Jonathan Grech

Goalkeeper - Tarxien Rainbows
15 Feb 2027
Monday
Process

Marked for Jonathan Grech

28 Edition

The Tarxien Rainbows Courier

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Kyle Gatt out for 117 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tarxien Rainbows will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Tarxien Rainbows spell it out for Kurt Vella

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kurt Vella has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Market

Andreas Vella hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tarxien Rainbows can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Squad

Patrick Schmidt in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tarxien Rainbows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Marco Grech steps up from the Tarxien Rainbows academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marco Grech has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

A row about effort at Tarxien Rainbows

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kwasi Donsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Ian Pisani

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ian Pisani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Tarxien Rainbows have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Patrick Schmidt without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Patrick Schmidt was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

In brief

Back issues
19 Edition

The Tarxien Rainbows Courier

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Marko Musulin puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tarxien Rainbows, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Tarxien Rainbows

Position 10 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Match

Tarxien Rainbows come up short against Birkirkara

Birkirkara left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Patrick Schmidt was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

Kwasi Donsu falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

A falling-out at Tarxien Rainbows

Kyle Gatt and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Aleksander Łubik

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Kurt Vella: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Kian Vella named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kian Vella is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

11 Edition

The Tarxien Rainbows Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Tarxien Rainbows sink to position 12

3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

The wait goes on for Tarxien Rainbows

8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Andreas Vella asks to leave Tarxien Rainbows

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Tarxien Rainbows

Marko Musulin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Lawrence Attard steps up from the Tarxien Rainbows academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lawrence Attard has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

Home is on Cláudio Murici's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tarxien Rainbows are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Words at Tarxien Rainbows training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sheldon Mizzi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

A stepping stone, not a home, for Jonathan Grech

He is doing his job and he is not settling. Tarxien Rainbows were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.

Squad

5 new faces, and Tarxien Rainbows are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

In brief