Greece routinely punches above its weight in international water polo, with the men’s team having placed in the top ten teams in every Olympic games since 1980 (narrowly missing out on a medal in the Athens in 2004). Most recently the team came in third place in the Mediterranean games in 2013.
With the European Championships in Budapest fast approaching, the team would ordinarily be hard at work preparing for a gruelling tournament. Yet eleven of the internationals have signed a statement saying that they are unable to attend practices given that the sports governing body – the Hellenic Swimming Federation, will not even cover they player’s basic expenses.
“We have the honour to have been selected to represent our country in the coming European Championships which will take place in Budapest between the 14th-27th of July,” the players write.
“One can easily understand the demands of preparing for such a tournament if they consider that our programme requires daily double practices of 5-6 hours over 75 days which also includes the time and expenses of commuting…Given the economic difficulties of the times, two months ago we submitted to the Federation a specific request related to our transport costs that would have to be covered. Until today, the day are preparations are to begin we have not received any answer – even in the negative!”
The players go on to maintain that the board of the Federation would not even meet with them to discuss the matter, only communicating to them that it could not guarantee anything with regards to the players basic expenses in training and even travelling to the tournament. The players conclude saying that if no solution is found they will only practice for four weeks at their own expense, which is all they say they can afford.