The Croatia Water Polo Federation has called a request from its Serbian counterpart to play all remaining fixtures between the two teams in the latter country “radical.”
Four Crvena Zvezda players were attacked not long before the Serbian side was set to face Mornar in Split, Croatia on Saturday, February 9. This led Serbian water polo authorities to say their clubs would not play in Split— or anywhere within a 200-kilometre radius of the city—for the remainder of the season.
Former water polo Olympian turned politician Perica Bukić responded to the request with some incredulity, however, and said bowing to such demands would mean the end of the Regional League:
“We’re open to resolving this situation, but if the Serbs persist in their request, the Regional League won’t exist anymore, at least not in its current form. I will again express how I detest what happened in Split, but it’s impossible to achieve the requested.”
Split has three clubs in the Regional League (Mornar, Jadran, and POŠK), while Solaris (Šibenik), Zadar 1952 (Zadar) and Galeb (Makarska) also fall within 200 kilometres of the city.
Photo by Just Dubrovnik
