On Monday, February 26 at 4:41 p.m., an extraordinary message hit the e-mail of the Finnish hockey bosses.
It was sent by a law firm that the Finnish Ice Hockey Association (SJRY) had turned to.
The actual content of the email was found in the attached file: a ten-page demand letter.
The players’ association demanded immediate measures to open the closed SM league. According to SJRY, the League is “against competition law on several grounds”.
The letter contained four strict demands. If the League, the league clubs and the Jääkiekkoliitto do not agree to them by 4 p.m. on March 8, the Players’ Association intends to take “all legal action it deems necessary”. These include, among other things, a request for action to the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV).
According to insider sources, the SM league, the Ice Hockey Association and the league clubs will not agree to the demands. There may be an unprecedented power struggle ahead.
There are precedents
Although the Players’ Association seems to have quite solid grounds to suspect that the SM league even fulfills the hallmarks of a cartel, it is by no means certain that KKV will decide the matter only in the way that SJRY wishes. It is also made known in the players’ camp.
Nevertheless, the Players’ Association decided to use hard measures. Why? We’ll come back to that later.
Suspicions of abuse of a dominant market position are based, among other things, on a recent decision of the EU Court, in which football organizations were deemed to have misused their dominant position in the market.
There is also a precedent in Finland, from the basketball side. It was also mentioned in the demand letter of the Players’ Association. In 1995, KKV’s predecessor, the Finnish Competition Authority, considered the Finnish Basketball Association to have violated the prohibition of the Anti-Competition Act at the time for the abuse of a dominant market position, because the criteria for moving up to the SM series were not sufficiently clear and transparent, and the lower league level clubs did not have enough time to prepare to meet them.
Does it sound familiar in terms of current club hockey? Just ask the representatives of the Mestis clubs.
Mestis clubs knocking on the same door
The battle isn’t just limited to players. Secondly, there is a rebellion smoldering in the top tier. According to Urheilu’s information, several Mestis clubs are upset about how they have been treated in the top hockey advisory board.
The Sarjaseurat ry representing Mestis clubs, like the Players’ Association, withdrew from the working groups planned under the advisory board. Both parties considered that there is no possibility to influence the decision-making of Finnish ice hockey from the working groups.
The league and the Jääkiekkoliitto then said that “Mestis’ expertise will be brought to the work by Mestis’ competition manager Pirkka Antila and Chief Operating Officer Taneli Maasalo“.
This was considered a scurrilous joke among several Mestis societies. Antila and Maasalo were not considered to be the right persons to represent Mestis clubs. In particular, the role of Antila, the competition manager of the Jääkiekkiolito, as a promoter of their issues, aroused anger.
I wrote in January, before SJRY’s demand letter, that someone would soon be knocking on KKV’s door. Now it looks like more knocks are on the way. According to ‘s sources, in addition to the Players’ Association, a number of Mestis clubs are turning to KKV.
Even a work stoppage ahead?
If – probably when – the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority is requested to take action, there will be an investigation lasting a few months. After that, we will see if the SM league, the league clubs, and on that side also the Ice Hockey Federation, have acted in violation of the Competition Act.
It is worth noting that at the same time the Players’ Association and the League are negotiating a new general agreement. The current contract expires this spring.
According to the sources, the negotiations have gone quite well so far, but now the fear is that one of the parties will use the inflamed situation as a bargaining chip. In that case, at worst, there could even be a work stoppage next fall.
And this brings us to the burning question I posed above: why does the Players’ Association sulk like this and threaten legal action? Not many people seem to understand that.
The answer is simple. Their aim is to maximize the number of jobs and the free movement of players. To achieve that, the Players’ Association is ready for a legal battle.
The direct action has surprised. In Finland, we have gotten used to the fact that the Players’ Association has not been a very active trustee. SJRY has – largely for its own reasons – watched the policies of the Ice Hockey Federation and the SM league from the outside.
The players’ association has, with a few exceptions, been a minor factor in the decision-making process of ice hockey until this spring. Things have often been decided without consulting them.
Support from NHL stars
Although a large part of SM league players are not currently members of the Players’ Association, it seems that ice hockey players are slowly taking professional association activities seriously in Finland as well.
Encouragement to climb the barricades also comes from North America. The Finnish NHL stars expressed his support for the demands of the Players’ Association.
The activation of the players’ association and Mestis clubs can have far-reaching effects on Finnish hockey. Although there seems to be a long power struggle ahead, the end result is hopefully positive for the future of the entire sport.
In many ways, the ruling class, frozen in place, seems to be in need of just this kind of shake-up.