Football: Estonian MPs move to promote the game

(TALLINN) - As minnows Estonia brace for their crunch Euro 2012 playoff against Ireland, the biggest match in their history, lawmakers on Thursday created a special group to boost football in the small Baltic nation.

Thirty-three members of Estonia's 101-seat parliament set up a cross-party group.

"We want to simplify the availability in Estonia of the globe's most popular sport," said MP Deniss Boroditsh of the opposition Centre Party, elected head of the group.

By making the playoffs for next year's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, manager Tarmo Ruutli's men have ventured further in a major international competition than any other team from the nation of 1.3 million.

Estonia host Ireland in Tallinn on November 11, with the return leg in Dublin on November 15.

"We should specifically value the fact that the success of Estonian football and our football players in Europe and the world helps us to promote our country in a positive way," said Boroditsh, 31.

Football has long been the poor cousin in a country better known for cross-country skiers including Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

"The aim of the parliamentary group is to support the development of football in Estonia and to encourage more people to play the game," said parliamentary spokesman Gunnar Paal.

The Estonian league draws Europe's lowest average crowds -- 188 in the 2009-2010 season, research showed, compared with over 34,000 in England.

But long-term efforts by the Estonian Football Association have slowly begun to to bear fruit.

Over the past 15 years, player numbers have tripled to 57,000 and the number of coaches and referees has also spiralled.

In addition, the FA notes, some 35 Estonians play abroad in 10 different countries, whereas only a handful did so even two years ago.

While many of Estonia's squad play at home or in lower-profile league such as Azerbaijan's or Hungary's, they also include forward Tarmo Kink at English Championship side Middlesborough, and defender Ragnar Kavan at top-flight Dutch club Alkmaar.

Estonia only returned to international football in 1992 after the end of five decades of Soviet rule.

The legacy of that era remains, because the Kremlin sent in waves of Russian-speakers to try to tilt the ethnic balance.

They form more than a quarter of the population, and community relations have sometimes been rocky since independence.

Football helps bridge divides, with a solid presence of Russian-named players in the squad.

Among them is midfielder Konstantin Vassiljev -- who plays for Amkar Perm in Russia -- and was Estonia's top marksman in the Euro 2012 qualifiers with five goals in nine games.