Ilta-Sanomat reported Tarmo Reunanen’s insult verbatim. The defender will serve his suspension in Saturday’s Kärpät match.
Lock Tarmo Reunanen has received a one-game suspension from the SM League for the words directed at an opponent, which he uttered in Friday’s match against KalPa. According to the main point of the disciplinary decision, it was a “verbal insult to an opponent’s player”.
According to the disciplinary delegation, Reunanen’s words do not belong in the hockey puck nowadays. According to KalPa’s report, the object of the insult ie Juuso Mäenpää did not experience the words as an insult to the person.
The SM league did not reveal in its press release what words Reunanen used. According to the disciplinary delegation, “words used by players are not publicly referenced in the disciplinary practices of sports”.
Evening News reported earlier on Saturday that Reunanen insulted the opponent’s player with the words “fucking hint”.
CEO of the SM League Mikko Pulkkinen commented in the release that the league has zero tolerance for discrimination in all forms.
– That is exactly why the disciplinary delegation has given its verdict, Pulkkinen emphasizes.
This is how the case has progressed
Reunanen received a 5+20 minute penalty in the opening set of Friday’s KalPa match. Initially, the reason was recorded as “the reason for the penalty cannot be found in the rulebook”, but it was later changed to unsportsmanlike behavior.
In the situation, the players were preparing for the start. The linesman heard Reunanen say something to KalPa’s Juuso Mäenpää and the jury went into deliberation.
Lukko had time to tell the message service X that the reason for the punishment was “racist behavior”. Later, Reunanen apologized for his behavior in Luko’s press release, but emphasized that the words he used were not referring to citizenship, ethnic origin or descent.
Lukko explained in a press release on Saturday why the club initially talked about “racist behavior”. According to the club, the reason was in the announcement of the match, which stated the wrong ice name.
– The decision to publish the X-message was mine and I take responsibility for it. Racism is without a doubt against the club’s values, but in this case the fairness of the sentence was not properly assessed in accordance with Reunanen’s interest. I want to apologize to Reuna, Luko’s communications manager Timo Similä told.
The SM league press release emphasizes that the jury gave the wrong message to the officials in the situation and this led to an incorrect announcement.