I have been to three Olympics and played
in countless finals and big games, but I have never seen an atmosphere
like the one at our game against the Serbian club team Partizan
on Wednesday night here in Dubrovnik. It was our quarterfinal Champions
League game and one of the most important moments of the season.
The gates to the pool opened hours before the game and the stands
were immediately filled with thousands of screaming fans clothed
in Croatian flags and chanting our club’s theme song. I found myself
hiding out in our gym just to get my mind focused before the game
began.
After about 30 minutes of stretching in the
gym, I finally ventured out to jump in the pool.
The initial group of screaming fans had been joined by another 4,000,
raising the noise level considerably. I proceeded to warm-up but
my adrenaline was already so high that I just wanted to start playing.
During lineup, I happened to look over while the Serbian players
were introduced. Our fans were pelting them with lighters and coins
while screaming every known obscenity.
As I observed the looks of rage on our fan’s faces I knew that for
them this game was more than just a Champions League game. Serbia
and Croatia have a continuing rivalry since the Balkan Wars ended
slightly over ten years ago. Sporting events between the two countries
continue to have very nationalistic undertones.
Play started with a quick goal from Serbia but we responded immediately
with a 6 on 5 goal from myself. Throughout the game we were constantly
leading by two or three, but we knew that since we had to win by
three, the previously undefeated Serbians would not go down easily.
Every time we scored a goal the speakers blasted our team anthem
and the crowd went wild. Every time the Serbians scored there was
a general silence followed by loud booing.
With three minutes left in the fourth quarter and us ahead by two,
I broke free on a one on nobody. A Serbian player was close on my
tail, but I stopped at three and shot cross cage low. JUG 10, Partizan
7. The game ended with another goal from our two- meter man, making
the final score 11-7.
The seven thousand fans were satisfied by our win but continued
to scream and create a scene.
JUG will now join KOTOR (Montenegro), PRO RECCO (Italy), and MLADOST
(Croatia) in the Final Four in Rijeka, Croatia. Our first game will
be against the two time reigning champions, Pro Recco, and the winner
will go on the play the other game winner.
The tournament will be one of the toughest yet, but I can guarantee
that we will be prepared. And of course we’ll have the undying support
of our seven thousand screaming supporters and all our other fans
back home.
Hello everyone. I have decided to start blogging weekly so that all of you back home can keep up with the championship
season here in Europe. I will be writing to tell you about what’s
going on in our league, my personal experiences in the games and
other details about life in Europe.
Well, I have been here in Dubrovnik, Croatia for the last six months.
The city is absolutely incredible— we live next to an old castle
on the Adriatic Sea. Our team consists of the entire starting lineup
of the Croatian Olympic team and me. We were just presented the
trophy for winning the first Adriatic League (which is all A1 teams
in Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia). We won by one point!
Our team is now playing in the semi finals of playoffs for the Croatian
League and the quarterfinals for Champions League. For those of
you who follow European soccer, the champions league is pretty much
the same for both sports. We drew Partisan Belgrade for our first
game and they are considered to be the top team alongside us.
This was definitely an unlucky draw but if we want to win we have
to beat them sometime so I guess now we just have to get it out
of the way! We already played our first game against them last week
in Belgrade and lost by two in front of an extremely hostile crowd
of 5 thousand crazed fans.
Now, next Wednesday, we have a chance to play them again and win.
If we beat them by more than two points we will move to the next
round. The game will be at our home pool, where the crowd will be
even more out of control and the entire stadium will be overflowing.
Also, coming up on Friday we have the second game of the Croatian
semi finals. If we win, we will go on to the Best of Five series
finals.
Stay tuned and please write me with any questions or comments. Hope
everyone is doing well with polo back home.