The Oulunkylä football club’s first Veikkausliiga game is tomorrow, Saturday. The members of the club and the people of Talkoo are working despite the snow.
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be a historic day. Oulunkylä’s hundred-year-old football club, IF Gnistan, plays its first game in the Veikkausliiga.
On Saturday afternoon, “Ogel’s” own Gnista will face Turku’s FC Inter at the Oulunkylä football stadium. After last season, Gnistan moved up to the main league due to the bankruptcy of the background company FC Honga from Espoo.
Large boxes of plastic grandstand chairs were brought from the port to Oulunkylä during the day. In the arena’s cafe, we are thinking about how many sausages are needed for a sold-out game.
Gnistan’s new CEO Ilkka Vanala says that the arena already looks good considering the conditions. Vanala started in the position this week.
A strong wind blows in the arena. However, the green field cuts through the dense snowdrift.
Vanala believes that the places will be ready for the match despite the weather. About 1,000 more plastic grandstand chairs should be put in place today.
The people of Talkoo lift chairs from the boxes into the stands. The wind takes some of them with it.
Promotion to the Veikkausliiga brought changes to the Oulunkylä football stadium.
The biggest changes needed in the arena were related to lighting, the field viewing system and increasing the stands. The minimum requirement was that the stand should have 1,500 covered seats. The field still did not meet the requirement in December.
Vanala says that tomorrow there should be 2,000 stands in place. Gnistan’s home arena doubled its grandstand with the grandstand part left over from Espoo Honga.
There are still piles of snow at the edges of the field that need to be plowed.
Vanala strongly believes that every bench will be caught and tomorrow the stands will be decorated with yellow and blue colors.
Tomorrow’s match is sold out. Vanala thinks that there will be enough viewers in the final season as well.
– We probably even have to think about how to expand the grandstand.
There are still hopes that Oulunkylä could get a bigger arena than the current one.
Vanala says that Gnistan is a big deal in northern Helsinki.
Still, it’s not just a local phenomenon.
He has admired the sense of community and the working spirit. Something big is clearly starting for him.
– Gnistan is clearly some kind of flash of light.