Waterpolo Issues: Interview with Tim Hartog . Waterpoloworld Editor

"...The problems you mentioned with the Italian teams being unable to 'sell' themselves and their sport is a common problem for water polo in more European countries, maybe even around the world..."

"... more than one change is required in order to boost the commercial aspect of water polo to get more people to watch the games, not only inside the pools, but on television as well..."

di Edoardo Osti

Tim, would you to introduce yourself ?

 I'm Tim Hartog, Editor-in-Chief of Waterpolo-World which consists of three websites. 

A German one: http://www.waterpoloworld.de/

an International one: http://www.waterpoloworld.com/ 

and a Dutch one: http://www.waterpoloworld.nl/. 

We are based in The Netherlands though. I'm writing for both the International and Dutch website while my German colleague WolfgangPhilipps is covering the German website for the most part, and the International one as well. I have a deep interest for all our sport developments in countries where the highest level of water polo is being played, as well as the bigger leagues of Europe such as the Italian, Hungarian and Spanish one. Furthemore, I play water polo myself, used to do it on a national team-level when I was around 15 until 18 years old, then quitted and now just enjoying the game when I have some spare free time in the weekends playing with my team.

In my blog I talk about Italian waterpolo issues. Despite our past and our present (we are Champions of the World) we are not able to become a very popular show, our teams have always economics troubles and they seems to do not have a good organization. What is your point of view about Italian issues?

 The problems you mentioned with the Italian teams being unable to 'sell' themselves and their sport is a common problem for water polo in more European countries, maybe even around the world. Although the world's best (league) water polo is being played in Europe, the crowd attendence numbers are relatively low and tv coverage falls short on the expectations or ambitions. In my opinion, more than one change is required in order to boost the commercial aspect of water polo to get more people to watch the games, not only inside the pools, but on television as well. A couple of rule-changes were suggested by different well-known names in the water polo world in the (recent) past as well as physical changes like light up the 2 and 5-meter lines with we saw twice during recent FINA World League matches. The influence that referees have when whistling even more on the physical plays must not be underestimated as well. So I think that it will require multiple changes in order to grow on the commercial side of sports, get more income and eventually become a 'bigger' sport.

 Thanks to your waterpoloworld.com experience, could you tell us about German waterpolo issues and what is your opinion about the European waterpolo problems?

 - For the German water polo specificly, Wolfgang will be the man you need. He is an absolute professor of the water polo in that country as he is covering it for more that three decades already. (We will contact Wolfgang very soon!)

Could you introduce your web-site, and could you explain us why we must follow it?

 - Waterpolo-World.com is the leading top news water polo website around the world. For everyone who is interested in news or results regarding top water polo, our website is just what you need. Results, transfer news, reports and live results during the major events such as European- and World championships is what we provide daily, all year long. Via our Twitter accounts or Facebook page  you can discuss any rumor, suggestion, news result, or other water polo topic.

Thanks.

Kind regards,

Tim Hartog

Editor-in-Chief of Waterpolo-World

www.waterpoloworld.com

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