Banned matches are sold openly in ice hockey
Published 2023-12-03 10.20
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In football, pirate matches are organized in secret.
In ice hockey, they are sold publicly.
– There are plenty of parents who place their children in these activities, says Stefan Holm, club manager at Mälarö Hockey.
Swedish football is currently discussing how to deal with the problem of “pirate matches”, that children play matches in the wrong format. Maybe the ice hockey can give a premonition of where they are going.
– There is probably something similar in the world of football, but unfortunately hockey seems to be leading this development, says Stefan Holm, club manager in the Mälarö Hockey Association.
On September 15, 2023, Mälarö will be fined SEK 8,050 by the Stockholm Ice Hockey Association. The reason is that the association played a full-court match at U13 level with over 80 percent underage players.
FACT
Pirate matches and game modes:
In Swedish football and ice hockey, there are regulations regarding which game form children can play in, as well as when they can start counting results.
The forms of play aim to optimize both joy and development in the children.
Pirate matches are friendly matches, cup or series games outside the national sport where these rules are broken.
In both football and hockey, children are not allowed to count tables before the age of 13.
Football’s game forms:
6-7 years: 3 against 3
8-9 years: 5 against 5
10-12 years: 7 against 7
13-14 years: 9 against 9
15 years: 11 against 11
Ice hockey game forms:
U9: 3 against 3 on a sixth rink.
U10-U11: 3 against 3 on a quarter rink.
U12: 3 against 3 on a third rink.
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According to the club, after a manfall in the 2011 team, they had been forced to fill up with boys born in 2012 in order not to have to withdraw their bid for the cup. Children who are still banned from playing matches on the full pitch.
The organizer of the tournament accepted Mälarö’s resignation – but the club was reported to, and dismissed by, the association.
– We as an association must follow the regulations that apply and in this case we did not do that, but must take our punishment and learn from it, says Stefan Holm.
This story could have ended there – if it weren’t for the fact that the regulations now risk driving children away from association sports to private company teams.
full screen Stefan Holm. Photo: Private
Given sales pitch
In ice hockey, the “select business” – where companies sell training, matches and cups – has become widespread. Stefan Holm emphasizes that he thinks there are companies that manage this very well, and can add value to club sports.
– We use individual trainers who train both our players and leaders.
But what makes it all extra interesting about the forms of play is that the regulations have given the companies a new working selling point.
On one of the companies’ websites, “full-court games” are mentioned in the first three paragraphs of the advertising text which is intended to attract parents to buy the hockey services for their children. Among other things, it is announced here that the company specializes in full-court games, that their coaches are experts in full-court games and that the children are challenged on a larger scale.
What Swedish associations are forbidden to do has thus become a selling point for private companies through that very ban. By attracting early play at the full level, they can collect children for camps, cups and matches abroad for a fee.
– Some of the players, or perhaps especially the parents, think this is so important in their children’s development that they would rather go to such trainings, matches and cups than play with their own association teams, says Holm and adds:
– At the same time, as an association, we also have to look at ourselves in the mirror with our activities if it is the case that children and parents choose other training before ours.
Ten-year-olds at the movies
On Facebook, there are videos of ten-year-olds connected to companies playing matches on the full field. Children who, according to the association’s game forms, should actually occupy a quarter of the rink.
Mälarö’s club manager describes how parents of children in younger age groups see games at the full level as a path towards, among other things, the TV puck, the prestigious tournament for 15-year-olds that is broadcast on Sweden’s Television and is generally seen as a stepping stone to the subsequent hockey high schools.
– For some associations, this will be a real challenge in their activities with training and matches, even if we as an association are not affected yet, says Stefan Holm and continues:
– There will also be a lot of parenting around going to so many camps with different teams that it will be difficult for the children to finally know where they are playing.
But should the association then also be allowed to offer full-field games? No, that is not Stefan Holm’s point.
– We have a set of regulations that the associations have decided on, and then I think you should follow it. But there is a group now that is not part of the regulations and then they seem to be allowed to do what they want. In any case, it will not be a healthy competitive situation and there is a desire among young people to play on the full field. But why I don’t know.
check Do you know more? Tip the reporter Patrik Brenning.
FACT
This is how the review was done:
For 1.5 years, Sportbladet has monitored the illegal matches played between children’s teams in Sweden in football and ice hockey.
Through contacts and sources, we have since been able to infiltrate leadership groups where the matches are organized.
With the help of the Swedish Football Association, we have also gained an insight into how the work with the forms of play is done.
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2023-12-04 00:36:12
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