Unions warn of a new phenomenon: a nuisance
Children under the age of 13 go to Sweden on their own to play ice hockey.
The Stockholm Ice Hockey League is now preparing to change the rules at the same time that the national federation is also promising to take measures.
“We have already identified some of the regions and clubs where this excessive disturbance is occurring,” wrote Chairman Anders Larsson.
Sportbladet’s review of foreign juniors in Swedish ice hockey shows a huge increase. In five years, moving to Sweden for 14-20 year olds increased from 37 to 395.
There are several explanations behind these numbers.
We have met associations in rural areas that testify that imports are their only chance to get a small business. This is at the same time that clubs in major cities are sounding alarm bells about how their entire association could collapse if they do not guide the team to reach the most attractive junior series.
But we’ve also been able to show how a multi-million dollar company full of question marks was built around HoForce hockey.
“going down in age”
The Stockholm Ice Hockey League has followed the development in its area and is now warning of another new movement.
We see that this is also a phenomenon that decreases with age. These are kids who haven’t even finished high school, says CEO Matthias Tegner.
He says that children under the age of 13 come to Sweden without their parents to play hockey.
– These children should go to primary school, and in my world you should go to school and play hockey near your house. So we have a task to think about our regulations and there we will soon have a limit on the number of foreign players per team.
Describes how approximately 20 children born in other countries played hockey at the Stockholm County Series. But in the 2020/21 season, they suddenly turned 60 and during the recently ended 100 season.
The majority come from the East, with the predominance in the Baltic states.
Contact with foreign agents
Tegnér puts forward a suggestion that no team may have more than three foreign-born players in the Boys and Girls series in the region. At the same time, he emphasizes that the restriction in this case should apply only to children who have moved to Sweden for the sole reason of playing ice hockey, and therefore exceptions are possible for other valid reasons.
Why do 13-year-olds come to Sweden just to play ice hockey?
– It is difficult to answer this question, but what sports managers have expressed is that they are contacted by foreign agents working in this field. But I can’t really judge how much they have led in the process. I actually do not know.
Why do associations accept children?
– I’m still not sure what the processes look like, so it’s a dialogue we need to have with the associations.
See you on May 6, in the middle of the Swedish Ice Hockey League’s big conference at the Stockholm Fair. During the day, the question of foreign players was also raised among the circles present.
– We had the same picture, that this is in some places and not that it is spread all over the country. But it is something that we pursue and actually try to counteract. I also understand that the Swedish Ice Hockey Association is discussing this issue and how they can work with it.
“It can never be a goal”
In a column on the Swedish Ice Hockey League website published on May 6, the president of the national federation, Anders Larsson, also raised the issue and testified to an increase in the number of foreign players in the 16-18 age groups.
Please note that we are not talking about refugees here; We have already identified today certain areas and clubs where this disturbance occurs to an excessive extent,” Larson writes and continues:
“Although the import of young players is a sign that Sweden has a development model that also attracts young players from other countries, Swedish hockey can never deal with the import of players who have barely left school. Here a distinction must be made between importing young players and importing players Professionals to elite hockey who add distinction and skill to teams at a higher level.”
Finally, Larson promised that the Federation would now take a closer look at the phenomenon and return to the subject.