Finnish floorball history will be made this year on 18 November when the reigning Finnish champions, Classic (from Tampere), plays against TPS (from Turku) in Singapore. The game is part of the official programme of the Finnish Embassy in Singapore celebrating “Finland 100 years”.
– The idea of the game in Singapore came from discussions during the recent world championships in Latvia. We discussed floorball’s international development and potential particularly in Asia. Singapore and Asia, in general, would benefit from increasing interaction with European players and coaches. Floorball has enjoyed spectacular development in Europe and it would be exciting to share that success in Asia, says Matt Joutsikoski, Organising Team Project Manager.
The General Manager of Classic, Pasi “Passo” Peltola immediately recognised the potential and proposed that Classic would play an official Finnish league game in Singapore:
– Lets bring a top level competitive game to Singapore and allow local players and supporters to enjoy exposure to the top teams from Finland. Classic strives to be the best floorball club in the world and this visit will help us share our approach to floorball in Asia, thereby helping promote and develop the sport, explains “Passo”.
TPS is similarly interested in the idea. Juha Kiviniemi, General Manager of TPS, says:
– Not only can we help expand the sport internationally but this is an exciting event for our team during the darker autumn days in Finland and opens wider opportunities for our sponsors.
The International Floorball Federation (IFF) also considers the project very beneficial to the sport:
– Internationally, floorball is growing fast. The next step is The World Games in Poland in July, where floorball is featured for the first time. At the moment we have 66 member countries, and Asia is one of the fastest growing regions. A game of this level has never been played in Asia. It is significant that Classic and TPS take an active role in developing the sport internationally, says John Liljelund, General Secretary of the IFF.
– Singapore has about 15,000 floorball players, and is growing fast, particularly in schools. We aim to grow interest in floorball and motivate young players. It is absolutely amazing that world class players, including several world champions, are interested in supporting our aims. The visit by the Finnish teams will also support the work done here in Singapore by the National Federation and encourage the general population to be active and improve their wellbeing through sport, says Kenneth Ho, President of the Singapore Floorball Association.
The game is guaranteed to be exciting and will attract a good level of attention in Singapore. This will provide a great opportunity for Finnish companies to be part of the project and benefit from the opportunity to increase their profile in Singapore.
The Finnish Floorball Federation and the Singapore Floorball Association are both actively involved in organising the event. The match and the additional programmes linked to the visit will assist to promote and develop the sport of Floorball in the region.
Additional information from:
Matt Joutsikoski, Organising Team Project Manager
Singapore Floorball Association
Tel: +65 8589 7141, mattjoutsikoski@gmail.com
Wendy Kuan, General Manager, Singapore Floorball Association
Tel: +65 9766 0800, generalmanager.sfa@gmail.com
Pasi Peltola, General Manager, Salibandy Club Classic
Tel: +358 50 520 9766, toimisto@scclassic.com
Juha Kiviniemi, General Manager, TPS Salibandy r.y.
Tel: +358 40 750 3981, juha.kiviniemi@tpssalibandy.fi
John Liljelund, General Secretary, IFF International Floorball Federation
Tel: +358 400 529 030, liljelund@floorball.org
Photos: Salibandyliiga Flickr
