Yesterday was filled with pride for my club. Despite the fact there was nothing on the line in the match competitively, we made our final day in Vitonen a special one. It was billed as a celebration of our promotion, and celebrate we did. The supporter section was more or less as strong as it has ever been, and the rest of the stands had plenty of people with Tampere United scarfs. Granted, the attendance of 116 was a bit below our average (137 after this match), but I’m not one to look down on such an attendance in an essentially meaningless match in a sixth tier league.

The pride was not limited to the attendance and atmosphere at the match though. It was three other things: the teams performance on the field, the farewell we were able to give to Mika Suonsyrjä’s near twenty-year playing career, and the way we celebrated together as a club after the match. Of course the first two were linked: in the locker room team captain Ilkka Innola had told everybody to play like they’d want their teammates to play when they are playing their last match, and so they did. JanPa had no chance whatsoever in the first half. After just over ten minutes we were up 1-0 from a goal by Timo Kauppinen, and at the whistle it was 4-0. I believe JanPa had just one chance to score in the first 45 minutes.

The 2-0 goal was scored Mika Suonsyrjä himself. The player-coach had put himself on the field as a striker, planning to play the first 22 minutes (his number) and then some more in the second half. There was pure joy in the stands when Mika scored, a special moment indeed. Then when he subbed out just some minutes later, the supporters chanted ”Thank You Mika!”.

A special mention needs to go to Mika Kytöviita as well. He again scored two goals, a brace for him in his fourth consecutive match. Talk about a great fall form. With his 12 goals and 8 assists in Vitonen this season, he has accumulated the most points in our team. And that is in fact with a pretty substantial margin, although Petri Vadén’s 2 goals and 12 assists is pretty significant too.

The second half was not very interesting at all. JanPa scored a nice goal from maybe 40 yards out, when their captain Jarkko Lehtonen stole the ball from Timo Kauppinen and caught our goalie Ilkka Innola too far from the goal-line. A perfect long range shot went into the goal just inches below the cross bar. A moment of disbelief for me, and probably many others too, but nonetheless not a real concern at all.

The most memorable moment in the second half took place when Mika Suonsyrjä was subbed out about five minutes before the final whistle, now for the last time in his career. He does not strike me as a person who likes a lot of attention for himself, but such was the reaction of the supporters, chanting his name and his nickname ”Immortal”, that for a moment everybody’s eyes were focused on Mika thanking the supporters rather than events on the field. After the final whistle the whole team got thank yous for the season in front of the supporters, but of course focus soon moved to Mika again.

Immediately after the match players and supporters alike gathered in one of our sponsor bars, Kaijakka, to continue the celebrations. We have not really frequented this bar this season, but yesterday they got a nice return for their investment. We filled the house, and the long line to ordering drinks was constant for the first our at least. The players later continued to their own private party at a sauna (a strong Finnish tradition), but the rest of us stayed for a few hours more, and as a good indication of how United we are, players and supporters met again later at a bar frequented by many of us.

For me personally, I keep thinking back to how far we have come as a club this season. I would even go as far as saying that the competitive success seemed more self-evident than what we have achieved off the field. Our attendance has grown enough that anything below 150 now feels small at Pyynikki, but perhaps more importantly, a lot of the activities that were initially occasional are now taken as a given. It used to be a handful of people putting work towards our club on a weekly basis, but now it is literally dozens. I cannot think of a more solid basis for a football club.

In terms of football, in the end we are at the top of the table 16 points ahead of the next team. A promotion could not be taken in a much more convincing manner, even if the one loss and one draw were extremely dissatisfying at the time. Now we still have the championship match left in our schedule, and even if there has been a lot of talk about it being so much lower in significance in comparison to getting promoted, it seems that the match is getting a lot of attention. And quite frankly, I’m one of those who initially thought little of this match, but am now expecting a lot from it.

So one more time this season: Saturday October 5 at noon for the Vitonen title. We will be United!

TamU-K – JanPa 4-1 (4-0)
12 min 1-0 Timo Kauppinen
16 min 2-0 Mika Suonsyrjä
36 min 3-0 Mika Kytöviita
38 min 4-0 Mika Kytöviita
65 min 4-1 Jarkko Lehtonen

Discipline:
35 min J-P Toivonen, JanPa (caution)
68 min Markus Paloposki, JanPa (caution)