Tuesday 10th June 2025 ko 17:00

Estonia U19 Eliitliiga Esilliga

TALLINNA JK LEGION 1 (Blinov 82)

TARTU FC HELIOS 0

Att 73 at Wismari Jalgpallistaadion, Tallinn

Entry Free

It was interesting approaching Estonia having arrived from Sweden. I found myself making comparisons with Stockholm rather than the UK. There is a clear Scandinavian influence, but I was most interested in their past as being part of the USSR before their independence was regained in 1991. You’ll hear Russian spoken, roughly a quarter of Estonians speak it as their first language, but that percentage alters massively depending on where you are, as we were to find out later.

That Soviet past fascinated me, the USSR collapsed during my time as university, and I’d never visited a former Soviet state. It should be stressed through that Robyn and I have been to Albania and you’d have to search hard to find a country that was more communist than there during the Hoxha era! We based ourselves close to the main railway station- Balti Jaam (Baltic Station) mainly due to it being a convenient hub for buses, trains and the trams. You are also walking distance from the achingly beautiful Old Town.

The “R Kiosk” at the station is where you buy your Ühiskaart ticket and load it up however many days public transport you require. It is extensive, but doesn’t include trains as we were to find out the next day! Another option is to buy the more expensive Tallinn Card which has the trams and buses bundled in with admittance to many of Tallinn’s attractions. Robyn and I bought the Ühiskaart, Adrian the Tallinn Card, and since we visited at least one included site per day, we reckon we all broke even. You can also “tap on and off” buses and trams using a credit or debit card. You’ll be charged €2 for travel for an hour- keep doing that and the Ühiskaart at €5.50 a day soon becomes a better option.

We explored Tallinn’s Soviet past by visiting the Viru Hotel, and the tours do need booking in advance as they do sell out. The hotel was built in 1971 to house anyone from the West allowed to visit during the time of the USSR. I’m sure most visitors back then understood that they would be closely monitored wherever they went, and that their room was likely to be bugged. All of that happened, but plenty soon spotted that the lifts only went up to the 22nd floor, but there was clearly an extra storey!

Officially the 23rd floor didn’t exist, the phrase used was “Sine Ei Ole Midagi” or “Nothing to see here” but the truth was that it was a KGB listening station. Obviously that included the hotel’s rooms, but also radio transmissions from the rest of Estonia, and Finland too. It was a fascinating if rather disturbing hour and I left thinking how far the world had changed since Estonian independance in 1991, or has it?

For information on Estonian football fixtures I highly recommend downloading the Eesti Jalgpall App. It’s based on the same “Comet” software used by the Welsh, Irish and Albanian FA’s, and as difficult a language to understand as Estonian is, the “Kalendar” function is fairly obvious and you can drill down to get locations, line-ups and goalscorers in real time.

That’s how we came to be at the Wismari Stadium, the oldest in Tallinn and just two stops by bus from Balti Jaam. You are in Tallinn’s suburbs, and the feel is very Soviet. I found myself comparing the place to Merkapt Maraton Sportközpont, in Budapest and let’s face it, the influences are very similar. The real beauty of the place is that the Old Town is visible to your left. The ground may feel Soviet but that skyline is unmistakably Estonian.

We were to watch a second tier under 19 game, Legion Tallinn’s adult team used to play in the top flight Meistriliiga but all but folded two years ago citing financial issues and now play in the third tier Esilliga B. It was good to watch Legion playing at home, and it was interesting to hear one of their younger teams due to play afterwards speaking exclusively Russian. I suppose it was roughly a 1 in 4 chance…

The game was dull with the sides cancelling each other out for the vast majority of the game. Eventually Legion managed to force home the winner, even if on the balance of play a nil nil draw would have been fair. But then you can’t always tick off a new country point with an exciting game!

We caught the bus to the edge of the Old Town and strolled through Freedom Square and the glass monument to the War of Independance to the Old Town. We ended our first day in Tallinn having a medieval banquet at the Old Hansa restaurant. I’m not sure it was entirely authentic, but the food was good, and it was a lot of fun. We certainly slept well that night.