The head of Novi Beograd, Aleksandar Sapic, who holds no formal role within the club, verbally attacked the referees of the Regional Water Polo League match between Novi Beograd and Jadran Split in the most vulgar manner, according to serbian outlet Danas.rs
The incident occurred on Saturday, October 5, after the conclusion of the second-round match of the Regional League. Sapic approached the scorer’s table and began insulting the referees of the match, Stanko Ivanovski and Veselin Miskovic.
The match delegate, Dragan Rajevic, in an additional report, which Danas has seen, literally noted Sapic’s words:
The Montenegrin referees were ‘assisted’ by match delegate Dragan Rajevic, who, regarding this incident, sent an additional report to the head of the Regional League’s Competition Committee, Milivoj Bebic. Rajevic precisely detailed how the Mayor of Belgrade insulted the refereeing duo.
‘F*** your mother; motherf***s; You won’t be coming to officiate in Belgrade again; Is this how you officiate in Croatia? You won’t f*** with my club,’ along with countless other insults unsuitable for normal people, vulgar and degrading for any human being,’ noted Dragan Rajevic, the delegate of the Novi Beograd – Jadran Split match.
After the incident, Rajevic suggested to the referees that they file a disciplinary report, despite the fact that the head of Serbia’s capital does not hold a role in the club. However, the referees refused to do so.
‘I believed, even though he is the same spectator claiming that it is his club, that according to water polo rules, he could be banned from attending future matches hosted by the Novi Beograd team due to inappropriate behavior,’ wrote delegate Rajevic, emphasizing that ‘such behavior from Sapic could, heaven forbid, lead to more severe physical incidents that would be disastrous for the sport.’
Additionally, in the report from referees Ivanovski and Miskovic, it was noted that Sapic told them they had ‘come to humiliate him at his pool, that they were welcomed well, and asked whether he should give them such a welcome that they wouldn’t like it and whether they would dare to officiate like that in Croatia,’ accompanied by a barrage of insults and degradation.
Referees Ivanovski and Miskovic also revealed that Sapic approached the door of the referee’s dressing room and continued with his insults before leaving. The entire incident allegedly lasted several minutes.
Novi Beograd won the second-round match of the Regional League against Split with a score of 18:17 after a penalty shootout.
