Crossword Genius

Country club refusal to open rally round back (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

macedonia

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'country' is the definition.
(I know that Macedonia is a country)

'club refusal to open rally round back' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'club' could be 'mace' (mace can mean a club or stick) and 'mace' is located in the answer.
'round' could be 'o' (round can mean a round object) and 'o' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for macedonia that I've seen before include "European country, capital Skopje" , "Landlocked Balkan country" , "republic" , "Southeast European country" , "Alexander the Great's homeland" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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