Novi Sad is ready for the best handball in the region
Crown of the season in SEHA GAZPROM South Stream League will be F4 tournament in Novi Sad (April 11 - 13). That wil be another event which will present handball in the best possible way and show the severity of the whole project of regional league. After Skopje and Zagreb, F4 will be organized in city which is called "Serbian Athens" - Novi Sad , and sports hall "SPENS". Handball club Vojvodina's president Milan Djukic is the right person to present all the things which will happen during three days of the most important SEHA weekend this season:
- City of Novi Sad and HC Vojvodina have, as the main organizers in cooperation with SEHA GSS office in Zagreb, started with preparation for F4 event after agreement was signed in February. I have to admit that this is a very complicated and serious task, but also to share my expectations that SEHA GAZPROM SSL F4 will be organized on the highest possible level. When I am saying that this is serious task, I want to say that everything will be on level of EUROs and World Championships. We will also have a derby of Serbian play-offs between Vojvodina and Partizan and a match of junior NTs of Serbia and Croatia during that final weekend. Besides all this, famous brass orchestra Dejan Petrovic will organize mini-concert between third place match and final, to make the whole ambient even better. We don’t want to complain, just the opposite, we want to make even more than are current standards. Novi Sad is the city of culture, and we want to send the best possible picture to Europe. We want to honor the trust which people had in us when they have given us a chance to host such an important event.
Making a great atmosphere in 'SPENS' hall with capacity of over 8,00 seats will be a real challenge for organizers. Which kind of reaction you expect from handball part of population?
- I am sure that you asking me how we plan to sell out SPENS hall, in situation when we have 800 spectators per match during the season. We have two problems, and the first one is that Vojvodina has to decided to play in the suburb of Novi Sad, sports center "Slana Bara", where we have better conditions for sports and administrative part of the club. Second fact is that sports fans in Novi Sad only want to attend TOP sports events. Important matches are sold-out, while when something isn’t important - hall is almost empty. That is plus, but also a minus for a big city. There are a lot of matches every weekend in many sports. Firstly, I except about 800 to 1000 people to come to Novi Sad that weekend. We have quality partnership with SHF, VHF and NSHF, we are working on animation of teams and handball schools, to attract them to come and see "the best handball in region".
Do you have projection of number of fans you want to see in "SPENS"?
- We have a projection, but for me, idea and the goal are even more important. There are a lot of parameters which will have influence on number of the fans in the hall. Advertisment, marketing tools, but also weather conditions during these days. We think about all these things. Our goal and idea are that during three handball days "SPENS" has to be full of spectators. We are working on that since February.
Are you satisfied with the Vojvodina’s first season in SEHA GAZPROM South Stream League?
- This was a huge experience for us. SEHA GSS is the right kind of thing for us at the moment. Each match was tough, with rivals who have important role even in EHF's Champions League. Level of each match was on EHF's level. How much we've on the other hand improved our handball skills, we will see soon, in our national Play-Offs, concluded Djukic.
SEHA GSS F4 SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, 11.04.2014.
18:00 HC CO Zagreb - HC Vardar
20:30 HC Meshkov Brest - HC Tatran Presov
SATURDAY, 12.04.2014.
15:30 Friendly match between Croatian and Serbian junior NTs
18:00 Serbian League Play-Off match: Vojvodina - Partizan
Nedelja 13.04.2014.
16:00 SEHA GSS F4 third place match
18:00 Mini concert: Dejan Petrovic BIG BAND
18:30 SEHA GSS F4 final match