Last week, a football stadium in Finland was engulfed in a fire. One grandstand and part of the field were destroyed, leaving the facility unusable. It was the Tehtaan kenttä stadium, for FC Haka, a club in the small village of Valkeakoski, with a population of around 21,000 people, but one that has managed to win the Finnish league nine teams and the Finnish cup 12 times (although the most recent victories were in 2004 and 2005, respectively).
The fire, as the police found, was started by three teenagers under 15 years old, and it happened two months after the club got relegated to the Veikkausliiga, or second division. The fire has put extra financial pressure on the struggling club, but Marko Laaksonen, chairman of the club, is relieved to see that they have received support from everywhere in Finland's football community, even rival clubs.
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"The whole Finnish football community is supporting us in a way that we could never have imagined", said Laaksonen to The Athletic. "We are very devastated. It is so tragic to see your own stadium burning, but when we have heard and seen all the support from the wider community around us, it's also giving hope."
The club launched a fundraiser campaign, and other clubs and Finnish players are supporting them. For example, some Finnish players, including those playing abroad, are sending signed shirts that the club will sell to raise some money. That includes former Bayer Leverkusen striker Joel Pohjanpalo and former Fulham goalkeeper Jesse Joronen.
Even rival clubs: "Our worst rivals and those we are competing with, they are supporting us and sending us jerseys to be sold, or running any other way to be used in our fundraising to get the club back on track". One of them is Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS), which competes in UEFA Conference League, and whose CEO Tomi Erola said that "it is very sad for our community" and despite sporting rivalry, he knows their staff very well.
Second fire in Finnish football in a year
This is the second time Haka's stadium suffers a fire: a similar incident happened in 1994. And last year, another Finnish top football club, IF Gnistan, suffered a fire that destroyed the main stand, dressing rooms and other facilities.
"Those 90 minutes when we are against each other in the field, we are enemies. But outside of the games, we are pulling the same rope and we are together for Finnish football", said Haka fan representative Mikko Aaltonen. "I'm pretty proud of what is happening in Finland and Finnish football community".