Oulunkylä stadium fire | Gnistan, who lost “everything” in the fire, has collected a huge amount of support money – warns of fraudsters: “A good wake-up call for everyone”

IF Gnistan the home stadium Mustapekka-arena caught fire the night before last Saturday. The arena’s grandstand was completely destroyed in the fire. At the same time, the premises and property of the representative teams were burned, starting with game equipment and fan products.

The fire has significant effects on the activities of Gnistan’s representative and junior teams.

The club established a support fund over the weekend. However, on Sunday night, Gnistan warned the public about scam sites.

CEO of the club Ilkka Vanala said on Monday that the club is aware of one collection spread on social media, which is not behind Gnistan.

“We will find out whether it is a party that would have genuinely wanted to offer help, but has not been in contact with us. It seems that he has also been sincerely good at something, but maybe a little too self-motivated,” says Vanala.

“This is a good wake-up call for everyone. We have one message out through our channels about how to offer help. Either through Kipinärahasto, by getting our history book or by contacting me or (club development manager) Ossi to Lindbergif it’s more about business-side issues,” Vanala emphasizes.

Vanala says that the club has so far received six-figure donations.

Among them is one large private donation that almost doubles the amount.

There have been plenty of donors.

“Yesterday (Sunday) there were three hundred direct bank transfers. I believe MobilePay has about the same amount, although I dare not guess the exact figure. I would guess several hundred there as well.”

Several questions still hover over the continuity of Gnistan’s operations, such as what kind of financial basis the club can operate on.

“The key role is for the police to conclude the investigation as soon as possible. Then we can discuss in more detail who compensates what and who pays what. It is a big priority for us to find out these things so that we can clear the scrap.”

“Then we have to find some facilities where we operate the commercial side and other than field operations. It’s one angle.”

On the athletic side, the focus is on getting the training sessions of the junior teams in shape during this week, as well as starting the activities of the representative teams.

Vanala says that the club is used to working in a very changing environment. Flexibility and responsiveness have been needed before.

“When you’ve taken a hit in a crisis situation like this, you start thinking pretty quickly about how to move forward when everything has totally changed.”

“It is really important to finish these things related to the fire itself, so that we can start the reconstruction activities.”

of Gnistan the men’s representative team is playing its first season at the main league level in the Veikkausliiga.

Vanala says that the team already received most of the general game and training equipment suitable for everyone on Sunday.

“The players’ personal belongings, such as sins and buttons, are the most worrisome. They should be driven in as soon as possible before the next game.”

“That looks pretty good now, too. Yesterday they were acquired at a high speed.”

The Veikkausliiga team is supposed to return to training on Tuesday.

Local rival, major club HJK announced over the weekend that its home stadium in Töölö, the Bolt-arena, will be used by Gnistan for the rest of the season at no cost.

Vanala says that the field issue will be resolved during Monday.

“After that, we can start organizing the activities of the sports side in such a condition that we can get to Turku next Monday to look for a win against Inter.”