Kaunas City Council’s decision to repurpose the old Žaliakalnis Arena for other sports has sparked criticism from the skating community. The council’s move to find new adversaries has now irked the Lithuanian ice hockey community, as the city official responsible for sports referred to ice hockey as a „Slavic sport.“
The news portal „Kas vyksta Kaune“ had previously reported on the council’s plans to repurpose the Žaliakalnis Arena – a decision that disappointed skaters for several reasons. Julija Kravčenko, a skating coach with years of experience, highlighted that before the situation was made public on the portal, she had not received any training times. However, the situation has slightly improved as skaters now have the opportunity to rent the arena for a few hours per week. Nevertheless, Kravčenko remains uncertain about the consistency of training times, as the schedule is currently only confirmed two weeks in advance.
„I just want fair ice sharing and the opportunity for everyone to skate,“ said Kravčenko, who previously had the chance to conduct individual training sessions during mass sessions. However, in Kaunas, the only city in Lithuania where skating with instructors during mass sessions is prohibited.
Furthermore, the Kaunas City Council had promised ice enthusiasts something entirely different – when building new ice rinks, the city government had stated that there would be two ice arenas in Kaunas, with the old one being maintained. In October 2020, the city council’s website quoted the then head of the sports department, Mindaugas Šivickas, assuring that winter sports representatives would continue to practice in the old ice arena in Žaliakalnis.
In November 2020, the Kaunas City Council publicly stated that the closure of the Kaunas „Akropolis“ ice arena in 2018 had revealed a lack of suitable infrastructure for winter sports. As a temporary solution, a covered outdoor ice rink was installed next to the „Baltų ainiai“ sports school near the old ice arena. However, even this was not enough.
It was reported that the old ice arena had reached its maximum capacity for Kaunas residents interested in improving and participating in sports, and there was an increasing number of people wanting to learn to skate with instructors, requiring suitable infrastructure.
„In recent years, we have clearly seen a growing popularity of ice hockey, figure skating, and other winter sports, so with financial support from the government, we set out to build a new arena next to the ‚Girstutis‘ pool. This way, we are achieving two goals: revitalizing another neglected urban space and ensuring that young athletes and ice entertainment enthusiasts in Kaunas have a quality space for leisure,“ quoted Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
However, after three years, the opinion of Kaunas authorities changed drastically, and politicians in the Kaunas City Council, mostly from the „Vieningas Kaunas“ movement led by the mayor, voted to melt the ice in the old arena and allocate it to other sports.
At that time, civic residents collected signatures requesting the arena not be destroyed and remain accessible to skaters and representatives of other winter sports. Over 3,000 signatures were gathered, but this was not taken into account.
Ice hockey professionals also expressed their displeasure last week. On September 29, in an interview with LRT panoramoje, the head of the city council’s sports department, Tadas Vasiliauskas, stated that ice hockey is a „Slavic sport“ and that its players do not belong in Kaunas.
„Kaunas has always been a Lithuanian city, and ice hockey is a Slavic sport – let them play in Vilnius and Klaipėda,“ Vasiliauskas recklessly remarked.
Soon after, criticism flooded the public space. The comment seemed not only offensive but also historically inaccurate to ice hockey players, as ice hockey was played in Lithuania before Russia.
Indeed, ice hockey in Lithuania has a long history – it was first played in 1922, with the country’s first ice hockey team being formed at that time. In 1938, the Lithuanian national team made its debut at the European and World Ice Hockey Championships in Czechoslovakia.
Fortunately, a few days later, Vasiliauskas decided to apologize to the community. The Ice Hockey Association „Hockey Lietuva“ released a statement on their website hockey.lt on October 1, where Vasiliauskas apologized to the ice hockey community.
„Hello, last Sunday (September 29), during the LRT News, a report was aired about the Kaunas ice rinks. Among other speakers, my comment was also included.
I address you understanding and acknowledging that in this interview, I expressed my thoughts on the popularity and traditions of ice hockey inappropriately, unethically, and inaccurately. I sincerely regret this and feel a great shame towards the Lithuanian ice hockey community.
Perhaps to you, these are just words, but I genuinely want to apologize to all people involved in our country’s ice hockey – those who nurture this sport, participate in it, and passionately support it.
As a person who volunteers and works tirelessly in the sports field, I fully understand your frustration and anger, justify your emotions, and the fact that my wrongly expressed thoughts may have hurt or offended you. Therefore, I sincerely apologize once again, hoping that this unfortunate statement against TV cameras will not ruin the long-standing relationships with your sports representatives.
These carelessly spoken words truly do not reflect the immense respect I have for Ice Hockey and its community. I respect and support all sports. This personally unpleasant and shameful incident will be a strong lesson for me in the future when communicating with media representatives. I hope that those who have felt the excitement of speaking into microphones will understand me better now. It is rare to do so, and it is now clear that sometimes I can even misspeak. I will strive to improve to avoid such curiosities and ambiguities in the future.
Kaunas hosts a variety of sports events – from small city competitions to world or European championships, where the city always contributes not only financially but also in various other ways. Ice hockey is certainly no exception. I hope we can leave this unpleasant situation in the past and invite you to continue our cooperation with mutual respect and meet at the 2025 World U18 IB Championship in Kaunas Ice Arena,“ Vasiliauskas apologized in the statement.
In conclusion, the decision to repurpose the old Žaliakalnis Arena for other sports has caused discontent among the skating community in Kaunas. The criticism and backlash from ice hockey professionals have prompted a public apology from the city council’s sports department head. The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of respecting all sports and their communities, as well as the need for careful and considerate communication in public statements.