Kauhajoki Karhubasket’s April Fool’s prank has caused a stir in basketball circles. Karhubasket, which plays in the Men’s Basketball League, published on its website on Monday “the news”, according to which the club has established a women’s team that will aim for the Korisliiga in the future. According to the release, “the orange shirts will start with a wild card directly from the women’s divar” in the fall.
Karhubasket wrote in its original publication that the team will try to get the club’s grower as the next attachment Ninni Salmen.
Salmi, who also played abroad, for example in the German Bundesliga, was upset when he saw the news and his own name attached to it. He describes his first reaction as emotional.
– I thought, what the hell, who thinks this is funny. A huge dune had been made in Kauhajoki in front of the men’s basket. There is a new arena and the framework is in order. I have been seriously asked why Kauhajoki will have a women’s team? Now that it’s being made into an April Fool’s joke, it felt bad, says Salmi.
According to Salmi, the club was sorry that his name was used in a joke without permission. The name was removed, but the news has not been edited in other parts.
In the April news, it was reported that one of the challenges has been to commit the ladies of Mammakoris to the project, but after the sauna evenings, women have been queuing up behind the arena doors. This section can still be seen on Karhubasket’s website.
– It gave me the impression that women’s promotion to the Korisliiga would be possible with the strength of the mammakoris sauna shifters. It belittled those who play in the women’s league. It saddened and annoyed the most, especially when you know the level of the women’s league.
According to Salmi, many clubs still have a lot to do in terms of gender equality in domestic basketball, even though progress has been made. Salmi would like to see Karhubasket’s basketball activities develop not only on the men’s side but also on the women’s side.
– I felt disappointed towards my own breeding club. My dream would be to play or coach in my own breeding club. I had wondered if it would soon be possible when Kauhajoki has the framework in order. Such news gives the feeling that we are quite far from it, says Salmi.
Ninni Salmi doesn’t think that anyone meant anything bad with the joke. However, he thinks a general apology would be in order.
– Karhubasket has been profiled through the straightforwardness and directness of the people of southern Pohjan. It would be straight-faced for a Pohlian to admit that this has now gone into the notebook and apologize to everyone, says Salmi.
This is how the executive director answers
The executive director of Bearbasket Mikko Katajiston according to April’s news, the purpose was not to upset women’s basketball.
– This was nothing but player news, and that such a team is being founded. I don’t have any reason to leave women’s basketball, hardly even with us. I don’t see it that way at all. Big conclusions have now been drawn that we are disrupting the women’s basketball league and women’s basketball, that is not the issue here. This was a prank on April Fool’s Day, says Katajisto.
Have you apologized for the prank, and if not, will you?
– Now I don’t know who I should apologize to. If you have to apologize to the women’s basketball league clubs or women’s basketball in general, of course that will also be done if it is deemed necessary. But at least it hasn’t occurred to me at this point that I should apologize to someone.
After the interview with Urheilu, the club published an apology on its X account.
– Karhubasket regrets the bad feelings caused by the club’s April Fool’s joke. The intention was not to disparage women’s basketball. Women’s basketball is an important part of the sport and we greatly appreciate what the athletes and people around the sport have done and continue to do, the club announced.
According to Katajisto, the reception of the April Fool’s joke has not been particularly addressed in the club. The CEO says that he has received calls from the media, but according to him, there has been no other direct feedback.
– I asked the women of some team how they thought it went. They were a little surprised at the publicity it received. It’s published, so there’s nothing we can do about it now.
Katajisto says that he already pointed out to the club’s social media team during the planning phase of the April Fool’s news that the joke could spark a discussion, but the social media team decided to implement the idea they thought was good. Katajisto plans to continue to give the “women of some team” free hands to communicate as they see fit.
Salmi messaged Urheilu on Tuesday evening before the publication of the story that she received an apology from Karhubasket, in which she regretted that she had experienced the April Fool’s joke as an insult to women’s basketball and her own career.