Cartel? Abuse of market position? Is legal action necessary?
Such questions, among other things, have been repeated in the debate about the future of domestic ice hockey. Almost all parties to the puck saga have taken a stand. Almost.
The big, mighty and wealthy Ice Hockey Federation has been silent. So quiet that the ears have gone crazy. Are you not interested in the future of the league under the association, Mesti, the catalyst of Finnish hockey? Or the vitality of the whole species?
Apparently not.
The silence was broken for a moment when the union elected a new chairman. Harri Nummelan was voted as successor as expected Heikki Hietanen.
After the presidential election, the future boss of the dominant sport gave insights into the acute pain points of the game. When Hietanen expressed his thoughts in an interview with , the ears rang even louder.
Listen to Heikki Hietanen’s interview in its entirety from the Ice Hockey Tour broadcast. The interview starts in 42’50.
– I would like this discussion to stay inside the ice rinks, so to speak, Hietanen said.
He referred to the fact that the exits of different parties through the media are not an acceptable way of acting.
– It is good to agree on certain things in the family circle, so to speak, Hietanen clarified.
Is not real. Inside the ice rinks. In the family circle.
My ears!
No, Heikki, not inside the halls. And not in the family circle. In my opinion, the biggest problems in ice hockey have arisen precisely from the fact that inside the halls and in the family circle everything that does not fit into the way of modern society has been dealt with.
And the exits through the media speak their own language about the fact that all is not well in the family circle.
The time of the “good brother” club has already passed
Hietanen is a long-term puck influencer. He has been deep in the domestic and international inner circle of ice hockey for decades.
In the 1990s, it certainly worked like that. Maybe for some time even after the turn of the millennium. Things were decided in the family circle, which meant the good brother club.
From the inside, that club worked perfectly. The whining of the rest of society or the media did not reach there. Dudes did what dudes wanted.
Now Hietanen and the Ice Hockey Association should finally enter the modern era. In the 2020s, the vital matters of Finland’s dominant sport can no longer be handled by men inside the halls, or there in Vierumäki’s famous million-dollar sauna.
– We are ready for change. We live in the midst of change, and we strive to respond to the change that society demands of us, Hietanen assured.
What would that change require?
First of all, the openness and transparency of the entire operation and all decision-making. Stopping the self-righteous hustle and bustle.
We remember how last spring the hockey family circle fought for a long time against the equality commissioner and the equality law, but in the end had to settle for the fact that society’s rules also apply to hockey and hockey’s leading men.
Here are some suggestions for changes, please!
I offer a couple of easy ways to start the change work.
The “change demanded by society” mentioned by Hietanen can be answered by stopping the violation of the basic rights of children and young people who play hockey.
In the opinion of an experienced lawyer, the extremely strict club transfer rules are against the law.
After that, Hietanen and the Jääkiekkoliitto could continue making changes by making all the Jääkiekkoliitto’s decisions public. You can start, for example, with the disciplinary decisions of different series. The model can be taken from the SM league.
So now I mainly mean the junior series. Names and personal information are of course excluded from the decisions in question, when disciplinary decisions mainly concern underage players. If those decisions were visible to everyone, problems and pain points could be discussed – also outside the family circle – and see what kind of problems are found and what has been done about them. Or has anything been done.
I came up with other suggestions for changes, but let’s start with those first.
That other reality
The newly elected chairman was asked if the SM league misuses its market position. Hietanen’s answer was:
– No, but that’s also being investigated now, and that’s fine.
Aha! Heikki knows more than others. So the league does not misuse the market position. But it’s good to investigate anyway. This matter was resolved quickly.
Now the Players’ Association, the Mestis clubs and the major clubs of the SM League can stop whining about the fact that the League might be abusing its market position. He doesn’t use it, says Heikki. All doubts about the cartel can apparently be forgotten.
Just kidding. That statement by Hietanen is also completely incomprehensible. How on earth could he know the answer to the question, which is currently being investigated by several experts and lawyers from different parties.
While listening and reading the comments of the rink boss, last spring’s World Championships came back to my mind. At that time, Hietanen, who was the general secretary of the games, suspected that the media lived in some other reality.
Heikki, it seems to me rather that you and the Jääkiekkoliitto – perhaps the boss echelon of the entire Finnish ladle – live in some other, own-law reality. And you should get out of there quickly.
Because if you continue to make stupid, maybe even illegal decisions there in the family circle, it can be really bad for the whole species. The rest of society is already living in the year 2024.