By Duke of Edinburgh O'Connor

GELENDZHIK, Russia, July 6 (Reuters) - At that place leave be motley emotions for many Swedes when their team clash with England in their Cosmos Cupful quarter-final, for near 50 old age they get had a making love occasion with the English mettlesome that has brightened up their long, dark-skinned overwinter evenings.

And they own an outbreak of an agrarian disease and a off bedevil Leigh Hunt to thank for it.

In 1967 reporter Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund from land spreader SVT was in England to do a storey astir discombobulate hunting, but an eruption of foot-and-back talk disease byword wholly search cancelled, so he went to picket Tottenham Hotspur trifle Chelsea instead.

Due to the rough winters, Sweden's football game conference is usually played from April to October. Bjorklund rapidly realized that English people football would be the perfect tense entertainment for farsighted overwinter evenings, and the "Tipsextra" picture was born.

The start game, a 1-0 triumph for Wolverhampton Wanderers all over Sunderland, was shown on November 29, 1969 and viewers in Kingdom of Sweden promptly took teams similar Wolves, Westward Bromwich Albion and Leeds Combined to their hearts.

"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 gambling was tightly orderly in 1969, hundreds of thousands of Swedes filled in a pools coupon called "Stryktipset" every workweek where they tried to prefigure the make up termination - dwelling house win, eviscerate or aside winnings - in 13 matches.

GOAL FLASHES

These matches became the groundwork of Tipsextra, with viewing audience fascinated by unrivaled resilient touch every Saturday and finish flashes from around England's round top 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 fourth dimension when in that respect were just deuce channels to select from in Sweden, Jayapoker in that respect was small rival.

"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 cover Sweden's quarter-last against England from the insistency box seat.

"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 reaching of Bobsleigh Houghton and erstwhile England handler Roy Hodgson as coaches in Sweden in the mid-1970s simply served to strengthen the bonds with English football, which are lull as inviolable nowadays.

With the orbicular popularity of the Premiere League, fans with cable length TV and a wideband connective give notice find out about whatever back they want, so it is improbable that any rural area bequeath e'er twilight in love life again the fashion the Swedes did with English football game.

"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 aforementioned. (Reportage by Prince Philip O'Connor Redaction by Amlan Chakraborty)

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