The Lahtelaisueura Junior-Pelicans ry appealed to the sports legal protection board before Christmas about the suspension of its coach and the fine of one thousand euros imposed on the club.
Lahti’s junior ice hockey club Junior-Pelicans ry has appealed to the Sports Legal Protection Board about the suspension of its coach and the fine imposed on the club.
The punishments are related to the incident that happened in the fall in the Pelicans’ under-13 boys’ match. The 13-year-old boy of the Pelicans team told his coach at the end of the match that he was the target of a racist insult. The coach of the Lahtai team Juha Sokka commanded his team’s dressing room and demanded the referees of the match to clarify the situation. The game was not finished.
According to Soka, one of the judges and several witnesses said that they heard the insult, but could not name the person shouting. The matter was not dealt with in the Ice Hockey Federation because there was a competition manager in the situation Pirkka Antilan according to “word for word”.
The Ice Hockey Federation banned Soka for three matches and fined Pelicans a thousand euros. The Pelicans have not swallowed the punishments they received without biting.
– We made our own equivalent to the Ice Hockey Federation. The matter was reviewed in different bodies, and the decision did not change anything. Before Christmas, we have filed a complaint with the Sports Legal Protection Board. Processing times may take months, says the executive director of the club Ari Suomalainen.
Addressing racism brought punishments for the coach and the club, because the rules related to the match event were broken. Racist yelling and match suspension are handled separately in the Ice Hockey Federation, even though the former led to the latter.
– They are two different things that cannot be separated from each other. They are very much related to each other. I strongly expect that some correction will come to the punishments of both the club and the coach. We see that there have been problems with the way things have happened, Suomalainen says.
After the incident, the Ice Hockey Federation has been criticized for downplaying racism. The union responded to the criticism by stating that it takes a serious view of discriminatory and offensive behavior and in no way downplays racism.
According to Suomalainen, the discussions between the club and the Ice Hockey Federation have been factual.
– Let’s hope that the matter will produce something good. The message has already come from the Ice Hockey Federation that they are trying to create new guidelines so that this does not happen in the future. It has been a big wish for us too, when we started to take the matter forward.