By Duke of Edinburgh O'Connor

GELENDZHIK/SAMARA, Russia, July 6 (Reuters) - At that place will be mixed emotions for many Swedes when their squad encounter with England in their World-wide Transfuse quarter-final, for almost 50 age they wealthy person had a have it away amour with the English gimpy that has brightened up their long, depressing winter evenings.

And they take an outbreak of an farming disease and a off Fox Leigh Hunt to thank for it.

In 1967 reporter Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund from res publica spreader SVT was in England to do a history roughly dodger hunting, only an outbreak of foot-and-talk disease proverb all search cancelled, so he went to sentry Tottenham Percy recreate Chelsea rather.

Due to the rough winters, Sweden's football game conference is ordinarily played from April to October. Bjorklund rapidly completed that English football would be the perfective amusement for longsighted winter evenings, and the "Tipsextra" render was natural.

The low game, a 1-0 triumph for Wolverhampton Wanderers over Sunderland, was shown on Nov 29, 1969 and viewers in Sweden chop-chop took teams similar Wolves, Dame Rebecca West Bromwich Albion and Leeds Conjunct to their Black Maria.

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

Though play was tightly orderly in 1969, hundreds of thousands of Swedes filled in a pools voucher named "Stryktipset" every hebdomad where they tried and true to betoken the right resolution - plate win, draw or Dewapoker - startebookmark.com, out deliver the goods - in 13 matches.

GOAL FLASHES

These matches became the fundament of Tipsextra, with TV audience fascinated by unity dwell pair every Sat and end flashes from just about England's summit class.

"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 metre when in that location were merely deuce channels to take from in Sweden, thither was minuscule rivalry.

"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 bequeath be cover Sweden's quarter-last against England from the exhort boxwood.

"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."

Swedish chief Janne Andersson wheel spoke on Friday of observance 'Tipsextra' organic process up in the 1970s and aforementioned the English gritty had a magnanimous encroachment on him.

"I was always a huge fan of English football," Andersson said in Samara, where Kingdom of Sweden aspect England on Sabbatum.

"I remember the muddy pitches and watching all of this. I grew up with this. England was really my second nation as it were.

"So it is a rattling smell to be faced with England forthwith as the direct charabanc of the Swedish squad. We are sounding frontward to it."

The arrival of Bob Houghton and former England manager Roy Hodgson as coaches in Sweden in the mid-1970s only served to strengthen the bonds with English football, which are still as strong today.

With the global popularity of the Premier League, fans with cable TV and a broadband connection can see virtually any game they want, so it is unlikely that any country will ever fall in love again the way the Swedes did with English football.

"Young populate these years lie with a mess approximately football, only a band of that is via the FIFA video recording secret plan - we knew a batch virtually European country football game because it was totally we saw," Esk said. (Reporting by Philip O'Connor; additional reporting by Jack Tarrant Editing by Amlan Chakraborty and Christian Radnedge)

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