The provocations started immediately after the end of the game.

Among other things, the players from Waspo Hannover sang about the "sch... Berliners" when they won the third title in a row.

The Lower Saxony are the measure of all things in German water polo.

To defeat and annoy the big rivals Spandau 04 Berlin, that's what the old and new German champion draws strength from.

"We've grown together really well as a team and are simply better individually," said Julian Real.

He played for the team that defeated Spandau 16-9 on Wednesday night.

The third win in the "Best of Five" series, which was necessary to win the title, was tantamount to humiliation.

It wasn't the first.

Waspo won the cup final at the beginning of May against Spandau.

In the Champions League, they managed a narrow victory over the Berliners and made it into the final tournament.

Hanover celebrates, Berlin mourns.

Hagen Stamm, president and club icon of the Berliners, has rarely been seen so meekly at the edge of the pool as he is at the moment.

It is difficult for him to bear when his successful club loses.

On the other side, the satisfaction for this made waves.

"This is a despot who has leased the right for himself," said Waspo President Bernd Seidensticker about Stamm.

You don't like each other at all.

Both sides seek confrontation.

The feud between Hanover and Berlin makes headlines that are otherwise unheard of in water polo.

Around 500 spectators came to the Volksbad Limmer to witness many goals and maybe a few mean things in the open air.

"Of course there is a certain hostility," said Moritz Schenkel, the outstanding Waspo goalkeeper.

As good as some of the game scenes were and as eager as the officials were at the edge of the pool, the water polo final did not go beyond the character of a regional folk festival.

“Our sport has to reposition itself.

New ideas are needed," said Waspo defender Real.

He ended his career as a champion.

Both in Hanover and in Berlin there is now an upheaval.

How the clubs will probably deal with each other in the future could be guessed at the award ceremony.

As the Berlin players made their way to the changing room, the winning team demonstratively lifted the championship trophy.

When the trophy handover to the Waspo team began, Spandau boss Stamm was standing a few meters away at the bratwurst stand.

The scene made it clear how much respect the officials of the two best German clubs have for each other.

Or how little.