Superpesis roundup

JoMa start their defence of their title against IPV on 2nd July 2020 Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2019 With the season schedule now available I have drawn up a list of the games that will be my “featured games” for review during the season. Whilst I would love to write reviews for all of them, sadly this is not possible. I have tried to be balanced with which teams I review and look at the most meaningful or interesting of the games up and down the league.  Of course, the post season is different and I intend to follow the same pattern as last year, doing short posts for some games and full reviews for others. If there are any games you would like me to cover as part of my reviews, please comment or contact me on Twitter. Date Home V Away 2nd July 2020 Joensuun Maila - Imatran Pallo-Veikot 4th July 2020 Kankaanpään Maila - Hyvinkään Tahko 7th July 2020 Sotkamon Jymy - Vimpelin Vet...

Will 2020 be KPL’s year? With the season just around the corner, it is worth thinking about who will be winners and who will be losers for the season - which teams do I think will do well and which teams are less likely to do well. Here are my 5 bold predictions for 2020; predictions on what may happen in the season, but are not necessarily the safest bets. Manse PP will finish in the top 8 Manse PP had great energy on the field in 2019 and blitzed the competition in Ykköspesis- losing only one game in the whole season. In the Halli-SM group games they beat Hyvinkään Tahko and kept a tight game against KPL. With Matti Iivarinen as game manager and the signing of Championship winner Juha Niemi, 2020 is likely to be a big year for Manse. There is a lot of buzz around Manse PP and they will be pushing, not only to secure their place in Superpesis for the long term, but for something bigger! Manse PP could reach the top 8 and earn a playoff spot this year. The bottom half of the...

Who will be at an advantage and who will be at a disadvantage with the changes for 2020 Superpesis announced on Friday that the format for the 2020 season, which has been severely hampered by the Coronavirus. In a change from last year, there are 4 key differences: 1. No relegation - this was already public knowledge right from the outset; 2. The season is shortened to 24 games; 3. The top 3 teams get to choose who they play in the playoffs (which are shortened series); and  4. The format of the fixtures is such that some teams will not play each other in the regular season.  The last of the 3 changes is really dramatic and has been arranged along relative geographical lines. In short the teams are split into groups (North, South, East and West) with the North and South groups containing 4 teams each and East and West groups with 3 teams each. Each team will play ever other team in their group 4 times (2 home and 2 away) as well as the 2 “adjacent” groups a ...

It’s official - Superpesis is back, with the men’s Superpesis starting on 2nd July 2020 Has it really been that long since the last roundup? There have been few headlines and developments until recently and it seemed as though a little more information was always “just around the corner”, so I held off this post until things had been clarified. All of a sudden there seemed to be a lot of major stories! So I have tried to cover the most important ones... The big stories Superpesis is back, starting 2nd July 2020 The start date was confirmed yesterday that the men’s Superpesis will be back, with the regular season starting on 2nd July. The full details and schedule for the teams remains unclear, but all 14 teams have signed up to competing! The safety measures for players, staff, vendors and fans remains a paramount consideration and the details for this are still unknown. Whilst it is essential for clubs and fans to see Superpesis return, the balance must be struck betw...

Left - Vimpelin Veto, Right - Sotkamon Jymy In this post I look at the final 2 teams in Superpesis: Sotkamon Jymy; and Vimpelin Veto Sotkamon Jymy Home town/location: Sotkamo is a municipality in Kainuu province in northern Finland and is home to 10,334 people (as at 31st January 2019). Because the municipality covers such a large area, the population density is only 3.9 inhabitants per km². Sotkamo is known for its untouched landscapes and natural beauty (even by Finnish standards), despite having 2 working mines. The mines include works to extract one of the largest nickel deposits in Europe. Previously, Sotkamo was also famous for its diary produce and the name was still used well into the last decade despite the diary closing in 2003. Pesäpallo is a big industry for Sotkamo and the team is integral to the community.  Team History: Sotkamon Jymy were founded in 1909, making them technically the oldest sporting club in Superpesis. In the beginning the club fo...

Left - Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe, Centre - Seinäjoen JymyJussit, Right - Siilinjärven Pesis  In this post I look at 3 more teams and will cover the final 2 teams in the next post in the series. In this post I will be talking about: Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe; Seinäjoen JymyJussit; and Siilinjärven Pesis. Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe Home town/location: Pattijoki is a village and former municipality that has been annexed by the nearby city of Raahe in 2003, in Northern Ostrobothnia. Before the annexation, Pattijoki had a population of roughly 6000; the current population of Raahe (and surrounding areas) is 24,679 (as at 31st January 2019). PattU are based in Pattijoki, but it is difficult to think of the team without looking at the city of Raahe, given that Pattijoki is only 4km away from the centre of Raahe. Pattijoki itself is of historical significance, playing a vital role in the Finnish War (1808-1809), which saw Finland annexed by the Russian Empire from S...