Ringette Finland, ( fi, Suomen Ringetteliitto) is the national governing body for the sport of

ringette Ringette is a contact sport, non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using Ice skates#Ice hockey skates, ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a #Equipment, blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice ...

in Finland and was founded in 1983. It is responsible for the organization and promotion ringette on a nationwide basis and organizes Finland's semi-professional ringette league, the , now known as "SM-Ringette". In 1986 the organization became a member of the

International Ringette Federation The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes four member nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden, a ...

which at the time was known as the "World Ringette Council". Ringette Finland is also responsible for scouting ringette talent in the country in order to create the Finland national ringette teams for both

Team Finland Senior A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

and

Team Finland Junior A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

who then compete at the

World Ringette Championships The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather ...

. Ringette was brought to Finland in 1979 by

Juhani Wahlsten Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten (13 January 19389 June 2019) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and ice hockey coach who worked as an exercise and gymnastics teacher in Finland. He was also known by the nickname "Juuso". He also establishe ...

and the first ringette clubs in Finland were established in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. Players now participate in 31 ringette clubs, with important clubs in

Naantali Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, and

Greater Helsinki Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...

. Today, the Finnish Ringette Coaches Association ( fi, Suomen Ringettevalmentajat ry (SRiV)) is the sports association for Finnish ringette coaches.

History

In Finland the three founding fathers of ringette in the country are

, also known as "Juuso" Wahlsten, who introduced the sport to Finland, , the Finnish ringette association's first chairman, and Alpo Lindström, a ringette organizer from

. A book on Ringette Finland was published on September 1, 2014, celebrating the organization's 30th anniversary. The first recorded ringette game in Finland took place on January 23, 1979, and became the first ringette game to be played anywhere in Europe. Finland's first ringette club was Ringetteläisiä Turun Siniset, and the country's first ringette tournament took place in December of 1980.

Juhani Wahlsten

In 1979, Juhani "Juuso" Wahlsten introduced ringette in Finland and is considered the "Father of Ringette" in the country. In 1979 he invited two coaches, Wendy King and Evelyn Watson, from

Dollard-des-Ormeaux Dollard-des-Ormeaux (; commonly referred to as D.D.O. or simply Dollard) is a predominantly English-speaking suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Island of Montreal. The town was named after French martyr Adam ...

(a suburb of Montreal Quebec, Canada) to teach girls of various ages how to play ringette. Wahlsten first introduced the new sport to a group of players in

during ice hockey practice, then created some ringette teams in the area.

Alpo and Jan Lindström

Alpo Lindström and his son Jan Lindström introduced Ringette to the city of Naantali towards the end of 1979, the same year Juhani Wahlsten introduced the sport to Finland for the first time. The previous year in 1978, Jan had been an exchange student in the United States where he saw girls playing ringette. Upon returning to Finland he created the VG-62 ringette club. Alpo served as chairman of the local ringette association, served as the VG-62 team coach, and sometimes as a team manager. Alpo played an important role in helping establish Finland's national ringette association in 1983 and later served as a member of the board of the

Antti Simola

Antti Juhani Simola (b. 20 August 1942,

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

– d. 16 August 2022,

Tuusula Tuusula (; sv, Tusby ) is a municipality of Finland. It belongs to the Helsinki sub-region of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and is by far the third largest municipality in Finland after Nurmijärvi and Kirkkonummi t ...

) more commonly known as , was one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the "Finland Ringette Association" in 1983, now known as "Ringette Finland". Simola served as its first chairman and was its first and longest, continuously serving, honorary chairman. Simloa was also one of the first members of the World Ringette Council (now known as the

) which was formed in 1986 and became its first Vice-President.

Ringette Association of Turku

The Ringette Association of Turku was established in 1981 with several Canadian coaches going to

to help teach, establish and design the training, and administration for its formation. The ski national week then organized an annual tournament to bring together all the ringette teams. Its 1985 tournament included several hundred girls making it impossible to combine into a single event all the age groups and categories of players. A number of different Canadian ringette teams visited in the winter of 1986 and helped increased the popularity of the sport in Finland.

Development

} , - align="Left" , 1986 , Finland becomes a member of the "World Ringette Council", now known as the International Ringette Federation (IRF) ,

' , - align="Left" bgcolor="#eeeeee" , 1987–88 , Established semi-professional league ,
' , - align="Left" , 1990 , Team Finland ''(now

)'' makes its world debut at the

, 1990 World Ringette Championships , - align="Left" bgcolor="#eeeeee" , 2009 , Finland makes its world junior debut sending 2 separate regional teams to the first World Junior Ringette Championships ,

2009 World Junior Ringette Championships The 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships, (''2009 WJRC'') also known as the ''U19 2009 World Championships'', was an international ringette tournament and the first World Junior Ringette Championships organized by the International Ringette ...

, - align="Left" , 2012 ,

makes its world debut at the World Junior Ringette Championships having previously sent separate regional teams , 2012 World Junior Ringette Championships

Semi-professional league

SM-Ringette was formerly known as before it was rebranded and is Finland's semi-professional ringette league. SM-Ringette is known generally as the "Finnish National Ringette League" by english speakers. The league is run by Ringette Finland. The league has been in operation since the 1987–88 winter season and a number of its clubs competed in the

Ringette World Club Championship The Ringette World Club Championship (RWCC) was an international ringette competition organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). It featured the top teams from Canada's National Ringette League (NRL), Finland's , and Sweden's Ringett ...

while the international club tournament existed. The Agnes Jacks Trophy, named after the wife of

Sam Jacks Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

, is awarded to the league's Most Valuable Player at the end of the each season and was first awarded in 1992.

Organization

SM-Ringette (formerly ) began operating during the 1987–88 winter season. It was managed jointly by the (SKRL ry), known as the "Finland

Rinkball Rinkball is a winter team sport played on ice with ice skates and is most popular in Finland, where it is known as ''kaukalopallo''. This ball sport originated in Sweden in the 1960s and from there landed in Finland in the 1970s. The objective ...

() and Ringette Association" in english, between 2013 and 2020. The SKRL was founded in November 2012 and started its operations at the beginning of 2013. In addition to Rinkball Finland and Ringette Finland, SKRL's founding members were the Ringette SM-referees and the Kaukalopallo SM-Liiga ry. The federations of both sports decided to combine their resources due to falling registration rates as well as for financial reasons. When the new association was founded there were about 10,000 sports enthusiasts actively involved. At the union's fall meeting in 2019, Finland's federal government was authorized to find conditions for dissolving the union. At the spring meeting on June 6, 2020, it was decided to dissolve the Suomen Kaukalopallo- ja Ringetteliitto ry on December 31, 2020.

Teams

In the past, the league included the , , , and teams.

2021–22

In 2021–2022, the league entered its 34th season with nine teams playing in the championship series: * (Kiekko-Espoo) * Helsinki Ringette * Tuusula Blue Rings * Lahti Ringette * * (RNK Flyers) * Ringette * Tampere Ilves (Lynx) * (LuKi-82)

National teams

The Finnish national ringette team includes two separate teams:

and

. Both teams compete in the

References

External links

*
Ringette Finland History (archived)
*
Turku Ringette History
*
Walapais Archives
Sports governing bodies in Finland Ringette Women's team sports History of women's sports Semi-professional sports Semi-professional sports leagues {{Finland-sport-stub