SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2014 SPORTS Water polo struggles for viewers as soccer rules BUDAPEST: Twelve hours after Germany’s soc- cer team had won the World Cup in Brazil, the country’s water polo team jumped in the pool for the opening game of the European Championship in the Hungarian capital. It is probably not the result - Germany suf- fered a sound 10-5 defeat at the hands of Croatia — that kept news of the game out of the limelight. Professional water polo has been shunned for so long that the sport’s leaders now fear for its survival. That is not the conclusion one might come to at the Margaret Island Aquatics Complex, which has been outfitted with 8,000 seats and fills to capacity on most nights, especially when hosts and world champions Hungary play. Television is so saturated with other sports, however, that water polo sponsors get nowhere near the kind of media exposure they would through other events. “Water polo has been around forever, and some games induce downright euphoria out here,” said Tamas Gyarfas, the Hungarian vice president of the international water sports asso- ciation FINA. “But their TV appeal is weaker for a number of reasons. “We worry that it might hit a point where it can no longer be considered a top priority sport.” Gyarfas, who has also had a career as a media businessman, said it is hard to popu- larise, and therefore make money on a team sport where the athletes are mostly submerged in water and the action is interrupted every few seconds by referees. “Viewers have little idea what’s going on,” he said. “It is not enjoyable the same way as athlet- ics, where people dash about, or gymnastics, where they fly around. Still, we would like to save this game.” Water polo leaders have sensed this chal- lenge for years. FINA dedicated a conference to reforming water polo earlier this year, inviting marketing and advertising experts from other professional sports like the US National Basketball Association to learn how to sell a game well. One presentation compared the introducto- ry show at an NBA game with the start of a water polo match. The contrast was huge: fan- fare and fireworks on one side, a solemn announcer reading out the players’ names on the other. With that in mind, Hungary has put on a big show at the aquatics centre, with boisterous sound effects and a cheerleader who directs the NAPLES: Greece (white) vs. Hungary (blue) play a water polo match in this file photo at the World Junior Championships. fans. For lasting change, however, more will be needed. Pushing back the playoffs into the sum- mer months so spectators have more fun at open air games is one idea for reform. English minnows star where it all began Other ideas include smaller pools to allow faster games, fewer players to fit in the smaller RIO DE JANEIRO: The World Cup did not staged the World Cup final, as the Laranjeiras would not accept black players. Today’s rum bunch. pools, or a smaller ball to allow more powerful pan out as fans of Brazil and England had stadium can today accommodate barely game will feature the team’s respective “The hard tackling was frowned upon. shots and more goals. hoped. But the hosts will today celebrate a 6,000. national anthems and the winner will take Beforehand there were articles in the papers The long-term goal is to spread the sport, century since their first ever international- A total of 900 tickets were made available home the Marcos Carneiro de Mendonca about professionalism in Britain.” which is only really big in the Balkans and some with a fourth tier English club side providing for Sunday and all have been snapped up. Cup, named after Brazil’s first goalkeeper, Hamilton added the postscript was a sad southern European countries; but water polo the opposition. “They sold out in two days,” a Fluminense who also played for Fluminense. The original one for Exeter as several of the squad were officials are reluctant to change a sport that has An under 23 side from top flight spokeswoman told AFP. Fluminense have ball, exhibited in Fluminense’s museum, will killed and two badly wounded in World War I taken a century to develop. FINA water polo Fluminense will face little Exeter City at Rio’s anglo-Brazilian roots, Brazilian-British busi- also make a brief appearance. which broke out before they returned. director Gianni Lonzi said any changes need to antique Laranjeiras stadium to mark 100 nessman Oscar Cox founding the club in British football historian Aidan Hamilton, Britain formed a Football Battalion be tested before they become adopted, a years since a Rio-Sao Paulo select met the 1902. who has just published “Have You ever encouraging players to join up and “play the process that could start next year but will take same modest outfit at the historic venue. The original Exeter game marked Played Brazil”-the story of Exeter’s trip-via greater game.” Several months into the war time to calcify. Brazilian authorities recognized the game Fluminense’s 12th birthday. “Now, we shall the club’s supporters’ trust, dubbed the the English league program stopped. “It is like when I have an old car which I want against the “Pride of Devon” as Brazil’s first mark a century since the start of the great match a major landmark. Exeter was just one club lending its facili- to change,” he said. “Until I see a car that gives ever international and the encounter has history of our national side,” Terra told AFP. “It made sense to create a national side at ties to volunteer corps, who would indulge me the same satisfaction, I don’t change.” gone down in the sepia-tinted annals of the that particular moment” although the choice in military, not football, shooting practice. A Apart from a regular contract with the sport. 1914 MATCH of Exeter “was very last minute,” Hamilton decade ago, Exeter hosted a Brazilian XI for Hungarian team Szeged, three-times Olympic “This is where that first Brazil game was The hosts won the July 21, 1914 match told AFP. the 90th anniversary. gold medallist Tamas Molnar has also played for played, 100 years ago,” said Fluminense mar- against an Exeter side who had been touring He explained separate Sao Paulo and Rio Although the “Grecians” were then a the last five years in the summer league in keting director Rodrigo Terra, eyeing the Argentina and accepted the invitation to go selects had previously competed-against an struggling non-league side they limited their Malta, where people adore the sport like pitch from a trophy room containing all home via Rio. Argentine XI in 1906 and a South African illustrious opponents to a solitary spot-kick nowhere else. manner of cups won by “Flu” in its 112-year Some solid challenges flew in-one picture side in 1908. goal. In 1914, Exeter almost did not fulfil “To the 500,000 people who live in Malta, history. shows a bloodied Artur Friedenreich, Brazil’s But Brazil’s sports confederation wanted their date. Some of the squad went bathing there are ten teams,” Molnar said. “Prominent Exeter boast just a fourth division title first black star, who had a German father, to unite them ahead of an embryonic South in shorts and were detained for public inde- games often have 3,000 fans, not just specta- achieved under former England defender being helped from the pitch. American championship and a September cency before being released. tors, but proper fans, with flags and drums and Terry Cooper in 1990 — his successor being Brazilian football writer Fernando Duarte 1914 visit to Argentina. The southwestern side are marking the all. They create a fantastic atmosphere. It’s World Cup winner Alan Ball. has described Friedenreich as a “propotype Hamilton said Brazilians brought up until anniversary with a community theatre play, exceptional.” Fluminense have in recent years staged Brazilian superstar” from an era pre-dating a then on the amateur game thought Exeter, ‘The Day We Played Brazil’ whose first night He said part of the secret is that the summer home games at the famed Maracana, which media hype-driven age when many clubs the first professionals they had seen, were a was Wednesday. —AFP league takes water polo from its regular-season professional roots and puts it where it belongs: in the sun, by the water, where fans get to enjoy the games while they spend a day at the beach. Molnar’s generation had exceptional oppor- Brumbies make semis as tunities which allowed them to focus on the game and earn a very decent living doing it. But he says those circumstances may be hard to emulate in the future. “I don’t know how long champion Chiefs go down this type of a professional game can be sus- tained,” he said. “It is impossible to plan for the long term. Clubs struggle to secure sponsors on SYDNEY: ACT Brumbies held off a Waikato Chiefs fightback week’s semi-finals, most likely against the New South Wales Flanker Butler scored from a rolling maul five minutes lat- a business basis.” to bring an end to the New Zealanders’ quest for a third Waratahs. er, though, and Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden’s failure to con- The annual budget of a championship-level straight Super Rugby title with a 32-30 victory in a breathless The Chiefs were trailing 22-3 after half an hour but they vert replacement back Gareth Anscombe’s 77th minute try water polo club can be close to 1.5 million euros playoff match in Canberra yesterday.