Ringette Finland

In 1979, Juhani "Juuso" Wahlsten introduced ringette in Finland and is considered the "Father of Ringette" in the country.[10] In 1979 he invited two coaches, Wendy King and Evelyn Watson, from Dollard-des-Ormeaux (a suburb of Montreal Quebec, Canada) to teach girls of various ages how to play ringette. Wahlsten first introduced the new sport to a group of players in Turku during ice hockey practice, then created some ringette teams in the area.[8]

Alpo Lindström and his son Jan Lindström introduced Ringette to the city of Naantali towards the end of 1979, the same year Juhani Wahlsten introduced the sport to Finland for the first time.[11] The previous year in 1978, Jan had been an exchange student in the United States where he saw girls playing ringette. Upon returning to Finland he created the VG-62 ringette club. Alpo served as chairman of the local ringette association, served as the VG-62 team coach, and sometimes as a team manager. Alpo played an important role in helping establish Finland's national ringette association in 1983 and later served as a member of the board of the International Ringette Federation.

Antti Juhani Simola (b. 20 August 1942, Tampere – d. 16 August 2022, Tuusula) more commonly known as Antti Simola, was one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the "Finland Ringette Association" in 1983, now known as "Ringette Finland". Simola served as its first chairman and was its first and longest, continuously serving, honorary chairman.[12][13] Simloa was also one of the first members of the World Ringette Council (now known as the International Ringette Federation) which was formed in 1986 and became its first Vice-President.

Jenni-Lysa Vehanen is a retired Finnish ringette player who is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time in the sport. She played for several teams in Finland during the height of her career, including Angels Espoo, which was one of the most dominant teams in Finnish ringette during the 1990s and 2000s.

Throughout her career, Vehanen was a prolific scorer, and she won numerous awards and accolades for her achievements on the ice. She was a six-time Finnish national champion with Angels Espoo, and she was the leading scorer in the Finnish National Ringette League (SM-Ringette) a record seven times. In honour of her accomplishments and contributions to the sport, the trophy for the top scorer in the Finnish National Ringette League is named after her.

After retiring from competitive play, Vehanen has remained involved in the sport as a coach, commentator, and ambassador. She is considered a pioneer in the sport of ringette, helping to elevate its profile in Finland and around the world, and inspiring young players to pursue excellence on the ice.

The Ringette Association of Turku was established in 1981 with several Canadian coaches going to Turku to help teach, establish and design the training, and administration for its formation. The ski national week then organized an annual tournament to bring together all the ringette teams. Its 1985 tournament included several hundred girls making it impossible to combine into a single event all the age groups and categories of players. A number of different Canadian ringette teams from Manitoba, Canada, visited in the winter of 1986 with the help of former Ringette Canada President, Barry Mattern, and helped increase the popularity of the sport in Finland.

SM-Ringette (formerly Ringeten SM-sarja) began operating during the 1987–88 winter season. It was managed jointly by the Suomen Kaukalopallo- ja Ringetteliitto (SKRL ry), known as the "Finland Rinkball (Suomen Kaukalopalloliiton) and Ringette Association" in english, between 2013 and 2020. The SKRL was founded in November 2012 and started its operations at the beginning of 2013. In addition to Rinkball Finland and Ringette Finland, SKRL's founding members were the Ringette SM-referees and the Kaukalopallo SM-Liiga ry. The federations of both sports decided to combine their resources due to falling registration rates as well as for financial reasons. When the new association was founded there were about 10,000 sports enthusiasts actively involved.

At the union's fall meeting in 2019, Finland's federal government was authorized to find conditions for dissolving the union. At the spring meeting on June 6, 2020, it was decided to dissolve the Suomen Kaukalopallo- ja Ringetteliitto ry on December 31, 2020.

The letters "Ry" which can sometimes be found at the end of the names of the Finnish league's ringette teams stand for "rekisteröity yhdistys" which is Finnish for "registered association". The term "Ry" is commonly seen in the names of non-profit organizations and clubs in Finland, indicating that they are officially registered entities in the country.

In the past, the league included the Hyvinkää Ringette, Lapinlahden Luistin -89, Luvian Kiekko -82, and VG-62 (ringette) teams.

In 2021–2022, the league entered its 34th season with nine teams playing in the championship series:

Lahti Ringette is an SM Ringette team based in the city of Lahti, which is located in the southern part of Finland. They have won several championships, and many of their players have represented Finland on the international stage. Lahti's home arena is Isku Areena, formerly called, "Lahden Jäähalli", which is a modern ice rink that can hold up to 4,500 spectators.

Lapinlahden Luistin -89 Ry, commonly referred to as "LL-89", is a ringette team that competes in Finland's National Ringette League. The team is based in the town of Lapinlahti, which is located in central Finland. The team is known for producing several quality players who've represented Finnish national teams at the international level.

LL-89 has a history of strong play in the Finnish Ringette League, and they have won multiple championships throughout their history. In addition to its competitive senior team, LL-89 has a highly successful junior program, which has produced many talented young players who have gone on to play at the senior level. The team's home arena is Kärpänen-halli, which is a modern ice rink that can hold up to 1,500 spectators.