The head coach of Rovaniemen Pallo Seura (RoPS), Juha Malinen, has stuck his foot in his mouth again. Contrary to the first time in April, when he announced that he had the most “Finnish team” in the country according to the surnames of the players, he is now embroiled in another scandal.
The Football Association of Finland (FAF) swiftly snubbed Malinen’s tweet in a statement, where he groups Finnish and “foreign” surnames even if those with former surnames are Finns. FAF said that “all of the under 21-year players on the national team are Finns…”
It was therefore inappropriate for the RoPS coach to group players in such a manner, according to FAF.
This is the tweet that got Malinen in trouble again.
The comment by Malinen was made concerning the players on the under-21 national football team that beat Kazakhstan 3-0.
Ike Chime, chairman of Liikukaa – Sports for All and board member of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), had a lot of questions about Malinen’s latest tweet. He tweeted:
The tweet by Malinen has a striking resemblance to the comment he made last year. He was quoted on tabloid Iltalehti as saying:
“A few years ago RoPS had thirteen black men [players]…We now have players whose names can be pronounced correctly and who Finns know…”
RoPS’ coach still doesn’t get it that Finland is an ever-growing culturally and ethnically diverse society based on Nordic social equality.
Discrimination in Finland works exactly the way that Malinen pictures and groups football players by classifying them as “foreigners” and “Finns.”
How can you ever become a full member of society and expect fair treatment if people like Malinen are near-constantly grouping you into “outsiders” and “insiders” even if you were born and raised in this country?