The race of two clubs for the title
If you were looking for a short description of the competition in the Serbian Championship, we would use the subtitle above. Quite simply, Partizan and Rad stand out from the other teams, and quite a bit. The other teams in the competition BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Dinamo 1954 and RK Torpedo Mlava are roughly of a similar level and can play uncertain and interesting matches. The situation is roughly similar a few seasons ago, without any indication that any team will join the leading duo. But it should be kept in mind that the Dinamo and Zvezda teams are very young, and that this is Torpedo’s first season in the top tier.
Competition system and a large number of postponed matches
This season, the game is played in a three round-robin format. Each team will play 12 games at the end of the competition. There is no playoff, so the team that collects the most points after the last round will win the Serbian Championship. There are a total of 5 teams in the A group of the Serbian Championship, which we mentioned earlier in the text. Three teams are from Belgrade, one from Pancevo and one from Petrovac na Mlava.
If you want to play rugby at a high level, you need to have over 20 games of rugby 15 per season. However, it is too much for our conditions, even these 12 games turned out to be problematic to play per season. In the spring part of the competition, 16 matches were planned, of which 9 matches were played, one match was registered with an official result, while 6 matches were postponed. If we converted it into percentages, we would get that 56.25% of the games were played, 6.25% of the games were registered with an official result, while 37.5% of the games were postponed
When we look at the table of the Serbian Championship, we can see that only RK Rad played all the planned matches, a total of six. BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Torpedo Mlava and RK Dinamo 154 played four games each, while RK Partizan played only two. Partizan would certainly have played more games, but they went out to meet the others and postponed the matches, so they brought themselves to the point where they only played two games in the spring part, and ten games await them by the end of the season.
| Поз (Pos) | Екипа (Team) | У(GP) | П(W) | И(L) | Н(D) | ПФ(PF) | ПА(PA) | ПД(PD) | БП(BP) | Б(Pts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  РК Рад | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 528 | 101 | 427 | 9 | 41 |
| 2 |  РК Партизан | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 398 | 141 | 257 | 6 | 26 |
| 3 |  РК Динамо 1954 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 178 | 361 | -183 | 5 | 17 |
| 4 |  РК Торпедо Млава | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 76 | 577 | -501 | 3 | -1 |
You should always set things realistically and properly plan competitions for the whole year. It’s not that this number of games that need to be played is unattainable or unrealistic, it’s just burdensome for the clubs at the moment. A few years ago, the level of senior competition fell, which is a direct consequence of many years of inactivity and neglect of the younger categories. It is very important to achieve the continuity of the younger categories and to have an influx of young players to the first team every year, in order to do that you must have the appropriate infrastructure and staff that can carry out the youth drive. It is a huge and difficult job, because if it wasn’t, everyone would have a youth drive.
In the past, now for seven or eight years, the Rugby Union of Serbia has had constant projects and programs that support work with younger categories. What’s more, transportation costs for U18s and U16s are covered by Union. Considerable investment is made in coaches and their education. Everything leads to maximally supporting and facilitating the functioning of the senior years of youth rugby. Clubs that have failed to establish youth selections during this time can look for the culprit within themselves
B League of the Serbian Championship - competition system and tournaments
A total of 6 B League tournaments are planned for this season. As a reminder, the B League is played in a tournament format and is played in a rugby ten-a-side format. So far, only one tournament has been played where the teams of RK Vojvodina and RK Kruševac played. Unfortunately, a big difference between the two teams was seen in that tournament as well. After several seasons, Vojvodina was relegated to the B League and its playing staff, which is made up of several Serbian national team members, is definitely much stronger than the young team of Kruševljani. There is no doubt that Kruševljani will progress and reduce the difference in the autumn part of the season.
In the spring part, 3 tournaments are planned. One tournament took place, while two tournaments have been postponed for the time being. We will see what the plan will be in the next part of the season, as well as whether another team will join the competition.
Seven teams in senior competition
In total, seven senior teams took part in the Serbian Championship, some in the A, some in the B group. The number of clubs in seniors can be very satisfying. It is especially important that all of these are, so to speak, unique clubs. That is, there are no clubs for which the same players perform, nor artificial creations. So, these are real clubs, with real players, that is very important to note, because it is precisely this good foundation that needs to be built on. What rugby needs is for those clubs to be strong, stable and produce players, coaches, sports workers and volunteers.
RK Rad
In the previous Serbian Championship, they played all the planned matches. They can calmly wait out the rest of the season and prepare for the matches with Partizan that will decide the national champion. The Građevinari have a stable team, but they never had a full number of players on the bench this season. But that will certainly not be a problem in the future, because a large number of quality young players come from the youth system. Several very good young players have already taken over Rada’s game, such as Stanković, Stošić, Tatomir, Božić, Pećanac and Trujkić. With experienced players like Živanov, Vraneš, Đukić, Nikolić, Petrović, Ristić, Babić, Jončić, this team is ready to fight for trophies. Several young players have already made their debut this year, and Stojanović and Jevđenijević are expected to prove themselves and present themselves in the best light so that the coaching duo Kapor/Rastovac can see their capabilities.
RK Partizan
The four-time champion of Serbia in a row will have a very difficult job in the fall. They are expected to play as many as ten games in the Championship. From that, they have two games against Rad, which will decide a lot. The black and whites are in a good position because they won against Građevinar in the first match, so they have an advantage in that sense against their rivals. The two games are not a sample on the basis of which we could come to a more detailed analysis, but if we analyze them, we can see an improvement compared to last season.The largest number of players is in the team, there is a player from RK Dorćol, who plays in rugby 13, who together with the already hard core make a really compact team. The biggest problem for Partizan is the training process, because unfortunately they do not have the opportunity to train on a suitable field. The team is seriously experienced, where the main burden is carried by the now celebrated 1995 year old who came through the youth department of the club. Here we must mention Đorđević, Preradojević, Nenadović, Radić, who along with experienced players like Dejanović, Krstić, Joksimović, Srećković, but also young ones like Avramović and Andrić make up the skeleton of the team. Unfortunately, Partizan does not have a younger category, they tried with U12 boys last season, but they did not maintained continuity.
RK Dinamo 1954
Pančevci have an extremely young and talented squad, which, together with several experienced players, represents a team that may have the greatest potential in the Championship. Big challenges await them in the fall. Eight games await them in the senior championship. Given that they have a large number of players in their team who will play in the juniors next season, it will be quite difficult for them to fit in all their obligations. Senior matches should be combined with junior competition as well as representative activities. It will be interesting to follow the progress of Voštić, Kuzmanović, Gavrilović, Košpić, Dramičanin, Pal, Adžić, who together with the somewhat more experienced Marjanović, Advigov and the now experienced Nešić and Tatić would form a fairly strong team. If we add to that that Milevski will also return and Krkljuš a little later, then we can already talk more seriously. This half-season, Pančevci are far from Rad and Partizan, but they had a great fight with Zvezda and Torpedo. We also expect even greater progress in the fall.
BRK Crvena Zvezda
Similar to Dinamo, BRK Crvena Zvezda has a lot of quality players that it needs to develop. They are also expected to play eight games in the autumn part. However, Zvezda has very high-quality, experienced players who are the leaders of the National Team, such as Madjanović, Đorđević, Keglić, Rodić, who really make a difference on the field. When the red and white have them together, they can match Partizan and Rad. As for the youth team, there are a lot of interesting players such as Kralj, Lučić, Kokanović, Pumpalović, Ilić, Heam who together with the already hardened Milošević, Nikolić, Martinović and Rasmunsen form an extremely strong core. We must also highlight Lojanica, who will continue his studies in Nice, who is a significant screw in the game. In our opinion, when Zvezda is motivated and focused, it can equally fight for the title of Champions. During the next seasons, we can expect an influx of quality players from the younger categories, so we will be happy to follow them.
RK Torpedo Mlava
The youngest club in Serbia. In three years, they managed to reach the A group of the Serbian Championship, which is a respectable result. And that is great respect. They are also expected to play eight games in the fall, with the fact that they must not lose by the official score, because they would be disqualified from the competition. Let’s remind, Petrovčani lost one match by official result in the spring. It was extremely interesting for us to follow the players and their progress over the years. And we can be extremely pleased. For example, Grubić has been a member of the senior national team in rugby 7 for two years, while Atanasković was on the list of 23 players for the match against Bulgaria in Sofia, but did not play. When we add Kostić, Vujčić, Živković, Dobrosavljević, Janković, Miljković, Jovanović, Đorđević and others, we get a very good team that can seriously improve. They also have some reinforcements planned for the fall, so they will certainly be a very interesting team to watch.
RK Vojvodina
The players from Novi Sad have decided to play in the B League of the Serbian Championship this season. Our opinion is that they belong in the A group. An extremely experienced and high-quality team, which, when complete, was able to produce serious results. Several players are at the level of the National Team, like Jocić and Janković, who are standard In addition to the experienced Matijević, Marinković, Porobić, Novosel, Rakita, Milićević, we also have the slightly younger brothers Janićijević, Obradović, as well as the boys from Ruma. When such a team is well-weighted and trained, it would definitely get involved in the upper house of Group A. Voša does not have a youth team, it has been tried on several occasions, but the problem is maintaining continuity.
RK Kruševac
The club celebrating 30 years of existence can certainly be proud of its youth team, which mostly consists of the senior team along with a few veterans. This is the second year in a row that they are competing in the B group of the Serbian Championship. What is important for every team is that there is always an influx of young and educated players from juniors. This is exactly what the people of Kruševac can rely on. First of all, there are Lazić, Jovanović, Krsmanović and others who, with the help of more experienced Zdravković, Mihajlović, Ivković, Aksentijević and others, can become a serious team. The big problem for teams like Kruševac is that many players after high school enroll in studies in bigger cities, or start working, so it is very difficult to maintain continuity in the senior competition.
7s rugby
Rugby 7s has been quite interesting this season. Unfortunately, apart from the aforementioned clubs, other clubs did not take part, but it was quite interesting. The biggest news is definitely that Dinamo managed to beat Partizan in the first tournament, and that it was competitive with Rad in the final. At the end of the two tournaments, Rad collected the most points and became the champion of Serbia in rugby 7. We were most impressed by the performance of the juniors, who were very competitive in the senior competition as well.
Cup of Serbia
It is already a tradition that the Cup of Serbia is played in the fall, after the Championship. It’s usually the last or penultimate weekend in November. We assume that the Federation will soon open applications for the Cup, if it hasn’t already, and then we will be able to analyze the competition itself and the draw. By then we will be deep into the season, so we will already know what the teams will look like.
Suggestions for improvement
There are many proposals for improvement, we could even discuss it non-stop, but we will try to concentrate on the most important. We think that special attention should be paid to the coaching profession.
National team coach Mišel Milović should be used to the maximum. By that we mean that it is necessary for our coaches to attend his trainings, observe how he leads them, what he pays attention to. That they can have an insight into the sets of exercises, to see how the game system is built. To have the opportunity to talk to him after training, to be in contact with Michel, who can give them very useful advice that will help them in their work. You should not expect the Alliance to beg and offer opportunities, you need to take the initiative yourself.
Special attention must be paid to the discipline and protection of judges. Soccer and street behavior must be eradicated. It is necessary to respect and inherit the values of rugby, which make this sport the best sport in the world. That’s why education is needed for all officials, coaches, and players, where it would be made clear to them what unacceptable behaviors are in matches and tournaments.
It is necessary to raise awareness about the sports lifestyle. Rugby is a very demanding sport, and if you want to train in it and have a long life, you have to train individually. You have to lead a sports life, eat right and get enough sleep. It’s okay to drive a car in a pub, but not all the time. Create a pre-season culture, develop a plan and program of individual activities for the players both in the pre-season and during the season, propagate sportsmanship and a sports lifestyle. The goal we should be aiming for is players who are as physically fit as possible and who train for rugby.
