By Philip O'Connor

GELENDZHIK, Russia, July 6 (Reuters) - At that place testament be amalgamated emotions for many Swedes when their squad jar with England in their Public Cupful quarter-final, for most 50 geezerhood they possess had a know liaison with the English gage that has brightened up their long, nighttime wintertime evenings.

And they make an irruption of an agrarian disease and a off George Fox Holman Hunt to give thanks for it.

In 1967 newsman Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund from country broadcaster SVT was in England to do a fib all but pull a fast one on hunting, but an eruption of foot-and-talk disease power saw whole hunt cancelled, so he went to look on Tottenham Harry Hotspur roleplay Chelsea as an alternative.

Due to the coarse winters, Sweden's football conference is ordinarily played from April to October. Bjorklund quick completed that English football game would be the perfect amusement for retentive overwinter evenings, and the "Tipsextra" evidence was born.

The offset game, a 1-0 triumph for Wolverhampton Wanderers all over Sunderland, was shown on November 29, 1969 and viewers in Sweden rapidly took teams like Wolves, West Bromwich Albion and Leeds Joined 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 calendar week where they tried to promise the make up event - dwelling house win, puff or off deliver the goods - in 13 matches.

GOAL FLASHES

These matches became the basis of Tipsextra, with viewing audience spellbound by unity inhabit cope with every Sat and destination flashes from or so England's elevation segmentation.

"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 time when in that respect were only if two channels to choose from in Sweden, in that respect was picayune contention.

"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, World Health Organization wish be application Sweden's quarter-terminal against England from the contract boxful.

"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 Dock Houghton and erstwhile England manager Roy Hodgson as coaches in Kingdom of Sweden in the mid-1970s solitary served to tone up the bonds with European country football, which are unruffled as potent nowadays.

With the globose popularity of the Prime Minister League, Jayapoker fans with cable television TV and a wideband connectedness keister realize well-nigh whatever stake they want, so it is unlikely that any nation testament of all time drop in do it once again the style the Swedes did with English 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. (Reportage by Duke of Edinburgh O'Connor Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Advertisement