On Saturday, Vaasa’s ice rink will be closed for the first time after its expansion a few years ago. It has caused concern for the youngest members of the family.
Merja Siirilä,
Kati Ala-Renko
A record crowd is expected at the Vaasa ice hall next Saturday, when Vaasan Sport meets Tampere Ilves in the SM league match.
Ilves unofficial supporter association Department 41 is organizing a supporter invasion for the match to be played on Saturday.
The group of guest supporters arrives from Tampere with 21 buses and 1,200 people. Away fans may also come with their own cars.
This is the first time after the 2020 expansion that the ice rink is sold out, says Sport’s CEO Tomas Kurtén.
– Some VIP ticket seems to be still available, but otherwise it is already sold out, says Kurtén.
Due to the exceptionally large turnout, Sport ended up sending a message to the parents of Junior Sport, recommending not to bring small children to the game.
– We want to tell parents that the game is crowded. With a small child, it’s good to think about whether it’s worth letting the child in by himself.
Kurtén refers in particular to season ticket riders who can be there without their parents. This is the first time that Sport hopes to consider the arrival of children at the event.
– Of course, many of our players are used to being on the ice rink and will certainly arrive for many games at a time. We now wanted to urge that, at least at home, you should go through how to act in a crowded place if you go there alone, says Kurtén.
Hall divided in two
Vaasan Sport has made a lot of changes for Saturday in terms of crowd control compared to the usual league match.
Among other things, the hall is divided in two so that the fans don’t run into each other. According to Kurtén, this is common practice in other ice rinks when there are many people.
Kurtén believes and hopes that there won’t be any kind of clash among the fans.
– But when there are a lot of people on the move and two teams are playing against each other, emotions run high.
Since the public is coming to the place in large numbers, Sport hopes that the place will be reached by public or carpooling.
For example, Ilves supporters organize a procession from the football stadium to the ice rink.
There are traffic controllers and organizers at the event who monitor the event at regular intervals.
The stairs in the parking area of Emäntälahti Rinnakkaistie will be closed. In addition, among other things, the passage from light traffic roads to the marching group will be blocked in order to avoid organizational disturbances.