LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Hundreds of Maltese who support the national football team of Italy yesterday night went out in carcades to celebrate the historic win by Italy against England in the final of the European championships. Most of the celebrations were helf in Sliema and St. Julian’s areas.
Italian nationals residing in Malta gathered in both localities to celebrate this result by honking horns and waving their national flag.
Police were stationed in various areas to control the influx of fans who gathered together to celebrate the 3-2 Italian win against England.
Ahead of Euro 2020’s final match between England and Italy, football fans across Malta and Gozo decorated their balconies with Italian or English flags in support of their respective favourite team.
Football rivalry between English and Italian supporters in Malta goes back to the political tensions from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Nationalist Party was born directly out of the tensions that existed between English and Italian cultural influences in the late 1900s and one of the party’s founders Enrico Mizzi was court-martialled for his pro-Italian sympathies.
On the other hand, Lord Gerald Strickland’s Constitutional Party believed Malta should remain anchored into British identity. The language issue in 1930 saw Malta descend into violence with Strickland suffering an assassination attempt and Mizzi arrested and later exiled during World War II.
(ITALPRESS).
