Estonia’s ‘garrison game’ grows up

THERE aren’t many fans who revere an 8-1 defeat but as the years went by, Estonians looked back with increasing fondness on their match against Latvia in August 1942.

It was June 1992 before Estonia could again play as themselves, drawing 1-1 against Slovenia. It wasn’t just that for half a century, Estonia was not an independent nation, it was that football became seen as a symbol of oppression.

The situation is perhaps not dissimilar to that which saw the commitment to GAA in Ireland. Football — and, to a lesser extent, ice hockey — came to be regarded as the Russian game, representative of an occupying power, so Estonians busied themselves with basketball, cycling and cross-country skiing.