February 2022. of Rostislav Grinish watching the news with shock. Russia has just invaded Ukraine and is bombing Grinin’s hometown, Kolomyia, in western Ukraine at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains. There are Ukrainian military bases near the city.
Grinishin hasn’t lived in Kolomyya for decades, but his mother, brothers and relatives are still there.
Right after the start of the war, the employer has made it clear that the team will not talk about the events in Ukraine, but focus on sports. Grinishin coaches in Tolyatti, although his real home is with his wife and daughter in St. Petersburg.
Griningin’s phone rang. A familiar voice is heard on the other end of the line. The caller is the manager of Helsinki IFK’s men’s handball team Ville Leppänen.
Leppänen has also been following the news, and is worried about his friend. Leppänen wants to know where Grinish is and how he is doing.
Grinishin is in shock. He cannot understand how someone can start bombing another country. A country where he has family.
– Ville asked how I was doing and if I needed help. Then he suggested that I return to HIFK.
Grinishin coached both men’s and women’s teams at HIFK in 2017–2020. Then the career in Finland was interrupted after the corona stopped the sports series, and there was no information about the continuation. Grinishin got a good offer from Russia, and moved there with his family.
Now the war was bringing them back to Finland.
“I couldn’t have helped from Russia”
March 2023. Grinishin prepares cappuccino in his kitchen in Länsi-Pasila. The sounds of children’s programs can be heard from the living room. The family’s 6-year-old daughter Victoria is sick and stayed at home with his father. The Christmas lights are still hanging in the kitchen window, because they are Victoria’s favorite.
The apartment is the same one where the Grinigins lived when they were last in Helsinki. It happened to be available just as the family was about to move back. The area feels like home.
Grinin’s sloppy cappuccino from a red HIFK mug with the club’s motto “En gång IFK, alltid IFK” on the side, and Grinin’s nickname “Rosti” below it.
The relationship between Griningin and the club is clearly warm. When Leppänen offered the opportunity to return to Finland from Russia last year, Grinishi didn’t think about it for long.
– I thought about the situation, collected my thoughts and slept through the night. We discussed the situation with my wife and made a decision the next day. I appreciate Ville’s act very much.
Grinishin carted a moving load by car from St. Petersburg to Helsinki. The family packed what they needed, but they couldn’t bring everything. Grinini still has property in St. Petersburg, which he can no longer access and whose final fate he has no information about.
The decision to move was made quickly, as there was great concern for the mother and relatives living in Ukraine.
– I decided that the most important thing is to be able to see my family and help them. Now it is possible. From Russia, for example, I could not have helped them financially.
Grinishin knew that the so-called special operation would not be over in a few days, even if it was claimed so.
– I know my people, I knew that the people are ready to fight and defend their independence. It is terrible that lives are being lost. But Ukraine has not fallen, that’s the main thing.
Grinish has not seen his mother for three years. Father’s funeral is the last time the relatives were together. Now Grinini usually communicates with his mother and his sister who lives in Italy via video call a few times a week.
A Russian passport limits the possibilities
Grinishin was born in 1975 in the then Soviet Union. In his hometown, he was offered the life of a factory worker. Sports offered him a chance for a different kind of future.
Handball took Grininin to Russia, where he played handball professionally. Grinishin, who later became a coach, got a Russian passport 20 years ago. Even then it made life easier, after the war things changed. Moving in Europe is difficult.
– I used to have a Soviet passport, but in the early 2000s I had to get a new one. I had lived in St. Petersburg since 1991, and most of my life was in Russia. But then you couldn’t know that something like this would happen.
The European Handball Federation, like many other sports federations, has recommended that clubs not sign Russians in their ranks.
Grinini, who has undergone top-level coaching training, has the EHF’s highest possible coaching qualification, and could basically coach anywhere. However, now he is in Finland, where handball is a small sport.
The unpredictability of life has become clear to Grinini. Figuring out the future is impossible.
At the moment, the family is investing in living in Finland and the goal is to stay here. Acquiring the language is a common goal of the whole family.
– I want to learn to speak Finnish, and maybe apply for citizenship, if possible. But we’ll see. Life is life. You never know what will happen in the future.
Grinishin coaches HIFK, whose season in the men’s handball SM league starts on Saturday, September 16. with a match against the Cocks.