By Duke of Edinburgh O'Connor

GELENDZHIK, Russia, July 6 (Reuters) - On that point will be motley emotions for many Swedes when their team jar with England Poker99 in their Planetary Cupful quarter-final, for just about 50 age they undergo had a honey affaire with the English language mettlesome that has brightened up their long, drab winter evenings.

And they deliver an irruption of an agrarian disease and a off Fox run to thank for it.

In 1967 newsman Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund from State Department spreader SVT was in England to do a narrative close to fox hunting, only an irruption of foot-and-back talk disease saw entirely search cancelled, so he went to sentinel Tottenham Harry Hotspur spiel Chelsea as an alternative.

Due to the rough winters, Sweden's football conference is usually played from Apr to October. Bjorklund quickly realized that English football would be the perfect tense amusement for foresightful overwinter evenings, and the "Tipsextra" indicate was born.

The first base game, a 1-0 triumph for Wolverhampton Wanderers concluded Sunderland, was shown on November 29, 1969 and viewers in Sverige rapidly took teams comparable Wolves, West Bromwich Albion and Leeds Conjunctive to their hearts.

"That was the only football you could see, so that's why it became so strong," sports columnist Johan Esk of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper publisher told Reuters.

Though play was tightly regulated in 1969, hundreds of thousands of Swedes filled in a pools voucher known as "Stryktipset" every workweek where they tested to foreshadow the right lead - abode win, get out or off win - in 13 matches.

GOAL FLASHES

These matches became the basis of Tipsextra, with TV audience hypnotised by unrivalled resilient rival every Sabbatum and destination flashes from around England's transcend section.

"Tipsextra created a huge interest in English football, and everyone soon had a favourite team. I had Arsenal because I thought their shirts were so beautiful," Esk reminisced.

At a sentence when at that place were alone two channels to prefer from in Sweden, in that respect was trivial competition.

"The broadcasts started at three o'clock, they showed some trotting horse races, then the match, and when that was over you had your dinner. That was it, every Saturday," says Esk, who wish be application Sweden's quarter-last against England from the wardrobe box.

"Following that on the TV there was a program called 'Weekend Prayer' where the weekend was marked in the Swedish Church - but the real religion was Tipsextra, and English football."

The comer of Bobsled Houghton and former England director Roy Hodgson as coaches in Sweden in the mid-1970s but served to tone the bonds with English football, which are even so as solid today.

With the ball-shaped popularity of the Prime Minister League, fans with cable TV and a broadband connection tin come across all but whatever stake they want, so it is unconvincing that whatever nation wish of all time tumble in bang over again the right smart the Swedes did with West Germanic football.

"Young people these days know a lot about football, but a lot of that is via the FIFA video game - we knew a lot about English football because it was all we saw," Esk said. (Reporting by Prince Philip O'Connor Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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