Serbian Water Polo Federation: No to Split for Upcoming Red Star Matches

Serbian water polo is the world's best—and has been rocked by the attack last weekend against Red Star athletes. Photo Courtesy: Serbian Water Polo Federation

Earlier Wednesday, the Serbian Water Polo Federation—responsible for overseeing the men’s and women’s national teams of Serbia—issued a statement on the attack last Saturday in Split, Croatia, where Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) players Dusan Vasic, Milos Maksimovic and Alesandro Kralj were attacked by multiple assailants in what local police have termed “hate-motivated crimes.”

Serb_WPF_logo Following is the statement from federation and it’s president, Viktor Jelenic; what’s noteworthy is that Serbian clubs support a boycott by Red Star of upcoming Champions League matches in Split—and that the federation seeks a response from those Serbian clubs about moving their upcoming matches from Split to another location.

From the Serbian Water Polo Federation statement:

Today, a meeting of the leadership of the associations and all Serbian clubs, participants of the RVL, took place at the House of Waterpolo, from which the following letter was sent to the members of the Board of Directors of the RVL and the Competition for Competition:

Dear sports friends:

We are all aware of events that took place in Split on 9.2.2019. before the game of the 12th round of the VK Mornar – VK Crvena Zvezda where the athletes of the VK Red Star were attacked by a group of hooligans.

Unfortunately, this attack by the hooligans was motivated by ethnic hatred, which in any case represents the worst possible form of violence. Just by chance, fortunately for us all, this attack did not end with a tragic outcome. What encourages us is the statement of condemnation of all relevant parties in Croatia, both political and sports, as well as the quick reaction of the Croatian police. We sincerely believe that it will not only end there but that the perpetrators of this crime will be severely punished.

Initiated by the aforementioned leadership, the Water Polo Federation of Serbia held a meeting with representatives of Serbian clubs, RVL participants in order to analyze the newly emerging situation and take certain steps.

As a conclusion of the meeting, the unique position of all Serbian clubs, participants of the RVL, did not participate in the sports field in the city of Split until the end of the current season, as well as sports arena, which are located not less than 200 km from Split for security reasons. For VK Crvena Zvezda at this moment it is unacceptable to host in Split, unanimously supported by other clubs from Serbia, RVL participants, and we hereby send you an application to meet us and enable other matches planned in the area to be moved to thus ending the already started competition.

Please reply by Tuesday, February 19th.

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