ZEBBUG ROVERS FOOTBALL CLUB

CLUB HISTORY

       The season 1976 -77 was the first season that Zebbug Rovers F.C. were in the second division of the G.F.A.  From 10 matches, Zebbug won 1 game, had 2 draws and lost the rest.  During these matches they scored 9 goals and suffered 21.  The first goal for Zebbug Rovers in their first season was scored by Michael Vella.  It was a difficult start which finished with 4 points in the last position.  The team was coached by the player-coach Bro. Jimmy Catania.  The Zebbug Rovers F.C. second championship that of 1977-78 was again a difficult one like the previous season.  However, Zebbug had one point extra this season, but scored the least number of goals that of 4. 

       Although Zebbug finished in the last position they suffered only 13 goals.  This season the player-coach Jimmy Catania was selected as the GFA Yearly sports Official. The next season 1978-79 Bro. Jimmy Catania had to leave to Malta, and Zebbug selected Alfred Buttigieg as their coach.  In the team started to play the brothers Paul and Philip Ciantar and the team improved a lot and in fact in the first round they were in the first place.

     They ended runners-up in the final classification and were the team which scored the most.  This season Zebbug Rovers finished final in the knock-out and lost it in the replay with only one goal.  Unfortunately, at the end of the season, the tem experienced an internal crisis and retired from the GFA.  The team of Zebbug Rovers passed 7 seasons inactive even though they tried several time to form the team.

      In the setup of the team season 1986-87, the team was fortunate to play in the first division with all the Gozitan teams.  Zebbug played well in this highest division when won against St. Laurence Spurs with 2-0 both goals scored by Frans Saliba.  Thus, Frans Saliba was the first player of Zebbug Rovers who scored in the first division.  However, Zebbug had to play in Pool B and finished in the fourth place and had to play in the relegation Pool in the second half of the league.  In this second pool, Zebbug had good results, however were not sufficient to remain in the first division even though came in the third place.  Again in the second division Zebbug Rovers, in the season 1987-88, had five wins and five lost games.  In this season, Zebbug started together with Munxar with one point less, while Victoria U. and St. Laurence with two points less, always as classified in the previous season.

      The season 1988-89 was the best in the history of Zebbug Rovers.  It was a surprise that Zebbug won over the favourites and won everything, even the double. the team was coached by their ex-player, Baskal Saliba.  This season Zebbug had 3 individual honors, one given to the President Benjamin Cefai as the GFA Yearly Sports Official, another to the goalkeeper Louis Cardona as the best player in the second division and the third to Victor Zammit as the best scorer with 5 goals.  Something new this season was that the second placed in the second division was also promoted to the first division. 

      Back in the first division, the season 1989-90, the Rovers lost 7 games and had 3 draws and with their 3 points they placed last in the classification and again were relegated to the second division after only one season.  In the first phase they worked hard against every team, but in the second round they suffered 3 large loses and ended to be the team who suffered the most goals which was that of 27.

     In the season 1990-91, Zebbug rovers seemed that they were going to challenge everyone to achieve the first places.  However, they emphasized mainly on their player captain Victor Zammit.  After the first round they were in the first place together with Qala, however they started the second round very bad after that they lost against Qala.  However, Zebbug reacted and ended in the second place together with Qala and thus a decider had to be played to see who will be promoted together with the Champions Munxar to the first division.  Zebbug were disappointed after that they lost this decider against Qala with 3-0. 

     This season Victor Zammit was the best scorer with 5 goals and the best player in the second division.  Zebbug rovers disappointed a lot in the season 1991-92.  They played well in the first round, but did nothing in the second round,  In fact in the second round, Zebbug had their greatest lost against Oratory Youths with 108, and even when played against S.K.V.W they finished the game with 4 players less.

     In the season 1992-93 Zebbug Rovers were champions after they have worked hard against Ghajnsielem.  There were moments when Qala also worked for the promotion.  Zebbug won game after game, lost against Ghajnsielem, however they skipped against Ghajnsielem in their last match of the season to become the Champions of the Second Division. 

      So, the Rovers started playing in the first division after 3 years in the second division.  During this season Zebbug were coached by Teddy Curmi and got from Sannat Lions the attackers M. Grima and M. Cardona.  In the midfield J. Briscoe hardened the defense and the team suffered only 6 goals. The captain Carmel Farrugia was voted to be the best player in the GFA Second Division.

    The next season, 1993-94, in the first division, Zebbug Rovers found it difficult, even though they got the goalkeeper T. Pace, the attacker R. Chetcuti and the foreigner R. Bouamara, and changed the coach to Carmel Sultana instead of Teddy Curmi. 

     This season Zebbug won only 2 matches, got 3 draws and lost the other 9 games.  Positive result was achieved in the Independence Cup were the Rovers were eliminated in the semi-finals.  Back in the second division, coached by Walter Mampalao, the 1994-95 was a disappointed season for Zebbug as they lost 6 matches, got 2 draws and won 2.  Rovers ended the second place from the last.  In the other competitions, Zebbug did well in the GFA Cup after qualified from Group A, however were eliminated in the quarter finals. 

     The season 1995-96 was another disappointed season for Zebbug rovers in the second division under the coach Eddie Camilleri.  They finished in the last place with only one point.  They had none wins, one draw  and lost 9.  This disappointment was replaced at the end of the season by being given the Good conduct Cup.  The GFA representative member Sammy Camilleri was given the Council Shield.  Now coached by the player coach Paul Cilia, Zebbug Rovers were better in the season 1996-97 than the previous ones. 

    They ended in the second place of the second division, but they lost the promotion-decider against Munxar Falcons 1-2 and remained in the second division.  Zebbug were given the honor of the GFA Play Fair award and Reuben Galea was given the best scorer in the second division with 10 goals.  Even in the Knock-Out of the second division they finished up in the second place after lost against Kercem Ajax 1-3.

      Zebbug Rovers achieved the double in the season 1997-98 in the second division that is the Championship and the knock-out.  Coached by Victor Zammit, Zebbug were Champions with 28 points achieved after 9 wins, and one draw and 2 loses.  In the Knock-out Zebbug won over Oratory Youths with 2-0, and won this Cup for the second time in their history.

     The team reinforced by the involvement of new young players.  Zebbug were given the Good Conduct Cup, and one individual basis Mario Grech was given the GFA Best player of the year and the players Joe Cini and Alex Tramboo were voted as the Sprite Players in the second division in October and April-May respectively.  The next season 1998-99 the team was against coached by Victor Zammit, and had a good championship in the first division.  They finished runners-up with 18 points and played the promotion decided against Xewkija T. After working hard Zebbug won with 4-3 in the extra time and were promoted in the Premier Division.

     This success was honored again with the Good Conduct Cup and the player Mario Azzopardi was chosen to be the best promising player of the first division.  In the season 1999-2000, Zebbug rovers ended up in the fourth place of the classification in the first division Rothmans cup. 

       This was the best league in their history.  for a long time, Zebbug tried to achieve the first place.  At the end of the first round Zebbug were in the first place with 12 points as Victoria Hotspurs.  They got 3 won matches, 3 draws and one lost.  However, in the second round they won 1 match, had 3 draws and lost 3.  This reflected also on the goals scored and those suffered.  In the first round they scored 18 goals and suffered 12, and in the second round score 8 and suffered 16.  In the second round Zebbug achieved only 6 points. On the while, Zebbug scored 23 goals and suffered 28 goals. the scorers were Sylvan Galea with 9 goals, Igor Stefanovic with 6 goals, Philip Cardona with 3 goals, Nagiem Rashid and Reuben Galea with 2 goals each and Patrick Camilleri with one goal.  Zebbug had kept the same basic players, however they lacked of reserves.  This lack of reserved effected the team when they had injured and suspended players.

      In fact, Zebbug had the most suspended players (5) this season.  The team suffered also a lot of counter-attacks due to lack of defense. Zebbug was also the team who suffered the most against penalties (7).  However, Sylvan Galea was rewarded for the best Rothmans player for the months of September and February. In fact he was the first player who won this reward for 2 times in the same season since the past 10 years.  He was also given the GFA Best Scorer with 25 goals.  Mario Azzopardi was also rewarded as the Rothmans Player of October.  In the Rothmans GFA Cup, Zebbug were eliminated in the semi-finals.  In this competition participated all the Gozo teams.  In the preliminary round Zebbug won over Munxar Falcons 10-0 and got the greatest win. Then Zebbug won over Xaghra United 5-1, but lost against Xewkija Tigers 1-2.  Again in this competition Sylvan Galea was the best scorer of the competition with 6 goals.  This same season Zebbug Rovers won their first seasonal honor of the Millennium.  they won the Independence Cup.

      They played the final against Xaghra United and with a goal of Philip Cardona  at the last 2 minutes of the match.  Zebbug won this cup.  This was an honor as Zebbug were celebrating their 25th anniversary since their origin.  sylvan Galea was the best scorer of the competition with 5 goals.  till the final Zebbug rovers had won over St. Laurence Spurs 3-0, Nadur youngsters 1-0 and Victoria Hotspurs 2-1.In this same season another won Cup was that of the Freedom Day Cup (8th edition). Zebbug won the final with the penalties, after a well played match against Ghajnsielem with a lot of chances for Zebbug.  The goalkeepers Joe Pisani of Zebbug and Eric Mercieca of Ghajnsielem saved five penalties between them.

       Zebbug score 3 penalties while Ghajnsielem scored 2.  Although Zebbug rovers were the favourites in the once organized Cup, the Millennium Cup.  Zebbug lost the final with the golden goal.  this competition was organized to see which Gozo team was going to participate in the MFA Century cup.  This competition involved 11 teams with direct elimination and from 10 matches, 4 were decided in the extra time and another with the penalties.  In the preliminary round, Zebbug won with 1-0 over Oratory Youths in the extra time.  In the quarter final won over Nadur Youngsters 4-3, and won over Xewkija Tigers 2-0 in the semi-finals.  Their opponents in the final were Victoria Hotspurs.  Zebbug disappointed a lot in this final match as they did not play as a team but on individual basis.  Victoria won the game with 2-1 in the extra time.  Best scorers of this competition were Sylvan Galea and Jason Portelli (Gharb) with 3 goals.

           From this season onwards, the Zebbug Rovers team showed that it was becoming a strong team and was becoming one of the favourites.  Although in the next season 2000-01 the Rovers did not win any Cup, gave a great match to every team. In fact this season they ended in the 4th place in the classification of the First Division League (the highest league in Gozo) and played till the final in the BOV Super Cup where they played against Ghajnsielem and lost the match in the extra time with the golden goal.

         In the season 2001-2002 the Rovers kept the 4th place in the classification table, came runners-up in the Independence cup and in the BOV Super Cup. 

           The next season 2002-03 the Zebbug Rovers placed the third in the league classification and came runners-up in the Noel Vassallo Cup after they played against Nadur Youngsters and lost with the penalties.  However, in the season  2003-04, Zebbug won over the same Nadur Youngster for the same cup with 3-0.

           Apart from the Noel Vassallo Cup they won also the Freedom Day Cup after playing versus Nadur and won with the penalties after an equal result of 2-2. 

        At the beginning of the season there was the competition of the Independence cup and in the preliminary round surprisingly Zebbug lost against Qala St. Joseph with 1-0. For this lost Zebbug went over and won the above mentioned cups the Noel Vassallo and Freedom Day cup and also the ever expected dream when it came true after winning the Gozo highest division league.  Thus, the Zebbug Rovers are honored as the New Gozitan Champions.

Special Thanks To Mr. Joe Bajada For The Information and Photos About The History Of Zebbug Rovers FC.