Finland: Helsinki Roosters QB Miro Kadmiry confident ahead of biggest game of the season
This Friday, the Finnish Maple League will see its biggest contest of the season as the only two undefeated teams in the league, the Helsinki Roosters and Kuopio Steelers, square off against each other.
Leading the charge for the Roosters will be Miro Kadmiry, the only domestic starting quarterback in Finland’s top league.
For Kadmiry though, it’s his on-field play that defines him, not his nationality:
“To me it doesn’t matter if I am the only domestic QB in the league. At this position, you either get it done, or don’t. I have seen so many non-domestic QB’s throughout my career who haven’t been able to get it done any better than domestic one who is in their backup. Sometimes, we just forget to see how important it is to have a good OC. The system and the game planning. When the offensive game plan doesn’t make sense it’s hard for anyone. I am lucky enough to have a genius in Coach Mikko Koikkalainen. So it helps me alot! So I think I can say I’m blessed.”
In the case of Kadmiry, who has been throwing for the Finnish National Team since 2010, it’s his play that really does the talking. In 2019, the Finn threw for 3,213 yards, 51 touchdowns and won a Maple League title. This season, Miro is again on pace to have a monster year, leading the league with 11 touchdowns and averaging 237 yards per game after just four games.
Kadmiry is no stranger to football, having committed most of his life to the sport. In 2002, he began his career playing Pop Warner in his hometown, Helsinki. In 2004, he met his mentor, Coach Oskari Niemi, with whom he has stayed ever since, playing for a number of teams including Vantaa TAFT, the Porvoon Butchers, the Turku Trojans, and then eventually to the Helsinki Roosters in 2017. Kadmiry also had a short stint with Louisiana College (NAIA) in 2011 where he played a number of junior varsity games and a season with the then German second division team, the Hildesheim Invaders, in 2014.
However, during the 2016 season when he was the starter for the Trojans, he suffered an injury to his shoulder that put his future as a quarterback in jeopardy. He subsequently converted to receiver after joining the Roosters in 2017, and it was then that he won his first championship title with the squad.
Kadmiry got the break he was looking for the following season. His shoulder had begun to heal and he returned to the Roosters as a quarterback. Helsinki would go with him for the 2019 season and he responded, lighting the league on fire as the only non-American quarterback, annihilating all competition in the Maple League.
After 10 years of dominance from the Helsinki Roosters, 2020 saw a new contender emerge for the Maple League crown, the Kuopio Steelers. Following their promotion into the top division of Finnish football in 2018, the Steelers managed to claim their first title in 2020 by beating the Helsinki Wolverines 21 – 0 in the championship final.
And now in 2021, the Roosters are back at full strength and preparing to face a highly talented Steelers squad this weekend in a game that will surely come down to the wire.
But Kadmiry remains full of confidence ahead of the big game:
“I feel we still haven’t shown our full potential yet. We have gotten better every week, studied hard and learned from our mistakes. We have won all our games, a few close ones. But we showed that we can go up an extra gear whenever needed!
“The Steelers are a great team! Very well coached with great talent! Against them we just need to execute our game plan and play fearlessly. I have never been a vocal leader but I have no doubt in our talent against them! It will definitely be a great game!”
