The gates open at 3.30 pm at Väre Areena in Kuopio’s Mölymäki district. I am among the first to arrive, because today is match day!
I walk past the sausage and coffee stalls by the main stand with a slight flutter in my stomach. How are we going to do today? The same familiar faces turn up game after game, and naturally, most of them have made their home in Section H. The bar probably has something to do with it – but an even bigger reason is whatever it was that persuaded me to buy a season ticket too.
I am among the first to take my usual seat and watch as the visiting team gradually begins to warm up. A few seagulls circle above the stadium. A warm but brisk breeze blows in from Lake Kallavesi, while some distant rumbling and clattering drifts over from Väinölänniemi. The sun paints the walls of the Pistetalot apartment blocks, and Puijo Tower is visible in the distance. The Yellow and Black are still in the dressing room, and I wonder whether it was Johnny who drove past me on my way to the stadium. That could mean there is one tough Hemmo between the posts today.
People begin to stream into the stands. There is already a clear sense of anticipation when electricity suddenly crackles through the air. The away supporters begin singing before the teams have even entered the pitch.
And Savo answers:
“For you I sing here, and follow anywhere,
across all of Finland and far through Europe too!
We come from Kuopio, from the shores of Kallavesi,
we’re everywhere – today and tomorrow too!”
Supporters filling half a section of the stand launch into a chant loud enough to be heard even through the television broadcasts. When a friend persuaded me to attend a match a little over a year ago, my first in a long time, the Taisteluhuuto chant hit me right in the back of the head – and that was it. My previous KuPS match had been so long ago that I watched it at Väinölänniemi wearing a tracksuit several sizes smaller than the one I wear now. So it came as a surprise to discover just how passionate the supporter culture in Kuopio is.
The match kicks off, and we take the lead inside the first minute. Turmion Kätilöt starts blasting from the speakers, but I cannot hear a note of it. I am shouting so bloody loudly that it probably is not even healthy. Everyone around me is doing much the same, and my heart swells. I have my answer to the question that was bothering me before the match. Of course we can do this!
Several players have praised the supporters, the atmosphere and the warm welcome they have received in Savo. More people in Kuopio should come and experience Mölymäki for themselves, even if football has not spoken to them yet. From the very first minute of my first match, it has brought an enormous amount of meaning and emotion into my life. Match day is an event that I wish would begin well before kick-off and continue long after the final whistle.
As the final waves of the match subside, summer night settles in. The team comes over to greet the supporters, while juniors gather in the corner to ask the players for autographs. Some of them may one day play in the Finnish top flight themselves. Or perhaps even head off to Germany.
I walk back to the car I left parked along the street, wearing the tracksuit jacket I bought at the match. Turmion Kätilöt blasts from the stereo once more.
“We have come to play – we trample the earth!”
Now, if only I knew where the afterparty was...
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