Empire Stadium, Gżira
BW
- Hibernians FC
- Floriana FC
- Football
- Dog Racing
The Empire Stadium was until it was replaced in 1981 by the Ta ' Qali Stadium, the national stadium of Malta. It stands on the site of the Established in 1922 Empire Sports Ground in Gzira. It was known primarily for its existing of rolled sand court. In addition to international football matches and dog races were held here in the 1930s.
History
With the increasing popularity of football in Malta, the desire for suitable venues was larger in the 20s. Finally found himself in Carmelo Scicluna an investor. He built the Empire Sports Ground in Gzira 1922. Due to the progressive professionalization and popularity but also satisfied the Empire Sports Ground soon no longer meet the requirements and as a medium-sized stadium was built just eleven years after the opening of the Grounds, which was inspired by the modern stages of the English mother country. The now called Empire Stadium venue had 30,000 spectators and a hard-rolled clay court than playing surface. This unusual surface made it the European teams always hard to comply with their usual game type in the Empire Stadium. She brought the stadium the nickname " Hell of Gzira ." In addition to the teams of the first Malta Football League and the National wore their games from here.
Games
On February 24, 1957, the first international match took place in Malta (Malta was still a British colony ) in the Empire Stadium. The home team defeated Austria with 2:3.
By participating Maltese clubs at the European Cup and Champions League, the stadium also saw some internalionale Club matches. Known Maltese Europe teams are the Hibernians FC, Floriana FC and Sliema Wanderers. They met on clay, for example, Celtic, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona or Juventus. But Victorious was never a Maltese team.
Closure
After quarrels of the Maltese Football Association MFA with the government of the island nation, the government and MFA taught in the seventies made their own international matches. This led ultimately to the fact that the government had built a new ' private ' stadium without representation of the MFA, the Ta ' Qali Stadium in Attard. After association and government had agreed again, the MFA decided to move to the much more modern and more attractive Ta ' Qali Stadium.
The international history of the stadium ended with the first round of the European Cup 1981/82 season games in which, as usual, were eliminated, the Maltese clubs. It started on September 16, 1981 Master Hibernians FC with a respectable 1-2 defeat in front of 5000 spectators against Red Star Belgrade in the Guest Teams scored the not necessarily deserve respected by many as the winning goal in the last minute. On 23 September, followed in the European Cup winners of Floriana FC with a 1:3 defeat against eventual finalists Standard Liege. In the return games Hibernians and Floriana lost on turf clearly with 1:8 or 0:9. The conclusion of the international history happened on 30 September with the UEFA Cup back round encounter of Sliema Wanderers FC vs Aris Thessaloniki- PAE with a 2:4 defeat - after a 0:4 in Greece - which was attended by just 1800 people.
In the coming decades, the Empire Stadium was largely left to itself, and it fell into disrepair. The Clay Court was soon no longer be recognized under the wild grass.