According to Seinäjoki Football Club, the team had no practice on Monday. According to Panu Autio, executive director of the football players’ association, the importance of rest days is especially emphasized at the end of the season.
SJK, who finished fourth in the Veikkausliiga championship battle, is training its head coach by Joaquin Gomez leading at a furious pace.
Goalkeeper of Seinäjoki Markus Uusitalo told on Sunday that the team trains every day until the team wins the match.
SJK is on a four-match winless streak in the Veikkausliiga. According to Uusitalo, the team has recently been training “more or less” every day without days off.
– It does feel a bit like that. Personally, I would need a rest day a week, but I do understand that something has to be tried. Let’s see if it works. Today we already got a winner, let’s see how it works next week, Uusitalo thought after the 1-1 draw against KuPS.
So does tasuri mean a day off?
– No, yes it only comes from winning.
– We have lightened the training load a bit. Closer to the games, of course, we pull much lighter sets, Uusitalo said.
SJK’s media manager Lari Paskin that the statement that a team practices every day until they win a major league game is not true. The team had a day off on Monday.
– I’m looking at an empty stadium. It’s a translation error. The head coach must have said that we will train hard until we win.
The Spanish Gomez uses English as his coaching language.
Recovery is accentuated in autumn
The last time SJK won in the Veikkausliiga was on August 26, a match against IFK Mariehamn.
Would practicing every day even in theory make sense if the goal is to win matches?
Executive director of the football players’ association Panu Autio says that the right ratio of rest and training is important for a soccer player. Of course, results require hard work.
– However, rest is also needed. Physically and especially mentally, it is really important to have rest days, especially in the fall, when the long season is already over, the days are getting darker and fatigue starts to strike easily anyway.
According to Autio, constant training can be really tough for players mentally.
– It takes time to recover and sometimes there should be days without football.
Autio reminds us of Finland’s working time legislation, which should also be applied to sports.
– The law requires that there is a certain rest period between work shifts. Working time legislation is the so-called mandatory legislation, which in a way goes beyond what is agreed in the player contract. It would be interesting if it were started to be tested in sports in Finland sometime.
Does the players’ association have an official position on this case or on continuous training in general?
– Yes, our position is that there must be enough rest and days off. According to the law, there will be certain regulations. In terms of players’ well-being, it is important that rest and work are in the right proportion.
Working hours must be arranged so that the employee gets an uninterrupted rest period of at least 35 hours once in seven days. If possible, rest time should be given in connection with Sunday. However, weekly rest can be arranged for an average of 35 hours over a 14-day period. The rest period must be at least 24 continuous hours during each seven-day period.
In uninterrupted shift work, the rest period can be arranged for an average of 35 hours during a maximum of 12 weeks. However, the rest period must be at least 24 continuous hours during a seven-day period. If the work arrangements so require, the rest period can be arranged in the manner referred to above, if the employee agrees to it.
If the employee’s daily working time is a maximum of three hours, instead of 35 hours, the employee may be given at least 24 consecutive hours off once in seven days.