On Saturday, the floorball players from Vítkovice lost to Mladá Boleslav 3: 6 in the Prague superfinal of the Czech league, and their captain Tomáš Sladký said goodbye to his playing career in tears. He and the whole Vítkovice rightly felt wrong, because the match was decided by the judges’ mistakes. Sweet is still full of bitter Saturdays and he called the match the greatest madness he has ever experienced. They rebel mainly against the set model of the final.
On Saturday, Vítkovice led over Mladá Boleslav in the only match that decided the title, after two thirds 3: 2, and they blamed themselves for the fact that the lead could have been even higher due to the image of the game.
In the 55th minute, Lukáš Hájek was strictly eliminated at 3: 3 for blocking Daniel Šebek’s stick. It was the only two-minute penalty in the match and Mladá Boleslav used the power play in a flash, even though the shooter Jiří Curney was standing illegally in the goal area when the ball hit.
The Ostrava team threw all their strength into an effort to equalize, recalling the goalkeeper, but at the start of the 59th minute they collected a goal for 3: 5 in an empty goal. Before him, judges Kamil and Tomáš Sojek, cousins from Havířov, did not see Patrik Suchánek’s foul on Matyáš Šindler, after whom a free kick was to come.
Vítkovice’s frustration grew and culminated in another goal at 3: 6, which was preceded by a play by Milan Tomašík from Mladá Boleslav. None of the Sojks whistled again and Vítkovice’s dream of defending the triumph in 2019 (it was not played last year due to coronavirus) has completely faded.
“I still can’t believe it, it was a live murder,” says Vítkovice captain Tomáš Sladký three days apart. “Whoever saw the match agrees with this view. During the last five minutes, I am completely disgusted and shocked,” he continues.
And after previous experience with communicating with the media, he makes sure at the very beginning of the call if he can openly reveal the opinion: “Should I be afraid that some of my answers will be censored or withdrawn? vigorously.
Inexcusable short circuit of judges
“The referees didn’t make it, no goal from 3: 3 was to pay. When one of them raised his hand above his head to exclude for the first time, they already knew they had made a mistake. From that moment on, they got nervous and until the end they didn’t seem to be on the field. It’s a human factor, but they’ve accumulated so many of those mistakes in the last five minutes of the season that it’s not possible, “Sweet is angry.
Aleš Jakůbek, a television expert, former floorball player and world vice-champion, is also convinced that the referees influenced the final result. “There’s no need to discuss it. What the referees did the whole match didn’t work for them at the end. It’s as if Curney’s goal derails them from the goal area,” agrees Sladký.
“The exclusion was strict in the context of the previous 55 minutes without penalty. And after Curney’s goal came a block of referees. I think they wanted to be careful not to spoil anything, but the exact opposite came. Clear interventions ran out of their eyes, but I can’t imagine that intentionally, “claims Jakůbek.
Even Sladký does not want to blame the referee for intentionally tilting the plane. “I know them, they are sensible and conscious people from our region. I believe it is also brutally difficult for them now, but it is inexcusable,” he shakes his head. “Until the 55th minute, they let everything go, they could have remained invisible for those five minutes,” he adds.
The failure of the human factor ruined Vítkovice’s finals, but this is not the main message of Sladký, who says goodbye to the player’s rich career at the age of 34. In his stomach lies the set model of the playoffs, in which since 2012 the winner of the men’s and women’s leagues in the Czech Republic has been determined by a single duel instead of the entire series.
Instead of allure, only pseudo tinsel
“I hope that our messy match was the last nail in the coffin of the famous superfinal project. Vítkovice is fighting against it, regardless of whether they win, lose or do not participate at all. This floorball model kills,” says the man who played for the national team 132 matches, which means a Czech record.
“Floorball has introduced the concept of one match for everything with the vision of promotion, attracting spectators and sponsors. But now it is not so far. In my opinion, it is now just a pseudo tinsel behind which there is nothing. Teams have to work because they are not used to it. it’s odd, “describes expert Jakůbek.
The introduction of the superfinals really brought more attention to floorball, as more than 10,000 spectators came to the men’s match four times. But also according to Sladký, the model has completely lost its effect in recent years.
“At first it was a good attraction, an interesting impulse. But now the players and coaches have found that after giving the sport everything all year round, they will decide the result of 60 minutes. That one match will be influenced by the referee, unfortunately. “In addition, after a season that lasted until mid-June, it’s absolutely overwhelming,” explains Sladký.
Instead of players playing four to seven quality matches, they play one, which, according to Jakůbek and Sladký, does not lead to the improvement of Czech floorball players, quite the opposite. “In Sweden it has a certain logic, there they have so many quality matches for the whole year that they can afford it. In our country it comes only from the semifinals, we then rob the finals,” does not understand the national record holder.
“If there are more matches, we will have more opportunities to see how international floorball players grow up. Those who play the finals and then represent Czech floorball at the international level should be heard. However, not at the functional level, but at the player level, “reports Jakub.
Sweet: I’m horrified by censorship
Sweet doesn’t like the model in terms of games or economics. “The profit from the superfinal goes all the way to the floorball association. The clubs are just an extra, they suffer from it and have no financial advantages,” he criticizes.
And he adds with one breath that Vítkovice is trying to launch a big campaign to return to the previous model of the final series. “Now it’s the madness we experience every year, I believe that other clubs will join,” says Sladký, who won the superfinals with Vítkovice in 2013 and 2019. Out of a total of nine cases, the Ostrava team was missing twice in the superfinal.
In 2013 and 2019 (pictured), Tomáš Sladký succeeded in the superfinal with Vítkovice. | Photo: ČTK
<p data="Unfortunately, according to Sladký, Czech floorball has not been in favor of discussion so far. “I did various interviews before the superfinals and some of my answers were withdrawn. What did not fit in the association’s shop was not published. I am horrified that this is happening today,” says a participant in six World Championships, two of which have bronze medals in his collection.
<p data="”Yes, I was critical and I wondered why there were monthly quarantine breaks after this year’s playoff series, when sports like handball or volleyball worked more or less normally. We waited for one decisive match for a whole month after the semifinals. That’s after “And then it turns out like this,” annoys Sladký.
“I don’t know why Czech floorball still needs to stand out and come up with something great, something new. I take it, marketing is important, but it can still be combined with sports. The super final is not the case,” he adds.
<p data="In July, the 34-year-old legend of Czech floorball will report to the Swiss town of Chur, where he will fully start the coaching stage as an assistant to Finnish coach Iiv Pantzar.
<p data="”It’s not like I want to burn bridges behind me in Czech floorball. I have certain ambitions that are related to Vítkovice, and therefore also to the national team. But at the moment I’m very happy to go to Switzerland, where I will find peace, distance and I won’t have to go any further. to solve this floorball disgrace in the Czech Republic, “notes Sladký.
<p data="”As a player, I finished, I imagined the end of my career a little differently. I firmly believe that the superfinal project will end and no one will ever see it again,” concludes the three-time Czech champion and winner of the Swiss league.
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