HS explained that the downward spiral in the number of sports enthusiasts has eased, but further restrictions are still feared. Football and basketball even managed to increase their numbers in the second year of the Corona.
First the corona year 2020 was catastrophic for sports, when hobbies were interrupted and new corona restrictions began at the end of the year.
According to last year’s HS survey, tens of thousands of enthusiasts of the six largest sports in Finland have disappeared. Now, however, according to a new study by HS, the situation has turned for the better.
Football and basketball were even able to increase their numbers in the second corona year.
The number of registered enthusiasts of the Football Association increased by about 14,000 in 2021 compared to the previous year. At the end of the year, basketball had 1,800 more fans than in the previous year.
There are now more licensed enthusiasts in both sports than in the year before the pandemic.
All the species are not in such a good situation. Concerns remain, and possible new restrictions intimidate sports federations.
“It is to be hoped that the activities of children and young people will not be restricted now,” Jaakko Luumi says.
In hockey, lion hockey schools were not organized last spring or were smaller than before.
“What was really worrying was the big drop [noin 500 harrastajaa] In the 11-15 age group. It will certainly show the strict restrictions of last spring. It is an age group where there have usually been no major deviations. ”
In hockey, in gymnastics and volleyball, the number of amateur enthusiasts decreased or stopped, but in floorball the number of amateur enthusiasts continued to decrease last year as well.
At the end of 2019, a total of 303,000 licensed enthusiasts were involved in football, hockey, floorball, basketball, gymnastics and volleyball, the following year 285,000 and at the end of 2021 296,000.
Football, gymnastics and basketball are not part of the Olympic Committee’s Suominenport system. The Olympic Committee recently said that during the previous interest rate cut, the number of licenses for the 64 sports federations using the Suominenport service decreased by about 20,000 enthusiasts.
Floorball has suffered of the survey species most during the Corona period. In two years, the number of licensed enthusiasts has decreased by 8,000 enthusiasts, or 15 percent of pre-pandemic enthusiasts.
“It’s a question of a thousand bucks why we’ve been hit so badly. There are certainly many reasons for this. The organic growth of floorball folded in 2018 before the pandemic. It may have something to do [harrastajakadon kanssa]”, Executive Director of the Floorball Association Pekka Ilmivalta says.
“The biggest drop has hit the hobby side in both children and adults. They are the ones who play for the joy of exercise. ”
“It may be that some have moved on to a hobby that doesn’t show up in the number of game passes. You can play floorball without redeeming the game passport, which is also a good thing. The main thing is to move. ”
Finland a quarter of the number of enthusiasts of the largest floorball club EräViikinki has disappeared during the Korona period. Before the pandemic, the number of members of EräViikinki was about 2,000, and now it is about 1,500.
Floorball rehearsals for EräViikinki’s boys born in 2010 in Mosahall, Tapanila.
Executive Vice President of EräViikinki Jari Oksanen according to the spring 2021 fracture was still reflected in the autumn of 2021.
“We have a race season that has been interrupted for two consecutive seasons, and the motivation of children and young people to play the sport wears off if the activity repeatedly ceases in the middle of it all.”
“If you think about the last and second year, then the interiors and indoor species were demonized. I claim that is one of the reasons why floorball has suffered, ”says Oksanen.
“I find the situation really worrying if there are still restrictions. Paavo Arhinmäki said well that drugs should not be more harmful to the disease. What are the consequences if children move less? The consequences will be seen in the future. ”
Pekka Ilmivalta says that he wants decision-makers to have a sense of proportionality and an understanding to look at the long-term effects that immobility also has.
In the rehearsals of the batch of Viking boys, Eetu Päivinen ventilates the won training game at the end of the rehearsals.
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“For amateur children and young people, guys are terribly important.”
In the HS report of the species considered, volleyball has suffered the second worst in terms of the number of enthusiasts before the pandemic. The drop has been 13 percent. The gymnastics association is almost in the same readings, with a drop of 12 percent in the number of its licensed enthusiasts.
However, the current number of 14,000 licensed enthusiasts is only a small fraction of the total number of members of the Gymnastics Association, which is about 130,000.
Both the Volleyball Association and the Gymnastics Association have managed to stop the decline in the number of enthusiasts.
Head of the Competition and Clubs Unit of the Volleyball Association Jari Lankisen According to him, negative developments in volleyball have been halted and not all hope has been lost in the alliance. There are even more girls teams in volleyball than two seasons ago.
Executive Director of the Gymnastics Association Maria Laakson according to the decline in the number of enthusiasts is largely the spring 2021 harvest, when the activity went to ice. There was a lot of amateur loss in the gymnastics association’s sports, especially in team gymnastics. The motivation of the enthusiasts disappeared when competition was not possible.
“We have a lot of sad stories about how a few girls have decided to quit, and soon the whole team has had to quit when no like-minded enthusiasts have been found to replace those who quit,” says Maria Laakso.
“In 2019, we conducted a survey asking what’s best in gymnastics. The responses emphasized guys and learning something new. These things are left out in home practice. For amateur children and young people, guys are terribly important, ”says Laakso.
Two the sport has survived really well on coronary discipline: basketball and football in particular.
Executive Director of the Basketball Association Ari Tammivaara says basketball was “in the same readings in the pre-pandemic period last November”.
“Of course we can still get into it discipline if the rest of the season could not be played at all.“
Football Association and football are the winners of the Corona era. This is due to both the timing and the Football Association’s own work, as success and visibility have helped increase the number of enthusiasts.
As an outdoor sport, football has not suffered in the same way as indoor sports, and the football seasons have begun after the worst waves of the corona pandemic.
Head of Member Services of the Football Association Taneli Sopanen says the number of licenses for girl and female players is at an all-time high, with a total of 141,433 licenses the best ever.
Sanni Sissonen, Sanni Anttila and Hertta Viinikainen bounce in the warm-up exercises of Pepo’s girls born in 2008-2010.
“It will certainly show the race drug intoxication of the Owls and Helmars, and hopefully the same drug will continue in the futsal. The girls show that we reach a relatively larger part of the age groups than before, which is immediately reflected in the increase in the number of players, ”says Taneli Sopanen.
There are now 31,000 girl players, up from 27,000 before the pandemic.
In the first year of the Corona, the number of licensed enthusiasts of the Football Association fell by 8,500. At that time, not as many children were included in the new age groups as before. Last year, the association invested in campaigns and various measures to support the growth of the number of enthusiasts, and provided clubs with tools for recruiting members. The measures helped to reverse the direction.
“In the youngest age groups of boys, the situation is still challenging when there are not as many new players as there have been in the past. Competition between species is fierce, and interest rate restrictions have also contributed to the lack of new entrants to the species.
“The decline in age groups will inevitably be seen, unless we reach a larger proportion of those age groups. ”
Last year, the strong growth areas of the Football Association were Pirkanmaa, the Turku region, North Karelia and South Karelia. The number of girl players in South Karelia has increased by 39 percent and in North Karelia by 42 percent.
From Eastern Finland Lappeenranta emerges as a single city, where the membership numbers of the three clubs Pepo, FC LaPa and LauTP increased by a total of 30 per cent compared to the previous year, and the number of Pepo Members by as much as 41 per cent.
Member of Pepo’s Board of Directors Veli-Matti Suoranta says that at the start of the corona pandemic, the clubs agreed on good rules of the game and had a dialogue with the authorities.
“We try to live with the corona epidemic as much as possible,” says Veli-Matti Suoranta.
According to Suoranta, there are three reasons for the local increase in the number of girl players: the role model, the success of local clubs and the publicity received by football.
Loviisa Jokiranta and Sanni Anttila fight for the ball in Pepo’s 13–14-year-old girls’ exercises.
“Eveliina Summanen [Helmarien ja Tottenhamin keskikenttäpelaaja] is from Pepo and has been pretty much in public. He is a clear role model. ”
The teams of the three Lappeenranta clubs have been successful and have brought publicity to football locally. Club co-operation has also been on display, and the Finnish Football Association and the City of Lappeenranta signed a partnership agreement. According to Suoranta, national publicity is also important locally.
“It’s normalized that girls are also playing football, and it’s increased the number of girl players.“
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