Should I just forget about football..

[tony7t2]

.. and embrace hockey?

My girlfriend and her daughter are JYP fans and I have to say I did enjoy being taken to one of their playoff games a few months back. Also, watching the World Championships on a huge projector tv at her friend's house was pretty cool... even if the games were at stupid o'clock in the morning
But there is a part of my brain that still thinks of football a lot

Question is, what sort of level is club football in Finland? And are there any reasonably decent teams within short-ish driving distance of Jyväskylä? Or should I just forget about it and go buy a JYP pipo?

[Salopian]

Hmm, I don't think there's a top-division team within three hours - maybe Lahti is the nearest one? Jyväskylä has JJK in Ykkönen (second level), but I don't think the quality of the football is great. At all. But then again, I haven't bothered to watch an Ykkönen match...for just that reason...

And as for hockey, the World Championships will be back in Europe next May

[TampereOwl]

JJK should have got promotion last year, but they @#$% it up. Babatunde Wusu is one of the best players in the division, and I'll be surprised if he doesn't move somewhere should they fail to get promoted. Viikingit are the anti-christ, playing anti-football, and crushing all before them. AC oulu are a frankenstein club, very badly run, and with virtually no fans. If they get promoted they will come straight back down. PK-35 and JJK are the best hopes for Ykkönen to get a promoted team with stickability, but there seem to be problems at Hippos.

I'd go along to the football as it's fun, but not too serious, and se hockey in the winter. I spent the 2006-07 season following JYP (mate's team, I don't like either Tampere club), and they were so spirit-crushingly awful we took to arriving after the first period and leaving halfway through the last. Ice hockey is !"#¤% when your team is.

That said, the council will build a new stadium for JYP, and they may get a slightly improved budget when that happens. JJK will be playing at that !"#¤%-heap till the end of time, presumably because the Jyväskylä Rotary Club lacks JJK men.

Ykkönen football is a good laugh, anyway. I watch quite a lot of it.

[TampereOwl]

And, er, remember to check out this website:

http://footballinfinland.wordpress.com

Nearly forgot to do that.

[MichaelR]

traitor

[Karhunkoski]

I thought JYP did rather well last season, 5th in the league I think it was.

Let me know if you want to do a beer and a game next season.

[tony7t2]

Doh, I'd forgotten that the football season isn't during winter in Finland (although I can see why )
Tampere United is the closest Veikkausliiga team though, which is a 2 hour drive. Ah well, JYP in the winter and JJK in the summer it is then... sure as hell not going to let my gf drag me to watch *$%^ pesäpallo

[TampereOwl]

I thought JYP did rather well last season, 5th in the league I think it was.

Let me know if you want to do a beer and a game next season.

Yeah, but they lost every time I saw them in Tampere. 2006-07 was a true car crash of a season, and really got me annoyed that there's no relegation in SM Liiga. Salary dumping in January=very boring league.

I'll be in touch about the beer. I've never seen a home game and would like to see this rink before they knock it down.

Tony: Veikkausliiga is not that much better than Ykkönen, not really worth driving here for that. But tamU are playing Buducnost Podgorica in the CL first round qualifiers on the 15th of July, and if they beat the Montenegrans they will play Artmedia Bratislava or Valetta.

[kitty4uhig]

***BLURP***

[TampereOwl]

Are any of the FF Jyväskyläns following JJK this season? They have bewilderingly high attendances in comparison to the rest of the league.