It is often said that the players “won” Dubrovnik itself in 1925. It is also interesting to note that the people of Dubrovnik took every opportunity to identify intimately with Jug. They proved this in 1926 when the national swimming and water polo championships took place in Dubrovnik for the first time. The participants were greeted in the City decorated with flags and festively illuminated. A Venetian night with fireworks was organized on Kumanovo, the most luxurious liner of Dubrovačka plovidba and the citizens escorted the guests on their departure. Jug started the 1926 season with victories in the Dubrovački podsavez championship. They were better than the British navy team (7:0 and 10:0). It was their first meeting with a foreign team. The first trip abroad was not as successful for the swimmers and the water polo players. The team lost to W.A.C. and Hakal in Vienna. A number of Jug players played in the Yugoslav national team between the two wars. At times the entire Jug team was also the national team of Yugoslavia. During the first national team’s match at the First Slavic Championship, in Belgrade in 1927, four players from Jug also participated: Dinko Fabris, Marko and Ivica Dabrović and Mirko Braida. At the 1927 European Championships in Bologna, Dinko Fabris, Ivica Dabrović and Mirko Braida took part. However, Jug refused to let its players play in the Second Panslavic Championship in Prague in 1928, due to, in their opinion, a poor choice of players. In the third and last Panslavic Championships in Warsaw in 1929, five Jug players took part: Dinko Fabris, Mirko Braida and brothers Marko, Ivica and Jozo Dabrović. The spirited Ivica Dabrović often found himself in unusual situations. He made a name for himself in 1927 when he scored
the first goal in the history of the national team. During the European Championships in Bologna, he was a whisker away from being escorted from the pool by the “carabinieri”, and in 1929, during the trip to Poland, he saved a child from drowning in medicinal mud, in the nick of time. The club from Dubrovnik was the proponent of what was known as “swimming water polo” which was in stark contrast to the predominant static water polo of that time. This style incorporated fast swim-ins and a number of passes. Since the national team consisted mostly of Jug players, this style was adopted by the national team too. Players who were to later become the backbone of the team for years to come were gradually introduced into the first team. In 1928, a 16 year old, Jozo Dabrović, who brought greater mobility into the game, first played for the team; in 1929 Vinko Cvjetković had his debut, and in 1930 we find Željko Statinger and Zdravko Samardžić in the team. Ante Bibica and Drago Betner already played for the team earlier and were to play again after a break. During the twenties, Duško Ucović, Iso Prčić, Karlo Cilić and Ante Matić occasionally played for the team. The 1929 National Championships saw the following line-up: Dinko Fabris, Marko, Ivica and Jozo Dabrović, Vinko Cvjetković, Iso Prčić, Mirko Braida and Ante Matić. The swimmers and team performed in Trieste in 1929, and in 1930 the first friendly competition between Split and Dubrovnik took place, and in 1931 an Adriatic championship was organized. The desire for a greater number of competitors resulted in a change of competition format, and junior national championships in swimming and water polo were also organized. The junior water polo team won the national championships title in 1930. The players who won the title were: Drago and Luka Ciganović, Jozo Dabrović, Drago Betner, Stijepo Duvnjak, Alfred Bradarić, Milan Lugar, Drago Jelić and Matić. The juniors of Jug took eight national titles altogether. The results of the state championships in 1930 indicate the sheer predominance of the senior team. The defeated teams listed Victoria from Sušac (13:0), Primorje from Karlovac (15:0)
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