Tampere United fans were a little bit disgruntled on Sunday. They had been chucked out of the HJK match en masse for letting off smoke bombs, a ridiculous over-reaction and unnecessary collective punishment. The first half of the VPS match was extremely dull as a result, as the Sinikaarti section was empty and the fans stood outside the fence.
The caption reads ‘some smokes – 100 punished’.
The fans stood outside in the first half and put their banner up out there:
Things were better in the second half, when they returned and seemed much louder than usual. That effect was probably just a result of their absence, and silence in the first half, but it amply demonstrated that Tampere United are really nothing without Sinikaarti. You can have all the free ticketers, all the ligging sponsor’s guests, all the junior teams you like, but they are no replacement for paying fans who care about the team. Not enough people in Finnish football understand that.
Mon, Sep 22, 2008
Football in Finland archive, Veikkausliiga