The Jääkiekko players’ association and the Sarjaseurat ry, which represents the Mestis clubs, said on Wednesday that they will not participate in the working group of the top hockey advisory board.
The league and the Jääkiekkoliitto said that they had established working groups in order, for example, to make the players’ voices heard. However, the Players’ Association and the Mestis clubs felt that they had no real opportunity to influence the working groups.
Pelaajayhdistys and Sarjaseurat ry would have liked to participate directly in the advisory board of top hockey, for the help of which working groups were established.
In their announcement, they criticized that in reality power in ice hockey still rests with a very limited inner circle.
– Around the turn of the year, a decision was made that we are not on the advisory board of top hockey, which is the body that makes the final proposals for possible new big changes, the chairman of the Players’ Association Teemu Ramstedt tells Urheilu.
According to Ramstedt, the Players’ Association tried many times to join the advisory board.
– We concluded that there is no point in participating in sub-working group-type formations, because we don’t actually get to decide on new changes.
According to Ramstedt’s understanding, the working groups can present a solution to the advisory board, but the advisory board still has the opportunity to make its own presentation on various issues. After that, the matter will still be decided by the Jääkieksliitto’s federal council and the League’s shareholder meeting.
– The role is very close to zero if you are one of the small actors in that chain.
The content of the agreement is unknown
Chairman of the Association of Series Clubs Mikko Saarni says that the position of the Mestis clubs was very clear. The clubs felt that they have no real influence or decision-making power in the working groups.
– The will state is still the same. Mestis clubs want to be actively involved in developing Finnish ice hockey. There is an idea how to do it, but we will tell you about them later.
The content of the agreement between the Ice Hockey Federation and the League has not been precisely stated. For example, the Players’ Association, which has one vote in the Swedish Hockey Federation’s federal council, has not seen the contract paper despite several requests.
– It feels very special. In terms of transparency, wouldn’t it be good for everyone to know the content of the agreement, Ramstedt asks.
– As Liiga announced, SJRY has one vote in the federal council. There are probably 32 voices, so you can think about how much influence one voice can have.
The federal council has once approved the contract between the Ice Hockey Association and the League without seeing the contract. The players’ association therefore doesn’t really know what issues it could agree on with the parties.
That’s why, according to Ramstedt, it’s difficult to comment at all on what kind of things can be outlined in the agreement, for example regarding serial systems.
– When a new contract is signed, there may also be new clauses. In theory, it is always possible to make quite strong boundary conditions for what kind of changes the various working groups can even propose.
Legal action still possible
In the past, SJRY has even hinted at legal action when talking about serial systems. For example, the association has highlighted the possible violation of the current series system against the Competition Act.
Ramstedt does not rule out the possibility of legal action in the future.
– Of course, everything is still possible. The situation is still open. During the spring, we thought about what kind of solutions we will eventually make.
According to Ramstedt, one and the primary way to influence is the general agreement negotiations with the league.
– It is the primary way to make an impact at this moment. The next meeting is in mid-February.
This is how the Federation and the League responded
Huippukiekko’s advisory board is the institution defined in the mutual agreement between the Jääkiekkoliiotto and the Jääkiekon SM-liiga Oy, which manages the cooperation between the parties. Matters from the consultative council will proceed to be decided by the federal council, the federal government and the league board.
The Ice Hockey Federation and SM-liiga Oy expressed in its own bulletin his disappointment with the decision of the Players Association and Mestis.
– This is a big disappointment for us. The working groups have been set up specifically so that we could, for example, make sure that the players’ voices are heard. Their contribution would now have been important for the whole of Finnish ice hockey. Nothing prevents the proposals of the working groups from progressing to final decision-making even as they are, comments the chairman of the advisory board of the SM league and top ice hockey Heikki Hietanen.
– We tried to justify to SJRY and Sarjaseurat ry that working groups are the best possible place to influence.