The first time I saw a Euroleague tournament live was in 2017. The teams came to play in Wien and it was too close for me to miss the show. When I’ve heard the Euroleague is coming to Belgrade, I’ve decided to be there no matter what. I’ve travelled with our Malaysian teammate and we were on a budget. Coming in late Friday we just slept in the car right by the pool.
If you visit tournaments regularly, you probably know how chaotic things look in the morning when all players are gathering around at the meeting of the team leaders eager to learn who and when they play against. Well, we woke to nothing like that. Everything ran smooth, both the EUWRL and the Orca crews operate like clockwork. Soon the seats were filled with the families of the kids playing the first, demo match. There were 3 large screens to follow the game on, 2 by the pool, just for this occasion, and 1 by the buffet.
5,4,3,2,1, Are you ready? Hell, yeah! Felt quite overwhelmed watching the youth march in beneath the girls for the enumeration. The first club in Serbia to play UWR, and they don’t even have a diving pool. Yet, here they stood smiling as if it was just natural to play in the Euroleague and showcase skills and spirit that’s just impressive. And their game was streamed live with commentary! We’ve watched Molde vs Triton game afterwards, then halftime at the Polisen vs Flipper match I’ve slipped away to track down a market just 2 corners away to stack up on oranges, joghurt and burek costing half as much, tasting twice as good as in Budapest. Little did I know of the meals Stojan ordered for everyone. Should have thought of the Serbian hospitality…
By lunch, Stojan seemed more and more troubled. Asking him about it, he told me the filters had trouble keeping the water clear. Indeed, the view was getting cloudy. He was calling in favors and going beyond to fix the issue, so was the EUWRL crew too of course. In general, visibility issues are less likely to occur in new indoor pools with metal walls and cold water. The one in Belgrade was an older one with tiles, a lot like the one in Prague. Both pools have natural and artificial light coming in from the same direction, further reducing visibility as the particles in the water leave shadows. An intense tournament is a much larger load on the filters than a game of any length, there is no way to tell in advance how a pool would take this kind of stress. It’s a painful lesson that any important event should be played in pools which have been tested prior with a tournament and found clear at the end of the day too. There was an emergency meeting of the clubs and the call was made to proceed with the games, not to suspend them, which was probably the better decision. Considering that the league got the pool for free in the time of need and such issues can’t be foretold, I would’ve chosen not as harsh words as Davrell did when reporting on Belgrade.
However, the discussion afterwards did not focus on the results. Not even on the bad visibility. High heels were in the highlight. A petition gathered more than 300 signatures within a week to request the desexualization of the Euroleague. The topic stayed afloat for so long, that I’ve decided to share my 2 cents too.
Because being there IRL, you may notice that these girls are young and hot, the same way one may notice some players are worked out or handsome. But if you have the slightest interest in UWR, you may have noticed way more outstanding things too. How professional these girls did their job which covers a little more than just waving flags. How professional the crew and the players are during the ceremony. Let me tell you something which is not so apparent if you’re following the EUWRL on the screen. After the introduction of the players and refs, comes the exchange of the flags. That’s clearly the most hyped moment of the ceremony, even when there is barely any audience nearby, you can hear the clapping instinctively turning synchronised and louder in the same way it manages to fill actors’ chest with pride while they stand on the stage.
Davrell’s best take on the topic was addressing the girls themselves. As it turns out, the girls didn’t feel objectified. Yet they may find these developments offensive.
Let me quote Davrell’s quote:
“Ostritsova and other members of the production company said that fans watched all the matches free of charge and yet were dissatisfied.
“It sad that no one offers anything in return,” she said.”
Coming from different cultural backgrounds, we won’t find any silver lining for such questions. It’s great that our community is sensitive in these ways, but the outrage was not proportional to the trigger. I’d ask you all to be a little more sensitive so you can carry out noble goals without causing collateral damages.
As for me, I endorse the aims of the petition, but I did not sign it. There may be better ways to organize the ceremony leading in to the games but noone has shown better so far. Personally I’ve seen no disrespect towards the girls, just professionalism. So I hope the Euroleague comes to an understanding with those who felt offended and these debates will drive ladies to the EUWRL or make them create their league of their own.
Another thing I hope for is a little more empathy. So many things would call for an outrage, yet we tend to pick on those who do the most for the community. It’s almost natural, but if we remind ourselves to be more mindful and sensitive sometimes, we can probably achieve more together.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Stojan is truly great, fantastic with his juniors. I met him some years ago on a summer camp in Greece, he brought some of his juniors. We need more people like him in our sport!
As to the petition… Did you read the letter? It doesn’t seem like it… There’s no “outrage” there. Don’t confuse the petition with the commentary on Facebook. In the letter the work of the EUWRL is praised. The criticism is directed at certain situations, for instance the price ceremony when Iver receives his award. It’s not about whether the girls feel objectified or not, it’s about how one chooses to do marketing. Here are two quotes from the petition:
“First, we want to make it clear that this does not come from a place of anger or judgement. The Euroleague is a great event, that takes a lot of time and effort from many people, and we do not in any way want to take away from that. In fact, many of us are fans of the event, which is why we hope we can bring change by raising constructive criticism. ”
“The great players participating in this event do not need anything to “sexy up” their performance, they are great as they are.”
Thank you for reading. Best wishes and keep up your good writing! Very interesting articles.
Hi Anso, thanks for the comment!
I have read the letter, but you’re right, when I wrote of any outrage, I didn’t mean the petition itself, rather that I wouldn’t be able to point out any other “incident” serving as a cause for action with so many interested or opinionated.
Also, whoaa, didn’t know the site had comments, LOL