Football (soccer) Amature league

[simon]

Strange how insurance is such a big thing here. I played amature football back home in the UK for nearly 20yrs, never once did insurance cross my mind. Why is it such a big deal here

[Hank W.]

Because you get shot if you break a leg. Or was it only horses?

[Rosamunda]

Strange how insurance is such a big thing here. I played amature football back home in the UK for nearly 20yrs, never once did insurance cross my mind. Why is it such a big deal here

I guess it is not such a big deal. I don't know the situation in the UK but maybe more people have their own private insurance or maybe they are just more willing to cough up the money for private treatment or... prepared to wait in Casualty for 6 hrs for an Xray.

Amateur footie is quite er... structured here, organised. Thousands of kids play in amateur clubs (OTOH school football is almost non-existant). I don't know the numbers, but I would guess a higher % of under 18s belong to a team and play in junior league football in Finland than in the UK (lots of girls play up here too).

I guess there could be an issue with the Suomenpalloliitto pushing its members to buy insurance.... not sure.... but looks as if that is changing anyway. And maybe regular home insurance in the UK covers competitive sports or something like that.... what happens in the UK if you cause an accident and injure someone during a match (ie third party insurance)???

[simon]

Strange how insurance is such a big thing here. I played amature football back home in the UK for nearly 20yrs, never once did insurance cross my mind. Why is it such a big deal here

I don't know the numbers, but I would guess a higher % of under 18s belong to a team and play in junior league football in Finland than in the UK (lots of girls play up here too).

Sorry Pen, dont buy that one. You ever seen Hackney marshes on a Saturday afternoon/Sunday Morning,same down in Croyden, nigh on a thousand under 18's playing. Like I said never once was insurance mentioned from under 10's to ...well lets not go there but fairs to say I was mixing it with some 40+'s. I think its more down to the culture, weather it be a good thing or not. In all my time playing, it was on one occasion our goalie landed wrongly on his foot and that was that broken.

For me insurance is not that big a deal just an extra expense.

[Salopian]

Also, in the UK there's no need for a license, nevermind insurance, at least as far as my (amatuer/semi-pro) experiences tell me. Thanks for the info in this thread - I had no idea about the necessary guff involved in playing footie.

One of the great things about football, for me, is how accessible it is and easy to play anywhere. At school, even if there wasn't a football, a tennis ball would be used to start a game with 15+ people, or failing that, a crushed can of coke would do the trick. Madness...unfortunately, in Finland I've found it difficult even to find a suitable patch of grass on which to have a semi-arranged kick-about.

€120 is a filthy amount of money to pay to be 'allowed' to play football. Boo and hiss! Good to hear those filthy, football-retarding rules are being changed.

[MC Deli]

Also, in the UK there's no need for a license, nevermind insurance, at least as far as my (amatuer/semi-pro) experiences tell me. Thanks for the info in this thread - I had no idea about the necessary guff involved in playing footie.

One of the great things about football, for me, is how accessible it is and easy to play anywhere. At school, even if there wasn't a football, a tennis ball would be used to start a game with 15+ people, or failing that, a crushed can of coke would do the trick. Madness...unfortunately, in Finland I've found it difficult even to find a suitable patch of grass on which to have a semi-arranged kick-about.

€120 is a filthy amount of money to pay to be 'allowed' to play football. Boo and hiss! Good to hear those filthy, football-retarding rules are being changed.

Let's have a quick recap - grass growing and grass maintenance is an issue in this climate hence only the top couple of divisions play on grass. To more than balance this IMHO Helsinki has many, many gravel pitches of varying sizes that nearly always have goals WITH NETS in great shape. Only a couple of gravel pitches in the centre are really bad cat boxes (viisi kulma is the worst).

Amateur footy in Helsinki is really well organised with a mass of leagues for all ages, sexes and skills.

120 EUR used to have to be paid to register, including compulsory insurance cover, to play in divisions 7 or above (and it was a sliding scale so gets a little ore the higher you go). That also entitled you to play in the Finnish FA cup (The Suomen Cup - now that is an honour) - and is probably par for the course in terms of player registration elsewhere in the EU - anyone know how much conference player reg is in the UK?

The good news is that this year the compulsory ins is reportedly being discontinued.

Salopian - if you wanna play for free you can play in Harra-hobby league (footy or futsal) or with the over 35s (maybe) - all amazingly well organised - or run around the park. In Helsinki there are great kick about games at Brahenkenttä (Helsinginkatu) and Väiskinkenttä (Töölö) early week evenings May onwards.

The only flaw in all this is that a player in the Blue Square South in the UK is probably being paid 300 squid a match and is being watched by 1000 fans, dreams of the conference and trains 4 times a week. A player in the Helsinki 7th has played in front of a cumulative audience of 3 in his whole career, has just forgotten his shorts, and dreams of makkara... or something like that.

[Rosamunda]

The palloliitto has 130 000 registered players. That's over 2% of the total population of Finland.

The junior league football is really well organised and my kids have travelled to Sweden, Åland, Denmark and all over Finland playing football. I can't imagine a summer without Hesa Cup, it is a terrific event, every summer. In winter they practice (3-4 times a week) in excellent indoor facilities (eg Esport Arena) and in summer they play on both grit and grass fields.

http://www.helsinkicup.fi/Default.aspx?tabid=1875


The 20th Helsinki Cup was arranged in year 1995. Unparalled 787 teams from 23 different countries participated. Most finals arranged in that year for first time at Olympic Stadium, where almost 20.000 spectators were.

Not sure of the numbers for last year but there were probably circa 700 teams.

[simon]

Well in % terms there probably is more here in Finland but in terms of bodies , I would guess a couple of mill in england, but this is straying from the point.

[MC Deli]

...the insurance thing is true (that in lower divisions it won't be compulsory next season). If you don't get insurance though it would mean that any injury would be sending you to public healthcare. We have seen a few cases where the insurance has been really useful - broken elbows on gravel and the like.

The reasoning goes something like - every summer half the Veikkausliiga (prem league) players go for expensive urgent treatment and all the lower league players have been subsidising it via the group in insurance deal.

Anyway - to play in 5th or 6th divisions I would still take special insurance (from Pohjola etc.) - it is competitive, on hard ground, and frankly I am getting older! Well worth the 70 extra euros.

[Rosamunda]

I agree...

The No Hassle Factor is an important consideration when sending kids off to matches on the other side of Finland. The manager/coach/huoltomies (= keen parent) don't have the agony of finding a healthcare centre open on a Sunday afternoon in the back of beyond.

[anto.porto]

Hi! i'm antonio,i'm italian and on the 2nd february i'll come to helsinki as an erasmus student. I'm a good football player, i would be very happy to play with you!

[Nickcoy]

Excellent thread, just what I have been looking for.

Just one question, would the insurance policy for €120 cover treatment of the operation and physiotherapy costs entailed after the injury? If this is the case then I think this is €120 very wisely and cleverly spent. The team that I was playing for up until November 2007 in Birmingham, UK(I ruptured my ACL – and had to have knee reconstruction) had an insurance policy but it wasn’t even worth claiming from and the treatment and money for loss of earnings was a complete joke (something like £6 a week LOL) I went through my own insurance company to get the operation and treatment afterwards (Which is at a cost of around £5K at the moment and I still probably need months of physiotherapy.) Would this €120 cover this kind of situation?

So I take it from the posts on here that games on grass are few and far between unless you are in the premier division(s)

Are there pub teams in Helsinki for example do Molly Malones have a teams or anything like that?

I'm not in Helsinki yet but I will be in 2 weeks and I should mention that I am a Villa fan for my sins - if anyone is around and wants to watch the footy or plays for any footy teams it would be cool to make some new drinking mates lol

PM me

Nickcoy

[Faris123]

In order to play in league games with a club you need to join a club that is affiliated to Finnish football federation. Here is a list of clubs for Helsinki:

http://www.hel.fi/wps/portal/Liikuntavi ... Jalkapallo

(M= mens' teams, N= ladies' teams)

Most of the clubs have their own websites where you can get more info.

You will have to pay a club membership fee and federation fee so it can work out a bit pricey if you are a serious player.

Finnish Football Federation:

http://www.palloliitto.fi/palloliitto/english/

Hello!
I am Faris i moved here in finland last year and i want to play football i was playing home Country and i want to join academy to get back my skilled but i tired to find it i am 24 year old and I'm from Pakistan i want to join your team can i play?
Thanks

[Messi123]

I’m also from Pakistan and I’m also 24 years old I also wanna join a football club but I didn’t find any