Jumpers for goalposts

[TampereOwl]

Owned by SPL, pretty much. Look at their opening few fixtures this year, a complete joke. Their first vaguely difficult game is against Inter (who weren't expected to be anything like this good before the season started), and thankfully they've dropped points against VPS and KuPS.

[antstar]

They're doing pretty well this year too, top of the league after two games and could easily get promotion. Another option for you Helsinkilainen, apart from the evil HJK....

I like your optimism TampereOwl, hoping for promotion on the back of two games, good for you

[MagicJ]

Owned by SPL, pretty much. Look at their opening few fixtures this year, a complete joke. Their first vaguely difficult game is against Inter (who weren't expected to be anything like this good before the season started), and thankfully they've dropped points against VPS and KuPS.

How do you sing "Nobody likes us but we don't care" in Finnish?

[ChubbyPoacher]

How do you sing "Nobody likes us but we don't care" in Finnish?

'Olemme Suomenruotsilaiset' isn't it?

[TampereOwl]

Well, they were near the top for much of last season, but fell away at the end. They seem solvent (they own an indoor pitch!) and Ykkönen isn't exactly a bastion of consistency. Viikingit make Liverpool look exciting to watch, so another side getting promotion would be great.

[MagicJ]

How do you sing "Nobody likes us but we don't care" in Finnish?

'Olemme Suomenruotsilaiset' isn't it?

You should tell that one to Mr. Happy.

[otyikondo]

The presence (or non-presence as the Owl has so bitterly pointed out) of Zenit St. Petersburg on our radar tonight reminds me of a little tale from the Helsinki Cup many years ago, when the Russians sent a few junior sides over. My son's team had just finished a game in Tali against some Lapland opposition and were loafing on the grass with icecreams, as a bunch of Russian kids from a Leningrad team called Smena, all about the size of fire extinguishers, ran onto the pitch to take on MPS, who were quite a useful side from Malmi (well, useful and useful, since you could never really tell at that age - there were good vintages and bad ones, but this lot had won all their games thus far).

This was back in the days just after the fall of the UUSR, and there wasn't that much money around, and in some cases Finnish junior clubs would sponsor visitors from Russia and other "emerging economies", and even kit them out.

Anyway, the main topic of interest and amusement for the little tykes in son's team was the footwear of the Smena players. "Jesus, look at that, v**tu, he's wearing plimsolls" - and of course they were Woolies plimsolls and not 400 euro Nike Orgasmotrons. Much mirth ensued, and the boys' coach, bless him, got a bit irked and he said something like it doesn't effin' matter what effin' shoes they've got on, it's what they can do with their feet. HE presumably knew that Smena was a football academy and they weren't just there to take the air and go to Anttila.

Five minutes after the opening whistle, as the Smena lads trotted back to the centre circle again after scoring their fourth without reply, you could hear a pin drop among the pampered Espoo kids. It was a lovely lovely moment, and a great lesson in life. To their credit, the kids then watched every one of the Russians' games after that, as they went about putting everybody to the sword, with ludicrous scorelines like 15-0, even into the knock-out stages.

And now, of course, teams like Zenit are owned by Gazprom. So they probably don't have footwear problems. I guess those kids would be in their late 20s by now. I wonder if any of them will be turning out tonight. Not impossible - Dmitri Sychev was a Smena graduate, and probably tormented snotty little Finnish kids in his youth.

[ChubbyPoacher]

Well, they were near the top for much of last season, but fell away at the end. They seem solvent (they own an indoor pitch!) and Ykkönen isn't exactly a bastion of consistency. Viikingit make Liverpool look exciting to watch, so another side getting promotion would be great.

Not just any indoor pitch, either.
Astro-turf was like carpet rather than green sandpaper, and it actually had warm air blowing into it during the winter.


Magic - I think it might be the secret to his eternal happiness.

[TampereOwl]

The presence (or non-presence as the Owl has so bitterly pointed out) of Zenit St. Petersburg on our radar tonight reminds me of a little tale from the Helsinki Cup many years ago, when the Russians sent a few junior sides over. My son's team had just finished a game in Tali against some Lapland opposition and were loafing on the grass with icecreams, as a bunch of Russian kids from a Leningrad team called Smena, all about the size of fire extinguishers, ran onto the pitch to take on MPS, who were quite a useful side from Malmi (well, useful and useful, since you could never really tell at that age - there were good vintages and bad ones, but this lot had won all their games thus far).

This was back in the days just after the fall of the UUSR, and there wasn't that much money around, and in some cases Finnish junior clubs would sponsor visitors from Russia and other "emerging economies", and even kit them out.

Anyway, the main topic of interest and amusement for the little tykes in son's team was the footwear of the Smena players. "Jesus, look at that, v**tu, he's wearing plimsolls" - and of course they were Woolies plimsolls and not 400 euro Nike Orgasmotrons. Much mirth ensued, and the boys' coach, bless him, got a bit irked and he said something like it doesn't effin' matter what effin' shoes they've got on, it's what they can do with their feet. HE presumably knew that Smena was a football academy and they weren't just there to take the air and go to Anttila.

Five minutes after the opening whistle, as the Smena lads trotted back to the centre circle again after scoring their fourth without reply, you could hear a pin drop among the pampered Espoo kids. It was a lovely lovely moment, and a great lesson in life. To their credit, the kids then watched every one of the Russians' games after that, as they went about putting everybody to the sword, with ludicrous scorelines like 15-0, even into the knock-out stages.

And now, of course, teams like Zenit are owned by Gazprom. So they probably don't have footwear problems. I guess those kids would be in their late 20s by now. I wonder if any of them will be turning out tonight. Not impossible - Dmitri Sychev was a Smena graduate, and probably tormented snotty little Finnish kids in his youth.

Lovely story. I was at last year's Aura Cup, and the competition was pretty much between Hammarby, Musan Salama (excellent junior club from a suburb of Pori) and the Russians. If Gazprom do fund junior football, they certainly weren't contributing to any of those teams.

These personal contacts and memories are one of the reasons this game should be on TV. The hockey is about binary opposition, russkies are bad, we can respect them but fear them etc etc etc, whereas in football Russians are very active in Finland. There's a side in Lapeenranta (Rakuunat, in Kakkonen), that is mostly composed of Russian players. TP-47 have a Russian coach and several Russian players, and of course there are the old timers like Popovitch and the various Eremenkos (the youngest Eremenko is supposed to be the best, btw, but he's only 10). Plus there are 35,000 Russians here officially (more if you count tourists, business people, truck drivers and so on), making them the second largest minority after the Millwall fans mentioned upthread. All the Russians I know support Zenit-it's easier to get there than Oulu from Helsinki.

I just don't like this rather dull nationalism that afflicts many countries when their national team plays. England is about the worst at this, but every instance is worth criticising imo.

[Salopian]

Not just any indoor pitch, either.
Astro-turf was like carpet rather than green sandpaper, and it actually had warm air blowing into it during the winter.

That was me overheating.

Magic - I think it might be the secret to his eternal happiness.

He's lost to the dark side (NOT the RS in this instance).

[simon]

Well, they were near the top for much of last season, but fell away at the end. They seem solvent (they own an indoor pitch!) and Ykkönen isn't exactly a bastion of consistency. Viikingit make Liverpool look exciting to watch, so another side getting promotion would be great.

Not just any indoor pitch, either.
Astro-turf was like carpet rather than green sandpaper, and it actually had warm air blowing into it during the winter.


Magic - I think it might be the secret to his eternal happiness.

You are talking about where we played?

Well I never

[otyikondo]

I just don't like this rather dull nationalism that afflicts many countries when their national team plays. England is about the worst at this, but every instance is worth criticising imo.

I'm not ALTOGETHER sure I want to buy into this. "Dull nationalism" is one way of describing it, but the current way football is going is bound to take it exactly down the path of ice hockey, where the NHL and the club game rides roughshod over international matches, and creates precisely the "second-rate tournament" situation you are berating elsewhere. Hockey is simply ahead of the curve in this respect, and for all the hand-on-breast and saluting the flag nonsense the NHL "allows" its children to play international matches in the Olympics once every four years, but otherwise the corporations that own clubs jealously guard their investments. Football is not immune to the same practices. It will not be long before the ECL poses a serious challenge to the European Championships - it may well do so already - in both quality and following. And as soon as it does, expect clubs to hinder national teams from getting hold of players much more actively than they do now.

It will be interesting to see if the same principle catches on in cricket. The success or otherwise of the IPL will be a signal for others.

[TampereOwl]

I don't think the IPL is a serious danger, given the way it is structured. There's no way for clubs to build loyalty with the rotating rosters, and even if they achieve that it will take years. not at all sure the IPL owners are that patient. I reckon some kind of international 20-20 tournament is more likely to work as a cash cow for both the BCCI and the ICC, and in the end that money (and the lack of Indian interest in these ersatz clubs) will dictate developments.

The 'dull nationalism' is the phenomenon of provincial idiots attaching crappy little flags to their cars and becoming jingoistic towards other nations. It's not as bad here as it is in England, but it's still present.

I don't think hockey is ahead of any curve. There's never been a serious international hockey tournament that was definitely better than the club game. Whereas, for pretty much all its existence, the World Cup has been the pinnacle of footballing competition. I agree that the trend is for greater club control over players, but I think there is a much better chance to control those impulses precisely because football is a much more popular game than ice hockey. no one league can control football, and no one federation can do anything on its own. The World Cup and European Championships are two of the top three sporting events in the world, in terms of revenue, and club owners are not arguing to sabotage them but to share the revenues generated. I don't see that changing too drastically.

[ChubbyPoacher]

You are talking about where we played?

Well I never

We've had to play on some shocking surfaces, even in more organised harrasteliiga games.
The indoor hall in Ruoholahti we used last winter was actually colder inside than outside.
In comparison, this winter was luxury and comfort. Apart from Salopian's additions to the atmosphere..

I just don't like this rather dull nationalism that afflicts many countries when their national team plays. England is about the worst at this, but every instance is worth criticising imo.

Thank the lord this years super cup won't be Rangers v. Chelsea.
Thousands of flag-waving Engurland fans singing God Save the Queen, and as for the Chelski fans...

[TampereOwl]

I've had various texts from my brother in manchester today. He's really quite relieved, because if the Rangers fans hadn't turned up and reminded him not to (constantly, all day), he was in very serious danger of actually surrendering to the IRA.