Golf is in the news once again. As of late, a growing number of articles about the posh sport can be found in the Croatian newspapers. Many of them concern Istria, where the golf lobby seems to be ready for its return. I have long decided to retire from the golf scene, but I can expect many a question about it from friends concerned with sustainable development of the peninsula and the country as a whole. The first thing that comes to my mind by way of an answer is to shrug my shoulders, pucker my lips, and lift my eyebrows. None of my business, in short. But I am aware that many of my friends will not be satisfied with such an answer. Thus I am prepared to make one observation only: all the articles I have read so far suggest that the future of golf in Istria and Croatia is still in the hands of politicians. Put differently, none of them have been punished so far for their shady deals with foreign and domestic golf investors, and so they will most likely press on as though everything has been hunky-dory. After all, golf is a political sport in this country. So much land needed for golf development is in the hands of the state that it cannot be otherwise, at any rate. But this is where I will stop and shrug my shoulders one more time. None of this is any of my business, indeed. My friends will just shake their heads at this point, I can already tell.

Addendum (December 3, 2014)

Everything that holds for golf also holds for polo, to be sure. Even more posh than golf, polo revolves around huge tracts of land. And land is the politicians’ domain. In this respect, Croatia is not different than many other countries. What is different is that much land remains in the hands of the state, which has inherited it from socialist Yugoslavia of yesteryear. For this reason, land has attracted many a politician eager for money. Returning to polo, it has been bantered about in only a few places in Croatia during the real estate boom leading to the global financial crisis. One of these places was Motovun. Georg List, the German investor in polo development, is now accusing Ivan Jakovčić, the governor of Istria until recently, of corruption in connection with the Motovun project. As List claims, Jakovčić asked him for half a million euros to inaugurate his polo project to the east of the Motovun hill. Jakovčić is now in the European Parliament, where he is protected by immunity. Stripping him of immunity is currently under discussion, but the outcome is not yet clear. If and when he falls, some details of political shenanigans surrounding posh sports in Motovun, Istria, and Croatia as a whole will finally come to light. Quite a number of local politicians were involved in the profitable game, it goes without saying. Many in Motovun are thus looking forward to the end of the polo saga, for several money-grabbing people they know very well would most likely end up behind bars.