Mr. Klaus Koskela, former chairman of the IFF Referee Committee passed away last Saturday at the age of 59 after a severe illness.
-It is with great sadness the IFF family is receiving this message and we are severely affected and deeply touched. We share the loss with the family of Mr. Koskela and will remember his great efforts to develop the sport of Floorball, says the IFF President, Mr. Tomas Eriksson.
Mr. Koskela had worked with the referees in Football in the beginning of his career and then in the mid-nineties he started to referee and to educate referees within Floorball. He was nominated to the Finnish Floorball Federation’s Referee Committee in the beginning of the nineties and in 1997 he was nominated to the IFF Referee Committee. He served as the IFF RC chairman from 2012 to 2016 and still continued as a RC member in 2017, when his illness had already been diagnosed.
Mr. Koskela brought many new procedures to the referee world both on a national and international level. He wanted to give a more professional impression on the ways to officiate games and to make the referee management work more professionally in the IFF events.
-The IFF has lost a true envoy for the development of international referees and observers, as Mr. Koskela has been the driving force in this field during the last two decades. His true devotion for the referees sometimes caused discussions, but he always had the interest of the sport in mind. We will miss him and his support for the development of Floorball, says Mr. John Liljelund, IFF secretary general.
He strongly demanded for physical tests for the international referees and eventually those were taken to use in 2008 and ever since that all the international referees need to take the physical tests in order to get the nomination. He took part in several projects to create educational materials for the referees and also was part of the IFF Floorball Development program by education newcomers in Europe and in Asia.
–Klaus actually invited me to the Finnish RC in 2005 and asked me to be in charge of the referee observers and referee education in Finland. That was my first step to the broader understanding of the referee world as such and eventually that then lead to my employment in IFF, says Mr. Veli Halonen, the IFF Operations Coordinator, who is in charge of the referees inside the IFF office and also works as the RC secretary.
–Klaus was a true visionary even though people didn’t always think that way. I remember in 2006 when we were talking about the visions of the Finnish RC for 2013 and I thought that his ideas were way too optimistic, but by 2010 all his visions were brought to action and I just only can admire him, his persistence and commitment in these matters. As the IFF RC chairman he also brought his visions into the international work and we were able to implement most of his ideas to our everyday referee life, Mr. Halonen concludes.
