The license committee of the SM league would think that they have a complete map of the stages of their own process, writes Urheilu’s editor Simo Arkko.
Simo Arkkourheilhu journalist
The Norwegian Hockey League announced on Monday that TuTo’s application has been rejected. On Tuesday, the Turku club announced that its application has not been rejected after all, but that it has 14 days to respond to the license committee’s further inquiries.
Chairman of the Licensing Committee Jaakko Luumi tells Urheilu that the application has still been rejected and there are several grounds for rejection. According to Luum, part of the reasons are related to the license conditions and part to the agreement between the Ice Hockey League and the SM league, which has conditions for a club joining the league.
However, Luum’s license committee made one incomprehensible mistake. According to the license conditions, TuTo should have been given two weeks to submit additional explanations.
– This matter was not clearly communicated to TuTo and in the announcement. It was a mistake in this process. As chairman, I bear the responsibility for that, says Luumi.
According to Luum, the “confusion” is partly due to the fact that the series has not had applicants from outside the league in previous years. That is why the contract between the SM league and the federation has not had to be interpreted in the same way as this year.
– It partly caused confusion, which is why there was no communication.
The error sounds amazing. You would think that the licensing committee would be fully aware of the stages of its own licensing process.
TuTo’s application was not taken seriously at first, but the club, like the Jokers and Kiekko-Espoo, has in a commendable way sparked a discussion about series systems. The same cannot be said of the Ice Hockey Association, which has remained silent and has not brought Mestis into the discussion.
The situation is reflected in the fact that Mestis clubs themselves decided to organize the meeting on Thursday of this week. According to Urheilu, participants in the meeting have not been sent a list of issues to be discussed, but many believe that the discussion will be related to the burning questions of the day, such as series systems.
According to one source, all the Mestis clubs seem to be worried that the series will not be listened to and it has been ignored in decision-making. For example, he is surprised that the CEO of the Jääkieksoliito and chairman of the board of Mestis Sami Kauhanen have not previously seen a reason to gather among the presidents of the clubs regarding the issues to be discussed.
Ice Hockey Championship League published a press release on Wednesday with the title “Together towards the future”. Even if the announcement didn’t say much, this would be the most important thing. Decisions for the benefit of Finnish ice hockey must be made together, thinking of all clubs, including Mest.
It’s not just about what kind of business the top clubs can run in the SM league. In the middle of everything, Mestis or B-liiga – whatever the league will be called in the future – must be made even more competitive.
Even the top clubs will not have players if there are not enough high-quality organizations in Finland developing new individuals.