The conditions of the National Football League have spoken in recent days. For example, the defender of Åland United Anni Miettunen has given a weighty speech on the subject and raised grievances.
Executive director of the Football Players Association Panu Autio considers it important that the topic is discussed.
– I am proud that we have players in Finland who dare to raise grievances, talk about them and really genuinely care, says Autio.
According to Autio, the conditions have been a big challenge in Finnish football for a long time. He reminds that Finland’s climate and weather cause their own challenges for the condition of the fields.
However, the question of how to improve conditions is difficult.
Autio sees that the license system and the rules set through it are one important way to improve conditions. In addition to that, the multi-caused entity can be influenced by, for example, clubs, the Football Association and public actors, such as municipalities.
– Perhaps the challenge here is that it is a shared responsibility. There are a lot of people who should be pulling together and moving things forward, Autio reflects.
Autio is himself a former futsal player who also played in the national team. In addition to his day job, he works as Urheilu’s futsal expert.
I hope for a more ambitious development
When discussing the level of the national league, the reasons why some players go from the Finnish main league to, for example, the Lithuanian league or to the lower league levels in Sweden, have also been considered.
Autio hopes that at the top level, for example, in the strategic work of the Finnish Football Federation and the Olympic Committee, the level of domestic leagues would be developed ambitiously.
In the longer term, according to Auti, Finland should aim to be able to play as a professional here as well.
– Of course, the best leagues in the world are so far ahead that the best way for players to develop is to go abroad to play.
– In the long run, I would hope that we would also dream and pursue even more strongly that professionalism and everyday life in Finland are good. That the only dream and the right way to make a career is not to go abroad as a professional.
Autio considers the finances of the clubs to be key in reaching this end result. Its confirmation is influenced, for example, by the number of spectators on the spot on the sides of the pitches and next to the screens, sponsorship income and television rights.
Increasing revenue streams is not an easy task, Autio admits.
– I don’t have a philosopher’s stone for that, but in a way the understanding of it has to be good, and it has to be developed in many different ways.
The players also have a big responsibility
In the coming season, the aim is to increase the competitiveness of the National League with series reform, which will reduce the number of teams in the main league. Autio hopes that it is a step in the right direction.
– In my opinion, a lot of good work has been done at the system level in recent years to ensure that women’s premier league football has the conditions to develop.
In Auti’s opinion, many good steps have been taken on the athletic side in recent years in that the teams train more professionally and invest in the athletic side.
– There has also been a development in the background, but of course one would always hope that it would be much faster.
The executive director of the players’ association regrets that too few people are trying to run the main series, which aims for professionalism.
– The people who do the work at the core work hard all the time. We should just be able to grow that group for whom their own club and futis are really important.
– After all, it starts with the fact that there is something exciting to do that gets a lot of gangs to the fair and a lot of people to the place, Autio reflects, but wants to be optimistic about the fact that change is happening.
The CEO understands the players’ frustration with the fact that in other countries things are being pushed forward harder.
– Yes, the players themselves are aware of it, that the players have a big responsibility and a role to play with it, and they have to put on their overalls to take things to the next level.