Thursday, May 22, 2014

Dogging in Finland

Excuse the somewhat sensationalist headline, which is no doubt bound to attract plenty of the 'wrong' sort of visitors, or maybe even a certain Mr Collymore. But nevertheless...

Myself and Mrs ETS are planning a longer stay in Finland in Summer 2015, which would give us an opportunity to bring young Woodstock along, our very lovely Labrador, who'll be three years old by then. Since he joined us in 2012, our visits to Finland have been limited, and shorter in length (from a weekend to just over a week), and the cost of flying with a large dog are incredibly prohibitive, with BA charging a price per kilogram - as he weighs over 40kg, we've left him with a boarder.

Woodstock

So what for next year? Well assuming I can get a larger car, and the time off work, the plan is to drive from London (via Denmark and Sweden), booking a holiday home for 2-3 weeks, and setting up camp. Mrs ETS hails from Kuopio, while there are family dotted all over from Helsinki to Kalajoki and in-between. My football travels will take shape from there, although I'm not planning on just visiting Veikkausliiga grounds, but any club which will host me and the boy, who is very much a fan of Finland and Arsenal.

On a visit in 2013, we took in the sights of Pietarsaari to see Jaro 3-0 JJK. One of the more intruiging sights of the day, other than the number of Manchester United jerseys, was an elderly lady watching the game with her dog. Now I know in England that most grounds would bar entry to our canine friends, but is this true of most Finnish clubs?

Jaro supporting dog

Seeing as the majority of clubs follow me on Twitter, it'd be nice to get an idea of whether we'd be welcome to visit in 2015. I wouldn't expect him to be appreciated in food serving areas etc, but at least within the complex to watch the game? At the moment we don't know where we'll be staying, and it's unlikely we'll get as far north as Rovaniemi. This autumn we're visiting Turku and Tampere, so there may be clues there.

All help is gratefully received, as we'd love to visit as many different clubs as possible, and make plenty of new friends. Thanks!

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