The grandstand of the home stadium of IF Gnistan, which plays in the Veikkausliiga football league, was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning.
Aino Paloniemi,
Riku Porvari
The grandstand of IF Gnistan’s home stadium in Helsinki’s Oulunkylä was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning. The fire department was able to prevent the fire from spreading, but it also spread to the roof structures of the ice rink next to the stadium.
Gnistan moved up to the men’s football league Veikkausliiga for this season. Gnistan’s next home match was supposed to be tomorrow against IFK Mariehamn. CEO of Veikkausliiga Timo Marjamaa tells that the match will be postponed.
– This is a big blow, and not only in terms of the Veikkausliiga, but the field was also used really hard in other training sessions and lower league games. A very hard blow, Marjamaa said.
In addition to Gnistan’s main league team, the stadium is used by several junior teams. The stadium was also used for the ongoing Helsinki Cup tournament, but the last matches at the stadium were played on Thursday.
According to Marjamaa, the extent of the damage must first be determined, after which it will be determined how to proceed in the situation.
– Of course we try to help, but the series is running and there are 11 other clubs involved, so schedule-wise this happened at a challenging time, but we hope that a practical solution will be found. The stadium will certainly not be repaired on a quick schedule.
The fire has not caused any injuries, and there are no residential buildings in the immediate vicinity of the stadium. Post-extinguishing work can be carried out by a fire marshal Petri Strandbergin along for several more hours.
– At the moment, the cause of the fire is still unknown, but the authorities are investigating the case. We would like to emphasize that luckily no injuries have been reported at this stage, which is of primary importance to us, Gnistan says in his announcement.
This season, Gnistan, who moved up to the main football league level, improved its field and stand conditions by almost 1.5 million euros. The Oulunkylä football stadium had a capacity of 2,200 spectators.
The club’s investments are 1.5 million
With the promotion to the Veikkausliiga, the Helsinki club significantly developed the Oulunkylä football stadium. The biggest needs for changes were related to lighting, the viewing system on the field and increasing the stands.
In total, the club’s parent company spent close to half a million euros to improve the conditions in the stands. For last year and this year, the background company’s investments in conditions will rise to almost 1.5 million euros, reported in March.
In addition to the grandstand, the investments have enabled the club to use another heated artificial turf field, more changing rooms for juniors, and the heating system of the old field, as well as the field surface, have been renewed.
The Oulunkylä football stadium has a capacity of approximately 2,200 spectators. In the current season, Gnistan has repeatedly attracted more than 2,000 spectators to its home games.
The club has also received more stands if necessary. In June, Gnistan set its audience record when there were 3,024 spectators in a local match against Helsinki Football Club.
Story updated at 8:55 a.m.: Veikkausliiga CEO Timo Marjamaa’s comments added
Story updated at 9:43 a.m.: Added information about the Helsinki Cup
Story updated at 10:13: Added information about the club’s investments.