player, I’ve already experienced this – I remember 32 years ago, I was in the Luxol team that played against Slavia Sofia in this competition. I remember the immensely entertaining home game where we had lost by 15 points but it was an experience that I feel it’s time local talent should taste,” he said.
“Just as they do in other sports like football where they experience European competition every season, it’s time local basketball clubs – with the necessary support and planning – start to experience these competitions for the good of the local game and more importantly the players who have already been playing against each other for many years.
“It’s an ambitious project but there’s always a start – we’ll take a feel and play for the future from there.”
Also speaking at the press conference, Malta Basketball Association (MBA) president Paul Sultana showed his enthusiasm toward the move, giving the MBA’s blessing to Starlites and the rest of Malta’s clubs to take proactive measures for the improvement of Maltese basketball.
“On behalf of the MBA, I give my blessing to this initiative,” Sultana said, “this is a beautiful thing for Maltese basketball.”
“I’m sure that for Maltese players who have also played with the National team, this is something that they will look forward to as motivation and a good experience. We all know that the basketball played in these competitions is of a very high level so I hope these players will realise the need to keep on elevating their skills in order to compete.
“We wish Starlites the best for this competition while encouraging other clubs to take the step as well – it is something that will bring along added interest to the spectators of the sport.”
Starlites Women’s Team Involvement
Asked to expand further about whether this would stretch also the the club’s women’s team, Riolo said that was their target, however, it should be the ‘gift’ for players after a successful season.
“Our target is that whatever we introduce for our men’s team, we do so also for the women. For the women, the opportunity is there as well however, we don’t want to offer it just for the sake of it. It will be there for them if they are successful in their respective competitions just as the men did. This season was memorable as can be so as a gift, we decided to go into European competition. But of course, we want this to be something we do for the women as well every season.”
In a press release acquired by Malta Basketball, VisitMalta Chief Executive Officer, Carlo Micallef said: “Our goal at VisitMalta is to promote our Islands abroad through different initiatives that are finely targeted to reach the audience we wish to attract to Malta and Gozo as tourists. Sports has become an important vehicle with which we deliver our marketing message. We are proud to be supporting Starlites Basketball Club as they embark on this historic journey. We are committed to supporting their endeavours and are confident they will make Malta proud in the FIBA Europe Cup.”