Federation kicks out water polo squad rebels
A concerted attack by nine players of the national water polo team on their coach, hoping to oust him, has backfired following a decision by the sport’s federation to hold on to the trainer, Koulis Iosiphidis, and kick them off the team instead. The feud has broken out just ahead of a trip to Italy, where the Greek team is schedule to face Italy twice, today and tomorrow, for the World League competition. The national side’s nine players will be replaced by juniors. Coach Iosiphidis had submitted his resignation to the federation, but it was not accepted. The conflict between players and coach erupted suddenly, after most of the national team’s experienced players, with just one exception, its captain, Costas Loudis, asked for their coach’s departure. The players argued that the collaboration with their coach had run out of steam, leaving no potential for success. The federation’s president, Dimitris Diathessopoulos, made a failed attempt to persuade the team’s veterans to keep the matter under wraps over the next month, to fulfill competition obligations. Despite threats that their bans would last until at least 2004 – which means that they could miss the Athens 2004 Olympics – when the term of the federation’s current board expires, the players were adamant. «Nobody had a clue about what was going on. They (the players) hadn’t told anybody (about their relationship with the coach). On principle, I’m not going to discuss the details of the case during competition time,» Diathessopoulos told reporters yesterday. «Even though it’s unique in the history of international sports for the players to recommend who should coach, I had promised to discuss the issue at the end of the season. Since they insisted, I’ve let them know that regardless of their stature as athletes, they stand no chance of returning to the national team until 2004 when this administration’s term ends.» The players replied that all they had done was to simply comply with their coach’s request, which was for them to express their honest opinions about the working relationship.
