Nordic Football News

PATO’s cup campaign continued on Good Friday with a trip to VAKP/2. They are the reserve team of FC Haka’s farm club, whose first team is now coached by Haka striker Sami Ristilä. In effect, they are the reserves of the reserves, they play at a very low level, and were little more than cannon fodder for PATO’s Third Divisions squad.

That Valkeakoski has two clubs is, of course, down to politics. Haka were established and run by the paper mill company, VAKP by the trade unionists and ‘known communists’ (a wonderful term used to describe those blacklisted in the inter-war period, when Finland’s class struggle was viewed as a potential threat to national stability) of Valkeakoski. The clubs have their own identity and memberships, established through years when there was minimal contact between people on either side of the ideological divide and continued through family ties and tradition once those ideological battles simmered down.

I can’t say that it was surprising, then, when a fan arrived at Sahara and shouted ‘vitun porvari!’ (‘fucking bourgeois’) at a player on the pitch who happened to be wearing FC Haka shorts. Some light hearted banter ensued, where the fans were told by the players – who heavily outnumbered them – to go and buy tickets or they’d get chucked out. Charging admission is an impossibility at Sahara, ringed as it is by public footpaths and roads, but this was probably VAKP/2’s biggest game of the season and so they felt the urge to mock their own supposed hubris.

The guy on the left announced his entrance by bellowing 'Vitun Porvari!' at one of the VAKP players, but subsequently found it in him to offer VAKP his full, vociferous and unequivocal support.

PATO’s Chadian striker Stephane Alingue was injured for this game, and was good enough to tell NFN about his route into Finland and to Tervakoski. The story begins a good few years ago, when his uncle Jean Marc met a Finnish woman while studying in France. After a while they elected to move to Finland, and Jean Marc – whose father is the Chadian Minister of Justice – has been involved in Finnish football ever since. Now semi-retired, he is still involved with PATO’s veterans team and is a project co-ordinator at Liikukkaa, an organisation working towards social inclusion in sport for immigrants.

Nobody brought them any orange segments.

Jean Marc’s nephew is younger, very fast, and has moved to Tervakoski to play for PATO while studying economics. There is distance learning and there is distance learning, but thankfully Stephane’s French university is understanding and he is able to devote a lot of his time to playing for PATO.

Having lived in Togo, France and Chad, Stephane has experienced a lot of football. Business and politics have taken him away from his homeland – his Dad Etienne is the head of the Francophonie in West Africa – but Stephane would of course jump at the chance to represent Chad. He’s played against Marseilles’s Ben Arfa, in his stints at various lower division teams in and around Paris, including Noisel, Torcy and CFFP Paris.

“In France the ball stays on the ground more,” he offered, when asked about the differences in style. “In Finland some teams just kick and rush, but they’d do better if they tried to play football.”

The guy on crutches was by far the most animated during the VAKP/2 pep talk. He was chivvying and cajoling, while a few of the other spectators and players settled for doing a few keep-ups.

The striker is obviously excited about playing in the Finnish Cup.

“It would be nice to travel and get to play against pro teams,” he told NFN while sitting on the bench at Sahara. “Last season was okay, but I arrived quite late on and took a bit of time to adjust. We finished seventh, and I scored seven goals which I was fairly happy with.”

Janne Hyökyvaara is the one in the white bobble hat.

The game started at a brisk pace, with VAKP’s right winger causing a bit of confusion in the PATO defence. Janne Hyökyvaara was a bit agitated before the first goal, which relaxed him and his team enough to bring a deluge of goals. He brought on two very young players in the second half, 14 and 15 years old, and they were amusingly singled out for abuse from VAKP’s vociferous fans.

“It’s a bit difficult for them, but if they earn playing time they will get it this season,” Hyökyvaara explained.

The game finished 9-0, and PATO now have a home game against another Worker’s Sport Association club, Tampereen Kisatoverit. The match kicks off at 6:30pm  this Tuesday, and TKT have very kindly agreed to let me travel on their bus. I expect a much tighter, more competitive game, as both clubs are in the Third Division and the prize for the winners is a Fourth round tie against Antti Sumiala’s FC PoPa.

The winners