TiPS

Ground: Hiekkaharjun urheilupuisto (Sandkulla Idrottspark)

Visits: 1

Date: 4th July 2025

Match: TiPS - Töölön Taisto 5-3 (Kolmonen Etelä, Lohko C)

Attendance: 100

Finland is one of my favourite countries to visit and on Friday 4th July I had booked yet another flight to Helsinki. A week prior to my flight I realised ground staff at Finnair would be on strike and my flight might be affected. On Wednesday I would get an e-mail telling me whether my flight was cancelled or not. Thankfully my flight was not among those cancelled meaning my trip was on! Four games were planned and first up was Tikkurilan Palloseura (TiPS) v Töölön Taisto in Kolmonen (level 5). TiPS play their home game at Tikkurilan urheilupuisto and I booked (a cheap) hotel next to the ground. Due to the pitch being renovated the game on Friday evening was moved to Hiekkaharjun urheilupuisto (Sandkulla Idrottspark) though. That ground was 25 minutes by foot from my hotel and with Hiekkaharjun urheilupuisto being a ground raley used I was not too disappointed about the game being moved. At 12.25 my flight left Copenhagen and at 16.00 (1 h time difference) I was at my hotel in Tikkurila.

Kick-off was 19.00 and half an hour before kick-off I was at the ground. There is a grass pitch at Hiekkaharjun urheilupuisto but also running tracks. The only stand was on the west side and for the game this evening my Finnish groundhopping colleague Jani counted 100 spectators. With this being an unusual venue for football there were quite a few local groundhoppers in attendance and it was a pleasure to meet Niklas P for the first time. TiPS had a 5(?) active fans but it was the visitors who could celebrate early on, 0-1 in the 10th minute. At half-time it was 2-1 though and in the 2nd half plenty of goals were scored. The final score was 5-3 and a great start to my trip. Afterwards Jani drove me back to my hotel where I quickly fell asleep.