Ice hockey has largely become the privilege of children from wealthy families. But not in Rauma, writes Jussi Paasi.
Jussi Paasi
Rauma Lukko is at the top of the SM league. It is the only right place for Luko.
The Rauma club is outright superior in terms of resources among the clubs in the main ice hockey league. Lukko has done financially what every Sports Club in Finland dreams of.
It all started in the 1970s with cleaning.
Rauma’s Teollisuus- ja Kiinteistöpalvelu, which today is known as RTK-palvelu oy, made the town a hockey eldorado. The Contineo group now covers the background company of Luko’s league team, the RTK service and the RTK personnel service.
The group’s turnover is more than 150 million euros.
And that’s where Luko’s group grants come from. The ice hockey club’s losses are conveniently cleaned up. Without this arrangement, the smallest place in the SM league would be something other than Rauma. The lock would not exist in its current form without the ingenious RTK.
The equation was laughed at in a hockey-like manner for a long time, when it seemed that there was no way money could win a championship. Until the spring of 2021. Before that, Rauma had celebrated gold only once, in 1963.
The most important thing was understood in the lock
The top spot in the SM league is still not Luko’s biggest sporting achievement. Much more significant things can be found on the junior side.
As I write this, Luko’s under-20 and under-18 teams are leading the Championship series. That’s an even bigger source of envy for other clubs.
Raumalaiskiekkilu tuki ry, the largest owner of the Contineo group, has done an irreplaceable service to junk hockey.
Thanks to that, the prices for playing ice hockey at Rauma remain moderate, compared to many other clubs, they are actually half-free. Grants and scholarships go exactly where they should. For children and young people.
I recently heard about a case where a very promising ice hockey player under the age of 16 had transferred from his hometown team to Lukko. The reason was obvious: playing at Rauma was free of charge. In a self-managed hockey club, the parents’ wallet would have been lighter by around 700 euros every month.
Hockey’s big, perhaps biggest, threat is the sport’s high cost. Lätka has largely become the privilege of children from wealthy families. But not in Luko.
At Rauma, euros are heavily invested in young people. That, if anything, is in every way the best bet for the future. Both from the perspective of the club and the individual player.
If you want to succeed in the current League, the junior side must be in diamond condition. Even if the background is a group from which you get money like a lottery winner from an ATM.
Lukko deserves all possible incense, even if the league team’s final position this season is something other than what it is right now.
The third championship in the club’s history wouldn’t be any kind of giant surprise based on the results of this season.
Watch the latest episode of Paasi ja Nättinen: 5 minutas series. Expert Topi Nättinen and reporter Jussi Paasi, who are regular voices on the ice hockey circuit, dish out the topics of the SM league in five minutes once a week.