In the words of Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor; "Turn off the cricket, turn on the Finska”, and that’s exactly what we we did  on August 5 when the Finskaroos took on the world at the Mölkky World Championships in Hyvinkää, Finland.

What is Finska, and who are the Finskaroos, you might ask. Well, Finska (also known as Mölkky) is a Finnish game with similarities to 10-pin bowling and darts. As for the who, the Finskaroos is the Australian representative team. Established in the summer of 2021/22, the Finskaroos, coached by Damien Landais, features a formidable crew of Riverview alumni - Tim Allen (OR2014), Bernie Bolger (OR2014), Sean Conlon (OR2014), Tom O’Sullivan (OR2014), Hugh Raper (OR2014), Doug Bolger (OR2017), Will Druce (OR2017), Harry Mainsbridge (OR2017), Lachlan Raper (OR2017), and Will Regan (OR2017).

The Finskaroos headed off to Europe last year loaded on ambition and dreams, and the campaign started with great success - winning their opening tournament at the Open de Messancy. This was just a little taste of the international Finska circuit, as the next tournament was the World Championships in Samoëns, France. The Finsakroos came agonisingly close in their World Championships debut - coming 11th in the Nations Cup, and 38th (out of 258) in the World Championships. The next success came at the Czech Open, where the Finskaroos toiled to come away with 3rd place.

After spending the off-season back in sunny Australia, and helping set up the Australian Finnish Skittles Association, the Finskaroos have dusted off the baggy greens and headed back to Europe to take on the Finska giants yet again. The 2023 campaign started strong, with the Finskaroos coming 3rd in the Nations Cup at the European Championships in Warsaw, Poland.

World Championships - Finland 2023

Having endured some nail-biting encounters, the Finskaroos took out the Nations Cup(the warm up tournament) and were bundled out in the round of 16 in the actual Championship round. Not bad when there were more than 280 teams from 64 nations entered.

To stay up to date on the latest from the Finskaroos, follow them on Instagram @finskaroos.

Hugh Raper (OR14)
Finskaroo.