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M I L E S T o N E The Glamour of Football The UEFA Champions League qual- ifying round in 1998 pitted HJK against Yerevan with just two weeks’ notice, and in many ways that trip to Armenia has stayed in my memory. There were no direct scheduled flights, and the tight calendar meant that in the end we had to organise a privately chartered plane from Tallinn, then used by Estonia’s President, Lennart Meri. You might have thought the aircraft would have met states- manlike standards but it turned out to be such a shabby pro- peller plane that Finnish airports refused it permission to land. So we began our journey to Yerevan by ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia. The game was very important, but we didn’t really know what to expect, so we even took along our own food and drink. Although we travel almost a hundred days a year, this cramped, windowless aircraft was perhaps the scariest expe- rience we had ever had, and one of our players with a fear of flying had to be given a sleeping drug. At the end of the millennium Armenia might have been poor but they loved their football. FC Yerevan fans were pas- sionate and home team supporters soon laid siege to our ho- tel, yelling long into the night and hurling stones at the win- dows. I was still quite a young lad, unused to the threats of football fans. Even the local stadium was in danger of collapsing but the game went well for us. We won 0–3. This vital victory in difficult circumstances meant that HJK was the first Finn- ish team to qualify for the 1998–1999 Champions League. The return trip was as eventful as the journey out. Fanci- ful documentation charges delayed our departure, with our aircraft captain and an airport official finally striking a deal. 38 V I A HELSINKI MAArIT SEELING PHOTO SUSA jUNNoLA But we had to wait for four hours in an aeroplane with no air-conditioning. As the temperature rose our shirts were the first to come off. By the time it had got to about 50 Celsius in the cabin we were all in our underpants. Our delay also obviously meant that we missed our onward connections to Finland, and we had to spend part of the night at the airport. The Champions League rounds had gone well, which boosted our status as players. When I got home after that gruelling journey I was surprised to find messages on my answerphone from professional teams in Norway and Scot- land. In the end I opted for Norway’s Oslo team, Våleren- ga. Mikael Forssell was snapped up by Chelsea. Following Helsinki’s success in the Champions League, six HJK players went on to play abroad. The arduous trip welded us together as a team. After- wards I played with many who had been in the Finnish national team. Our biggest strengths were definitely our keen spirit and close friendship. I learnt then that, whatever the conditions, on the pitch you must focus only on the game. AKi RiiHiLAHTi aki riihilahti (b.1974) is a finnish midfielder who has carved an international career in football. he started with hJk (helsinki football club), and went on to play for Vålerenga, crystal Palace, kaisers- lautern and djurgården. the highlight of his career in england was when crystal Palace climbed to the Premier league for the 2004–2005 season. riihilahti has been a regular with the finnish national team and played in several world cup and european championship qualifiers. he has played a total of 69 caps, scoring 11 goals.
M o M E N T S aT THe end oF THe MIllennIuM, arMenIa MIGHT Have Been poor BuT THeY loved THeIr FooTBall. THe loCal sTadIuM Was In danGer oF CollapsInG. V I A HELSINKI 39
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