Seinäjoki’s Peliveljet was responsible for the biggest news of the floorball transfer summer, when the club announced at the end of June the star striker of the F-league Peter Kotilainen About the 1+1-year contract for the regions. The F-league star striker, who won two World Cup golds in 2016 and 2018, effectively represented Jyväskylä Happee between 2014 and 2022.
According to the two-year extension contract published a year and a half ago in February 2021, he would be Happe’s man in the starting season as well.
Happei and Kotilainen, who turns 28 in September, have had a strong disagreement throughout the summer about whether the player has a contract for next season. Now, an agreement has been reached in the case, when SPV released the situation by paying a few thousand euros in the direction of Jyväskylä, according to Urheilu.
– Happee also came through in the situation, and it would be wrong to say that it was only about us. The case would still not have been solved without money, and of course money was talked about all the time, SPV’s club boss Tommy Koponen tells.
The dispute goes back to the events of last winter and spring.
Kotilainen, who won silver in Finland’s home games at the World Cup in December, was part of Happe’s lineup for the last time on January 4 against Nokian KrP, but after that he didn’t play a single game in horror.
Health failed after the World Cup
According to the resident, he had a long-lasting flu, depression and work exhaustion. Anxiety attacks plagued him, and he didn’t want to see a floorball stick.
– It was a difficult time, especially when there were so many angles. There was a mental side as well as a physical illness, which was clarified with the help of several doctors and tests from all over the world. While there were still psychologists and other things, these months after the Games have been quite a while, Kotilainen opens.
Disagreements between Happe and Kotilainen came to a head when the club informed the player in writing on February 21 that they would cut off the salary payment. According to Happe, the player’s contract had a clause where the salary payment obligation is only fulfilled if the player is present in at least half of the team’s events.
Happee wanted Kotilainen’s sick leave certificates, which the club said he had not received. Kotilainen says that he applied for treatment through occupational health, but that he ran into restrictions during the corona period, among other things, in the early stages.
Happee says that he referred the player to a work capacity assessment, which Kotilainen had to cancel and postpone the related physiotherapy visit, according to what he said. According to Happe, the cancellation caused costs, and the club cut off the player’s treatment path and, at the same time, the salary payment.
Kotilainen is on completely different lines with the club in terms of which one was the active party in seeking treatment in the first place. In the end, Kotilainen’s treatment times were restored, and he was on sick leave from March 10 to May 1.
Despite the absences, the home team was not given a warning, and the player’s contract was not terminated.
– We have a certain respect for the players and their situations. Terminating the contract is not always the first option, but we strive to find other ways to help the player and settle things, Happee’s chairman Vesa Pölkki says.
Pölkki states that the situation has not been easy even with Happe’s advice.
– Of course, this has been difficult. We haven’t been aware of everything about his health and situation either, even though we have sat at the same table in the spring. Towards the end of March, he got treatment and was able to put himself and his affairs in order.
The competition committee was on Happe’s side
According to the home camp, Happee should have been paid the missing wages, but Happee has been on different lines. There has also been controversy over whether the player is free to move to another club without a transfer fee.
Kotilainen has interpreted based on the missing wages that the contract has ended and he is free to move. According to the club’s interpretation, the contract has never been terminated.
When SPV, which was involved in the situation as a bystander, published the contract in the summer, according to Koponen, the club was aware of the multifaceted case that contained various twists and turns.
In the summer, the impasse progressed to the consideration of the competition committee, which investigates issues related to the Floorball Association and, among other things, player transfers. It interpreted the situation in Happe’s favor.
– According to the committee’s decision, Kotilainen has such obligations towards Happe that the committee would not have approved the transfer without the club’s consent. After that, in accordance with the normal process, the next processing body would have been the federal government, to which SPV had already filed an appeal request, the union’s executive director Pekka Ilmivalta tells.
– Before the government had time to deal with the matter, the parties agreed on the matter.
Koponen confirms that the final resolution of the situation in various courts was one possibility. Kotilainen is an important player for SPV’s rejuvenated team in recent years, and he is needed in the rink. He has already represented the red shirts in training matches.
– If we had listened to legal experts, we would be there.
– For us, it is a value in itself to want to live in harmony with everyone and it is also a value to be able to forgive over certain things. We received help from our partner network, and the message from there too was that we will try to come to an agreement so that the process does not have to be taken in a more unpleasant direction.
Kotilainen also says that his manager, who negotiated with Happe, would have been ready Nisse Huttunen with to take the matter forward if necessary. However, the agreement was a better solution.
– The case has somewhat messed up the summer and preparation for the season. In the end, I didn’t have to spend so much time on this myself, when it was in the hands of the Manager and others. He has been working on it for half a year already.
Pölkki estimates that it would have taken months to settle the matter with the help of the court. As is typical for many disputes, the different parties strongly feel that they are right in the matter.
– We have an accurate written report with documents about the course of the spring in the accounts, Pölkki assures.
The door to Oxygen has not closed
According to Kotilainen, it seemed for a long time that he would not play anywhere in the starting season, but the most important thing, i.e. the love and spark for playing, has been found again. He has found a rhythm in everyday life, when he works a few hours a day at school in Seinäjoki.
Despite the argument, there are no grudges left in the direction of Jyväskylä, and he does not rule out playing in Happee again sometime. It is now a relief that all parties can move forward in their own way.
– This has been really sad, and there has certainly been the kind of arguing that comes at the end of a long relationship. I’ve never been the easiest player, and I understand their side of things too. I myself have done things stupidly, and things are not one-sided, Kotilainen admits.
– However, there is also its own side, and things have not gone quite smoothly from their side. However, I still care about the people who are there and wish them only the best.
Vesa Pölkki is also not closing the door on Kotilainen once and for all, even though the incident has burdened the club. In the future, Happee plans to pay special attention to player contracts and their clauses.
– A lot has been learned from this. We will see with more specific reasons that contracts are always legally valid. In this matter too, we had a very well planned and reviewed agreement, but of course they still have to be filed.
– Time will tell if Peter can come back sometime. There will always be small cracks, but time heals the wounds.
“Life is a bigger value than where someone plays”
The Men’s World Championships will exceptionally be played already 11 months after the previous ones, when the medals will be distributed at the beginning of November in the tournament played in Zurich and Winterthur. The head coach Petteri Nykyn The Finnish team, which is preparing for the last World Cup of the era, will play its last practice matches at the EFT tournament in Switzerland this weekend.
Kotilainen, who represented Finland in the three previous World Cups, is not in the group, but the national team is always interesting.
– I haven’t thought about it in any crazy way. I’m always in Nyky’s team if I get an invitation. We have 13 games left before the World Cup and I’m still trying to put my spoon in the soup.
According to Koposen, who moved from the position of SPV’s head coach to assistant coach, the club wants to help Kotilais as a person as well. He is happy that the top gambler’s career continues, and specifically in Seinäjoki.
– Life is a bigger value than where someone plays. It would have been a shame for the entire floorball community if the story had ended with the motivation for the sport as a whole disappearing. The basic starting point when making the agreement has been that the civilian side will also be put in order, and we have a great summer behind us.
– I hope from the bottom of my heart that Peter still has many playing years left. He is a very fine sports person who can still play the game quite well.
Peter Kotilainen and SPV will challenge the reigning Finnish champion Classic in the Super Cup to be played in Eerikkilä on September 10. The F-League season starts on Thursday, September 15. You can watch the World Championships in Switzerland in November on channels.