Tallinn - Sporting Events

We are currently in Tallinn Estonia and have been in Estonia for the past week. Since arriving on March 31st, we have spent time in both Tallinn (the capital city) and on the island of Saaremaa (subject of a future post).

We have tried to stay on top of Estonia's sporting scene since arriving (which is pretty easy to do), and have attended a World Cup 2010 Qualifying Match as well as an Estonian Basketball League game.

Estonia does not have a very rich football (soccer) background, which has shown in their World Cup 2010 qualification efforts (Europe - Group 5). Thankfully, they were playing one of the few teams in Europe ranked below them, Armenia (Estonia is ranked #115 in the world and Armenia is ranked #124 - click here for the full rankings).

The match took place at Estonia's largest football field, A. Le Coq Arena, sponsored by A. Le Coq, one of Estonia's largest breweries (and the one with the most interesting name).

Positive notes on the match:
1. Both teams tried their best.
2. There were a decent number of Estonian fans that turned out, despite the early start time (6:00 PM on a Wednesday).
3. Surprisingly, some Armenian fans made it to the match.
4. Estonia won, 1-0.

Room for improvement:
1. The grass was very brown and patchy.
2. Neither Estonia nor Armenia are very good at football. Lots of players on both sides either play in their local leagues or in places like Iran, Kazakhstan, Georgia, etc.
3. No beer was sold during the match (a FIFA rule, not a local one).
4. The concession stand sold out of Estonian Garlic Bread (a GREAT local snack, not like Italian garlic bread) before half time, so we didn't get any.

Next up on our sporting tour-de-force was a match in the SEB Korvpalli Maestriliiga, more commonly known as the KML or the Estonian Basketball League. You may be asking yourself, something like "Hm. I didn't know that Estonians play basketball. I don't recall seeing any of their players in the NBA or in the Olympics". Well, due in part to their Nordic ancestry, there are some tall Estonians out there and at some point, they got together and started playing basketball. Unfortunately, they are not very good, which is why we generally don't see Estonians in the NBA. They do, however, also participate in the Baltic Basketball League, which is typically dominated by Lithuanian teams.

The game we went to was between one of the local Tallinn teams, BC Kalev (mascot pictured above) and its chief rival, Tartu Rock. Thankfully, the local team won (boxscore) and the 1,200 (or so) fans in attendance all went home happy.