Sporting Culture
Having lived in a bunch of countries (US, Canada, Sweden, Finland, France, Ireland, UK) I can say that Finland is more like the United States in it's sports culture than any other country I've lived in. By this I mean that sports are important, that there is a wide variety of sports to chose from and that there are great regional variations.
Check this out:
http://www.americanfootballinternat...n-inaugural-ifaf-champions-league-tournament/ . The best american football team in Europe plays in Helsinki. They only draw a few hundred fans a game, only Turku regularly draws over 700, but if the right teams are involved the Maple Leaf Bowl will hit around 5,000.
I heard of pesapallo but living in Turku I never saw much of it. Travel in the countryside, you see games and gloves everywhere.
Finnish basketball is definitely the best in Norden and has been for some time. Lots of financial problems though.
Football doesn't draw many but I have never lived anyplace where any sport is as important to a community as ROPS is to Rovaniemi. They only draw 1,500 a game but given the population of the city that's OK. Everyone knows how they do, everyone talks about them etc.
Volleyball, F1, in Turku the boat races between the uni's are like the U.K.'s...I love the sporting scene in Finland. When I lived in Turku I had 2 pro hockey teams, 2 pro football teams, a pro basketball team, a few pro imports on the American football team, a town away from a volleyball power...
I'm now in Leeds. I have 1 football team and 2 rugby teams. That's it.
I miss Finland's sporting culture. It really is #1 in Europe.