South African water polo player Matthew Neser crowdfunds to compete at World Aquatics C'ships
SINGAPORE – While the top water polo nations' expenses for the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships (WCH) are taken care of by their respective associations, the South African men's team had to pay their own way to Singapore.
In particular, Matthew Neser had to traverse three continents and 'swimming a marathon' to compete at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
After scoring once in his team's 27-4 loss to Australia in the 13th-16th semi-finals on July 18, the 23-year-old told The Straits Times: 'We had to pay 38,000 rand (S$2,800) each, which was quite a lot, so I created the crowdfunding page in May to cover the costs of travel, accommodation and tournament fees.
'As someone who has always believed in earning everything through hard work, I never imagined I'd be in a position to ask for help like this. But, with such short notice and limited resources, I reached out to my community, friends and supporters as a last resort.'
Committing to swim one metre for every rand raised, Neser received 42,000 rand and swam 42km in an outdoor pool at his club in Barcelona.
Beyond the fund-raising, he has come a long way since he started playing water polo at age nine after being influenced by his older brothers Dylan and Jamie.
After making his 'life-changing' WCH debut in 2024, he was inspired to quit his jobs – one as a salesman and one with an artificial intelligence company – to pursue water polo full time, as he joined Spanish side Club Natacio Catalunya.
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While Neser shared that water polo is popular in South Africa – 'every school's main sport is rugby and water polo' – the support and infrastructure is still lagging behind the European powerhouses.
To play at the WCH Singapore, one of his teammates also had to organise a raffle and auction four personal items to raise funds.
He added: 'We still play part time, we practise three times a week, and if we are lucky, we get in a game once a week... we could definitely do much better to get good systems in place to build and strengthen the sport.'
What drives the South African players is the chance to compete at the Olympics, after they found out on social media that they were withdrawn by Swimming South Africa despite qualifying for Paris 2024.
Romania and Canada replaced them in the men and women's competitions respectively.
Neser said: 'When we got pulled out, it was a big blow. But my goal has always been to go to the Olympics, and water polo keeps me accountable and my head sane, so maybe another four years is good for me. I enjoy the sport, and the process and build-up to the Olympics is fun.'
The South Africans will meet Singapore on July 20 in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon, after the hosts lost 21-8 to Asian Games silver medallists China, who will play Australia in the 13th-14th play-off.
Shaunn Lok, who scored twice in front of home fans that included students from Bedok South Secondary School and Waterway Primary School, said: 'Today's team result is an improvement from the Asian championships (where China won 24-8), but we still have a lot to prove and this team is more capable than what today's scoreline shows.
'We can't beat China overnight, so little by little, every chance we get to play them, we want to be able to exceed our expectations or improve from our last game.
'We'll definitely try to get a victory in our last game. We're playing for our family, for ourselves and to show we are not just a 'joke team' here and we are a team to take seriously in the future, and even now. That's what we want to showcase against South Africa.'
Meanwhile, in the crossover matches, Olympic champions and world No. 5 Serbia beat 12th-ranked Japan 21-14 to set up a last-eight showdown against the sixth-ranked Americans.
The other July 20 quarter-final match-ups will see defending champions and top-ranked Croatia meeting world No. 3 Hungary, who beat the 14th-ranked Romania 15-11; world No. 2 Spain taking on world No. 8 Montenegro, who beat 13th-ranked Canada 22-10; and world No. 7 Italy facing fourth-ranked Greece, who outclassed world No. 10 Brazil 17-5.
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