FC Lahti 4 IFK Mariehamn 1
Veikkausliiga (Finnish Premier Division)
Monday 23rd July 2007

Having arrived a trifle hung-over after a night’s late carousing and an early departure from Tallinn, your humble scribe docked in Helsinki harbour with his intended game at FC KooTeePee, a two hour bus away in Kotka looking decidedly not worth the journey. A quick perusal of the train timetables at Helsinki’s wondrous Art Deco rail station revealed that Plan B was well in hand. A hundred kilometres and an hour’s journey to the North lies Lahti, birthplace of Finland’s first, perhaps only footballing superstar, Jari Litmanen. Through rocks, field and wood the train rushes north, then towering out of a forest, a mighty ski jump, taller than any tower in this country where paucity of population makes the high rise obsolete.
With more than an hour to kill, the ski jump draws my attention before I search for the football ground. Unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, mighty ski jump and quintet of siblings ever decreasing in size are the focal point of Lahti’s sporting arena but at their base the Lahden Stadionilla, home to athletics in summer and Nordic cross-country skiing when the snow blankets the country. Tonight FC Lahti are at home and with the television cameras in attendance, it is also a hearty welcome for Lahti’s favourite son.
There may be more picturesque settings for sporting arenas, San Marino in the shadow of the mountain and the castle, the Estadio Municipal de Braga blasted out of Portuguese rock but then this scribe has never partaken of their beauty. The Lahden Stadionilla nestles in a hollow amidst pines, 'neath the shadow of those mighty ski jumps, perhaps the perfect place to spot Moomins in the wild!
Though as a nation the Finns are fans of physical endeavour, football ranks low in the sporting hierarchy, the league dominated by the big money Helsinki sides such as HJK and MyPa. Tonight’s combatants occupy lowlier rungs. The visitors IFK Mariehamn hail from the Swedish-speaking autonomous region of Åland, some miles off the west coast. Consequently their support is thin on the ground, following your side over land and sea made less tempting by IFK’s bottom spot in the Veikkausliiga, a solitary win to their name. Not that Lahti have the big backing, struggling in the lower reaches albeit of a 14 team league. A noisy contingent give the impression of a fullish main stand, though the open side across the way is only dotted with supporters, in reality the attendance is just 1560. Still for the €12 admission, the entertainment is full value. 21 minutes Lahti take the lead as comedy keeping gifts them the evening’s opening goal. Sent haring away down the left, Berat Sadik’s shot low towards the foot of the near post looks an easy gather for IFK ‘keeper Antti Kuismala, but the ball squirms through his hands, through his legs and pops out the other side into the net. The hapless ‘keeper is spared the agony of seeing his howler flashed up on the big screen as might happened with the crueller Sky cameras but his embarrassment is clear for all to see.

Momentarily play is interrupted as from nowhere appears a young gentleman sans clothes. Bemused players watch as the yellow jacketed stewards as whom there seems an overabundance set off in pursuit of their naked quarry but after a Keystone Kops-esque chase up and down terrace, the young scamp evades his hunters, disappearing over a fence.
The players seem intent to usurp the naked intruder’s antics with some of their own and as half time approaches a player is sent sprawling in the box as the ball pings about following a close range block from the keeper. A red card brandished and as Peter Blomberg trudges dejectedly to the dressing room IFK are down to ten men. The spot kick from Rafael through is poor and Kuismala gains a modicum of redemption diving to batter the ball out. That save becomes a lifesaver as the ten men of Mariehamn seem to have lost the negativity that blighted their first half performance, Lahti forced on the back foot until in the 59th minute, the diminished opposition grabbed an equaliser their devil-may-care attitude deserved. Tommy Wirttanen delivered the cross and, stunning the hosts, silencing the noisy hoard, Jani Lyyski rose highest to bullet a header home. The revival lasted a mere two minutes. Kalle Eerola, whose pass had set up the opener, this time played provider for Janne Moilanen, his finish crisp and precise giving Kuismala no chance. After 77 minutes a cracker from distance by Ville Taulo lit up the gathering twilight, the local hero and man of the match, beating the dive of Kuismala with a sizzling volley from fully 30 yards.

Five minutes from time, the last vestiges of Mariehamn resistance were crushed as Taulo sent Rafael away on the left, the Brazilian slotting the ball beyond the reach of Kuismala inside his near post. By now little rain was dulling the evening twilight, Midnight Sun, Northern Lights, Santa Claus on Summer holidays or wild Moomins would have to wait for another day but for such a setting perhaps the Groundhoppers Code of one game per ground might be dispensed with.

Teams:
FCL: Michal Slawuta; Kalle Eerola (Eero Korte 72); Pyry Kärkkäinen; Heikki Haara; Mikko Hauhia; Christian Sund (Joachim Lindholm 87); Berat Sadik; Rafael; Konsta Hietanen (Pekka Kainu 57); Janne Moilanen; Ville Taulo
Substitutes not used: Saku Pesonen; Niko Leppänen; Tommi Vartiainen; Kaarlo Rantanen

IFKM: Antti Kuismala; Kenneth Knudsen; Mats Gustafsson; Peter Blomberg; Jani Lyyski; André Hansell; Mika Niskala; Daniel Ahnström; David Carlsson (Justus Vajanne 82); Andreas Björk (Erik Sandvärn HT); Tommy Wirtanen (Patrik Rikama 72)
Substitutes not used: Anders Överström; Amos Ekhalie

Memorial to the unknown skier?


Mural on th side of the stand at Lahden Stadionilla


Lahti Main Ski Jumps


What a setting!








Pictures fail to give an idea of the true height of these things.




Another way in - one of several that avoid paying - remarkably few do






Finnish Military Memorial


Another one - interesting motif on the right!




Siiri Rantanen

In the and of the Midnight Sun the floodlights were on at 6:30 in the evening!






















Don't look Ethel!


Guess what happens next