Markku Uusipaavalniemi’s harsh speech: “We are oppressed”

Markku Uusipaavalniemen skippered team won Finland’s first curling Olympic medal in Turin 2006.

Uusipaavalniemi became a national hero. The sport gained a lot of attention and interest in Finland. The curling fever was so strong that it crashed the sports association’s website.

Since the 2010s, the drug has congealed. The current state of the sport makes Uusipaavalniemi serious.

– There are far too few people who actively practice curling. There is no shortage of places to play, but getting enthusiasts to join the sport permanently is a challenge.

– The adult national team is doing badly. The Junior World Championships start in Kisakallio in a week. Finland does not have a girls’ and boys’ team at the games, although the organizing country is automatically offered a place, the man enumerates.

Hall dispute

Uusipaavalniemi feels that he is left alone in the Finnish curling family. He criticized the Finnish curling association.

– I have been silent for almost ten years. The union receives financial support and works on its own.

The man-run Oulunkylä hall is the only arena in the capital region intended only for curling.

According to him, the association has been boycotting the hall that started curling in 2003 for more than 15 years.

– All the previous winners of the value competition in the past 20 years have left here. The association has, on the other hand, run operations for southern Finland in a single-track hall in Kisakallio, Lohja. That is, in a place where there is not even a population base, he says.

The Finnish Curling Association organizes around 15 tournaments each year. According to Uusipaavalniemi, the association has not wanted to organize tournaments in Oulunkylä.

– Not even when almost 90 percent of the championship teams trained with us. The championship series was played in ice rinks around Finland instead of curling halls. In most years, bids were not even asked.

Uusipaavalniemi says that he got tired of making useless offers.

– About five years ago, we said that if you want ice from us, then put in an offer for the purchase of ice. Nothing has been heard.

– We are oppressed as a place, but over the years I’ve gotten used to it, the curling wizard shakes.

The curling association’s view on things is very different. Chairman Toni Sepperitop sports coordinator Jaana Laurikka and executive director Katja Kiiskinen decided to answer Iltalehti’s questions by email.

According to the Finnish Curling Association, the Oulunkylä hall is a private company separate from the association, which is treated in the same way as all other playing venues in terms of acquisitions.

– Curlingliitto sends all requests for offers related to buying ice time to the Oulunkylä curling hall as well, the association will be notified to Iltalehti.

– It seems strange that Uusipaavalniemi has approached the journalist about a matter that is bothering him, because the best answer to questions can be obtained by asking the Curling Association directly, the association says.

Player shortage

According to Uusipaavalniemi, neither the federation nor the clubs have created a functioning junior coaching system.

– Yes, the association should be able to market the sport better. The procedures are quite invisible, he says.

It is reported from the association that in the operating period of 2024 they will receive a little over 87,000 euros in state support.

There was a drop in the number of curling enthusiasts during the corona years, but the 2022 Olympics brought a boost.

– Active clubs have significantly increased their membership in recent years. Thanks to this new growth, the total number of enthusiasts has now returned to the same level it was at before the slump caused by the corona years, the association’s email reply states.

– The happy thing is that, in addition to “returnees”, many new enthusiasts have joined the sport.

The most active junior activities are currently in Hyvinkää, Joensuu and Turku. The association recognizes the junior problem plaguing the sport.

– The biggest challenge is the lack of places for hobbies, because then active club activities can’t be born either, the sports association is communicating.

According to the association, efforts have been made to solve the problem by supporting clubs in organizing junior activities, for example by providing advice and assisting clubs in support applications. In addition, it has awarded grants for the development of club activities and to support the organization of elementary courses in clubs.

– However, the current juniors are still in such a development phase that they are only developing their readiness for international value competitions, the association says.