Unprecedented confusion with derogatory chants: The judges awarded the title to Zvezda

The second match of the final playoff series of the KLS Super League of Serbia between Partizan and Crvena Zvezda was interrupted in the third quarter when the fans of the black and whites insulted the wife of the leader of the red and whites, Nebojsa Covic. At that moment, Partizan was leading with 57:45.

Photo: Marko Djokovic/Tanjug

The players and coaching staff of Red Star, as well as the referees, then withdrew from the field, until the decision was made to empty the hall. The emptying of the hall did not go very quickly.

Partizan basketball players and members of the coaching staff, headed by Željko Obradović, remained on the field for a long time after the break, before greeting the fans and going to the locker room.

An hour and a half after the final was interrupted, when the fans had already left the "Belgrade Arena" stands, the Zvezda basketball players suddenly returned to the floor. Meanwhile, the Partizan players had already gone home.

The referees waited for the warm-up time to expire and after 15 minutes concluded that the home team was not on the floor, so the match was definitely over.

A completely different interpretation of the same event followed.

Who sent the Partizan basketball players home?

While KK Partizan claims that they received information that the match will continue for 24 hours, the director of the Basketball League of Serbia, Aleksandar Grujin, says that this is not true, that "in such situations the first referee makes all decisions", and that the match, since the players Partizan did not appear on the field, on Thursday "to be registered with an official score of 20:0", so Zvezda is this year's champion.

RED STAR BASKETBALL PLAYERS

He pointed out that all information is obtained from the first referee and delegates and that he does not know why the official announcer in the hall in New Belgrade announced that the match will continue on Thursday.

"That should not have happened to the detriment of Partizan. I was in communication with the delegate all the time. Everything that was done was done according to the proposals of the competitions," Grujin pointed out and announced that the trophy presentation to Zvezda will be organized.

Announcement of KK Crvena zvezda: They are insulting us and the president of the country in folklore

Zvezda issued a statement in which they point out that they are outraged and condemn all the events during the second match of the final series of the Super League of Serbia, but also the "attempt to tell the truth" by KK Partizan with a statement stating that it was agreed that the match should continue on Thursday.

"According to what regulations and propositions?" The attempt to spin, from the announcement by the announcer that the game will continue on Thursday, through the flooding of the public with a bunch of misinformation at moments when it was known that the game must continue tonight with the stands empty, were intended to turn the clear rules into Partizan's rules," it was stated. in the statement.

Zvezda says that everything they have been pointing out for years, all the "anomalies, all the insults, starting from the president of the country, through everyone in KK Crvena zvezda, the president of the club, members of his family, players, even their minor children and pregnant wives, has become folklore at matches in which KK Crvena zvezda is nominally a guest in the "Belgrade Arena".

"Uncontrolled attack by all and sundry"

"This time, 'someone' played with the intention that the second game of the final, with volleys of insults and periodic incidents that turned into an uncontrolled attack by everyone and everything, was a preparation for the third game of the final, which was supposed to be in a heated atmosphere (in the event of a victory by KK Partizan) to be played on Saturday in the "Aleksandar Nikolić" hall. In order to prevent any speculations and lies from KK Partizan from the 'late' announcement, the players of KK Crvena zvezda left the field together with the referees, not because of a verbal offense and insulting the wife of the president of KK Crvena zvezda, but because they were showered with a bunch of objects that were thrown into the field and towards them, starting with lighters, water bottles, screws, spitting", claim KK Crvena zvezda.

They emphasize that it was not their independent decision and that they know the rules.

"Everything else is untruth, as well as putting a target on the forehead of certain people, in order to cover up someone's incompetence and stupidity." Unfortunately, this is just the culmination of everything that has been happening in the last few years, in the first place of hypocrisy in which we are tied with KK Partizan, although all the matches organized by KK Crvena zvezda in the ABA and Super League of Serbia were organized without any incidents! Except for the fifth in the finals of the ABA League playoffs, when our hall was emptied! "Unfortunately, the 'others' are not organized by the 'others,'" the red and white write, and the RTS portal reports.

The red line of Zvezda

The first team of KK Crvena zvezda went out on the field together with the referees in order to finish the game on Wednesday evening within the stipulated time because that is what the regulations of the league say, which KK Partizan did not play for two seasons and without any sanctions or consequences, remind the red and whites .

"Who has the right to make the decision to continue the game on Thursday?" And according to what rules? Partizan fans, as the audience of millions saw in a 'conversation' with the players and coach of their club? The rules are clear and apply to everyone! We are obliged to remind you that our first team is the fifth match of the final series of the ABA League in the 2021/2022 season. played in front of empty stands, after a break of over 70 minutes waiting in the dressing room for the hall to be emptied. Then the request of KK Crvena zvezda to continue the game a day later was rejected, and this was personally communicated to our then coach Radonjić by the coach of KK Partizan Želimir Obradović, it was stated in the announcement.

"KK Crvena Zvezda believes", the statement goes on, that "after all the gestures of goodwill last night, passing over the most morbid insults, attacks on players who are national team members of this country, taking pictures in front of offensive banners of foreigners on which the national team members of Serbia are insulted, morbid t-shirts and transparencies, lighting candles in front of the 'Arena' crossed the red line due to someone's whims or inability to control 'his' supporters. It is no longer our problem," the statement reads.

"We congratulate all the star players on the new title of the champion of Serbia - the ninth in a row and for us the most valuable because every title counts, especially those that come from the championship of the Republic of Serbia, the country we are from," concludes the Red Star.

Statement by KK Partizan

KK Partizan announced itself with a much shorter announcement.

"The second game of the final of the AdmiralBet Super League of Serbia between Partizan Mozzart Bet and Crvena zvezda was interrupted at 7.55 seconds before the end of the third quarter with the score 57:45 in favor of the black and whites," reads the announcement of Partizan.

BASKETBALL PARTISANS

"The first referee of the match stopped the game because Vesna Čović was insulted by the audience, which is the first time in the history of our basketball that the game was stopped due to a verbal offense." After the break, the Crvena Zvezda team retreated to the dressing room."

And further: "As a reminder, only in these two incomplete games, Željko Obradović, Zoran Savić, Kevin Panter, Aleksa Avramović, Nemanja Nedović and Miloš Teodosić were insulted, but the matches were not interrupted even for a second." KK Partizan is against any insult on any basis and repeats it almost every day.

After it was requested that the hall be emptied, the black and white team waited for a long time on the field for the continuation, so that the official representatives of KK Partizan would receive information from the referees about the interruption and continuation of the match within 24 hours.

The Partizan team then retreated to the dressing room and the players were given time off. When the referees and players of Crvena zvezda suddenly appeared on the field more than an hour after the break, the players of Partizan went home in a big way.

"Crvena Zvezda, the referees and the delegate in this way awarded the title of national champion to Crvena Zvezda, and KK Partizan Mozzart Bet does not want to participate in such a scandal," Partizan's statement reads.

The Red and Whites defeated Partizan 89:88 in the first match of the final series of the KLS Super League on Monday in the "Aleksandar Nikolić" Hall.