Archive | April, 2007
Back to Tammela
There’s a story in this morning’s Aamulehti, about the status of football in Finland and how Veikkausliiga boss Jan Walden wants it to be Finland’s biggest sport. That’s not as far fetched as it sounds. When teams are doing well they can attract big crowds, bigger than most ice hockey sides get. We’re talking 5-6,000. [...]
Perkele! This is good football!
28. April 2007
I’ve been a bit quieter recently, and one reason is the amount of writing I’ve been doing for other places. This is one that might interest Finnish readers, so I’ll post it here as Six Degrees probably slips under the radar of many Finns. Nothing you won’t know already, but a great quote from Sami [...]
Two games in
27. April 2007
Bit calmer now, apologies for the rant. I love stewards really. So, everyone’s played two games now, and the league’s looking a bit clearer. TPS have defied my fat jibes and are now third with 4 points, along with HJK and Tampere United. FC Haka are top with a 100% record, having won in Pietersaari [...]
Rules are rules!
26. April 2007
So, Tampere United won’t let me speak to away fans. Or rather they will, but only across a fence. What the hell do they think is going to happen? Am I going to go across there and batter all 50 KTP fans to a bloodied pulp? Does this happen at ice hocket games? I think [...]
Start as you mean to go on
22. April 2007
I’m massively hungover today so can’t write too much, but it was a good start for Tampere United yesterday. They drew 1-1 at VPS, which is a decent result given their record at Hietalahti and the players they were missing. HJK won 3-1 at KTP, an impressive result, and the new boys drew 1-1 at [...]
To bet or not to bet?
20. April 2007
In the spirit of my predictions, I’ve decided to place a few bets on the games this weekend. Finns will know all about the match fixing scandal involving Allianssi and a Chinese-Belgian coalition of gamblers and coaches. And the scandal is probably one of the only things that non-Finns know about Finnish football. Now in [...]
Counting those beans
18. April 2007
In England you often have to wait up to a year after the season finishes to find out how much each team has spent. Not so in Finland. Here we have the annual accounts for all the teams in advance of the season, a helpful development given the temptation to overstretch-an extra 100,000 euros goes [...]
The big kick-off
18. April 2007
Season starts on Saturday, and I reckon it’s about time I made some predictions. Champions: Tampere UnitedUEFA Cup: HJKIntertoto: Inter Turku Relegated: Lahti, Viikingit Suomen Cup: Atlantis One to watch: TPS (I’m genuinely fascinated by their money, manager, owner and fans. Who are most certainly not a group of sissies) Ykkönen:I honestly don’t know enough [...]
Globalised
14. April 2007
The Finnish League Cup is a pre-season tournament played largely indoors between February and April. The Veikkausliiga clubs are divided into two groups, this year one was roughly south eastern, the other roughly north western. The games are played indoors on full size pitches, often with a decent crowd. Pirkkahalli in Tampere is a good [...]
Baku from the brink, part two
13. April 2007
As promised, a report on Finland’s game in Azerbaijan. IK is a member of Suomifanit, the official Finland supporters group. I hope writing this has been therapeutic for him: The mother of all cock ups? As you will see, this is not a proper match report. I think that’s only fair, since the 90 minutes [...]
New Finns
12. April 2007
I’ve been reading a bit about a Granny in Porvoo. Halide Latifi is a 71 year old Kosovo Albanian woman who is being threatened with deportation. I don’t really want to get into the subject of immigration in Finland, politics is covered much better here and here. But obviously the granny should stay. So I [...]
The Islanders
12. April 2007
So, I’ve been thinking a bit about the outsiders in Finnish football. Most obviously this is the Swedish speakers, and even more obviously it’s IFK Mariehamn, whose home games are played halfway to Sweden. The islands have a special status within Finland, being entirely Swedish speaking-the rest of the country is officially bilingual. They haven’t [...]
Baku from the brink, part one
10. April 2007
I’m working on securing a first hand account of the Baku debacle from more of a football perspective, but for those of you who can’t wait or have a wider interest, here’s what my friend Aapo had to say about his Caucasian adventure. The lengths people will go to so they can pay homage to [...]
The One and Only
10. April 2007
So, Mixu’s been busy again. The signing of Armand One from Raith Rovers has caused a bit of a stir here, as he is a little bit large, lengthways and widthways. While they weren’t exactly dancing in the streets of Raith at his departure, there were mixed feelings that he left. I had a bit [...]
Fanning the flames…
9. April 2007
I’ve had a few requests to write something about the various fan groups in Finnish football. Before I start, a disclaimer: I am not an entirely impartial observer of Finnish fan culture. In my wallet I carry a Sinikaarti membership card. I have been to Kotka and Vaasa with them, and of course the HJK [...]
Grounds for concern?
8. April 2007
Those with a keen eye will have noticed that other ‘summer’ leagues have already kicked off. Norway and Sweden started this weekend, while the Russian Premier League began way back at the start of March. There are a few reasons for the late start, like the differing length of winter most years, but the main [...]
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29. April 2007
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