![Sample our Sports and Leisure journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5949/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Sports-Leisure.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The present study discusses the reasons why football, the most popular sport in Estonia between the two world wars became marginalized in the conditions of Soviet annexation. The Soviet sport system set winning medals at the Olympic Games as its priority. Estonia with its population of more than one million could not be successful in football which despite official priorities was the most popular sport in the Soviet Union and that is why Estonia used its resources elsewhere. The changes in the status of football were also affected by the Soviet terror and genocide as well as a considerable immigration wave from the East threatening to leave Estonians a minority in their own land. To make a difference between themselves and the immigrants Estonians identified themselves as a nation that doesn’t play football. At the end of the article, I shall view the marginalization of football using the postcolonial method.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For example, see Armstrong and Giulianotti, Football in Africa. Also Darby, Africa, Football and FIFA. Also Alegi, African Soccerscapes. Also Hawkey, Feet of Chameleon.
2. Menary, Outcasts! The Lands That FIFA Forgot.
3. I performed the content analysis together with Kristjan Remmelkoor in 2016–2018.
4. Edelman, Serious Fun, 169.
5. Moore, ‘Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post Soviet?’, 22.
6. Bale and Cronin, ‘Introduction’, 7.
7. Teemägi, Mööda ajarada, 13.
8. In those years, Estonia did not have the institution of President and the state was governed by the State Elder (Riigivanem) who was also the leader of the government and who was often alternated.
9. All mean numbers of football and track audiences have been taken from the manuscript of my book Eesti jalgpalli ajalugu [History of Estonian Football].
10. In 1935–1939 the balance and the specific results report of sports federations were published in the yearbooks of physical education.
11. Edelman, Serious Fun, 28.
12. Goldblatt, The Ball is Round, 163.
13. Lockhart, Giants Cast Long Shadows, 175.
14. Edelman, Serious Fun, 35.
15. Riordan, Sport in Soviet Society, 295.
16. Ibid., 292.
17. Edelman, Serious Fun, 75.
18. Ibid., 75–6.
19. Ibid., 76.
20. Keys, ‘Soviet Sport’, 420.
21. ‘Все билеты проданы’ [All Tickets sold out], Советский Спорт [Sovetski Sport], June 10, 1947.
22. ‘Цифры факты’ [Numbers Facts], Советский Спорт, September 19, 1953.
23. ‘Любителям статистики’ [To those interested in statistics], Советский Спорт, June 9, 1968.
24. Edelman, Serious Fun, 161.
25. Ibid., 165.
26. Ibid., 161.
27. Keys, ‘Soviet Sport’, 432.
28. Riordan, Sport in Soviet Society, 377.
29. Edelman, Serious Fun, 123.
30. Edelman, Spartak Moscow, 197.
31. Ibid., 230.
32. Edelman, Serious Fun, 126.
33. Ibid., 181.
34. Mikkin, H. ‘Päevaprobleeme’ [Current Problems], Noorte Hääl, April 13, 1947; Eesti NSV Vabariikliku Jalgpalli, Hoki ja Jääpalli sektsiooni presiidiumi koosolekute protokollid, ERA.R-30.4.11, 3; ERA.R-30.4.11, 3p.
35. ‘Saavutada murrang jalgpalli edasiarendamisel’, 708.
36. Liit, ‘Hinnang jalgpallihooajale’, 690.
37. ‘Vabariikliku jalgpallisektsiooni pleenum, 610; ‘Jalgpallielu põhjalikule parandamisele’ [Fundamental improvement of the football life], Noorte Hääl, November 15, 1949.
38. ‘Jalgpallimäng hoogu!’ [A push to football], Noorte Hääl, July 12, 1945.
39. Koik, 121.
40. H. Mikkin, ‘Kuidas teostatakse meistrivõistlused ja karikamängud jalgpallis?’ [How will the championship and the cup be accomplished], Noorte Hääl, April 6, 1946.
41. Mikkin, H. ‘Päevaprobleeme’ [Current problems], Noorte Hääl, April 13, 1947.
42. ‘Kuhu jäi jalgpallitšempioni karikas, meistripärg ja diplomid?’ [Where were the cup, the winner’s wreathe and the diplomas lost?], Noorte Hääl, October 2, 1952.
43. Meeme, ‘Võistlusrohkest jalgpallihooajast’, 760–61.
44. Pilver, ‘Räägime statistikast jalgpallis’, 337.
45. ‘Eesti NSV jalgpallimeister jäi selgitamata’ [Estonian football champion not found], Noorte Hääl, October 30, 1945.
46. H. Meeme, ‘Väherahuldav hooajastart’ [An unsatisfactory start to the season], Spordileht, June 2, 1958.
47. ‘Leningrad–Eesti NSV noored 4:1ʹ [The young of Leningrad–Estonian SSR.], Noorte Hääl, August 6, 1946.
48. Vain, ‘Noorte jalgpallurite kasvatamise probleemidest’, 334.
49. Harry Laater, ‘Noorte jalgpallurite pretensioone.’ [Pretensions of young football players], Noorte Hääl, August 25, 1950.
50. ‘Tuleb edasi võidelda!’ [One must fight on.], Spordileht, December 4, 1961.
51. Varju, Eesti okupatsioonikahjud ja inimkaotused, 26.
52. By the end of 1944 a territory of 2, 234 square kilometres was separated from the territory of Estonia with a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Russian Federation together with the town of Petseri (Pechory) and ten parishes and a sparsely populated territory behind River Narva. As a result of this, the Estonian population decreased by 56,200 including 19,400 Estonians. [Tiit, Ene. ‘Eesti rahvastik ja selle probleemid.’ [Estonian population and its problems] Akadeemia no 8 (1993): 1678. After regaining independence in 1991 those territories remained to Russia. Estonia relinquished these territories in 1996 but as a new border agreement between Estonia and Russia has not been ratified, 5 per cent of the territory of Estonia and the European Union are still occupied.
53. Tiit, ‘Eesti rahvastik ja selle probleemid’, 1659.
54. Ibid., 1662.
55. Ibid., 1668.
56. Eesti rahvastik rahvaloenduse andmetel I, 73.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. Eesti arvudes 1989. aastal, 10.
60. Tiit, ‘Eesti rahvastik ja selle probleemid’, 1665.
61. Kross and Varju, ‘Eesti poliitilise eliidi saatusest Nõukogude okupatsioonide ajal’, 16.
62. Ibid., 23.
63. Ibid., 24.
64. Tiit, ‘Eesti rahvastik ja selle probleemid’, 1665.
65. Rahi-Tamm, ‘1949. aasta märtsiküüditamine Eestis’, 144.
66. Tiit, ‘“Eesti rahvastik ja selle probleemid’, 1853.
67. Ibid., 1669.
68. Ibid., 1673.
69. Ibid., 1668.
70. Laar, ‘Eesti ja kommunism’, 857.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid., 857–58.
73. Kross, Kallid kaasteelised II, 137.
74. Taivo Uibo, in discussion with the author, October 2007.
75. Uibo, Vabadustahtega KGB vastu, 25.
76. Taivo Uibo, in discussion with the author, October 2007.
77. Karuks, ‘Sõna on Anatoli Tarassovil’, 239.
78. More about Slovenia see Stankovic, ‘Sport, Nationalism and Shifting’, 237–53; Starc, ‘Two Sides of the Same Coin’, 70; and Ličen, ‘The Eternal Talent’, 660.
79. Jansen and Karjahärm, ‘Kool ja haridus’, 285.
80. Raun, Estonia and the Estonians, 79.
81. ‘Vabariiklikus spordikomitees. Spordialade plaanipärasest arendamisest Eesti NSV-s’ [Of scheduled development of sports in the Estonian SSR], Spordileht, July 10, 1974.
82. Peeter Teesalu, ‘XI viisaastaku ülesanded ja probleemid.’ [Problems and plans of the XI five year period], Spordileht, August 31, 1981.
83. Bennetts, Football Dynamo, 101.
84. ‘Suurvõistlused Eesti ja Läti NSV vahel’ [Top competition between Estonia and Latvia], Rahva Hääl, August 25, 1945.
85. Riordan, Sport in Soviet Society, 312.
86. Ibid., 114.
87. Томилина, Игра миллионов под партийным контролем. Советский футбол по документам ЦК КПСС, 71–6, 87–92.
88. Generally Frantz Fanoni’s [Peau noire, masques blancs, 1952] and Edward Said’s ‘Orientalism’, 1978 in the English language space are considered the starting point of postcolonial studies.
89. Definition of colonialism has also been worked out within the EU financed project Historical Cultures and Memory Politics in European Perspective (CoDec). See: Fenske, Uta, Daniel Groth, Klaus-Michael Guse, Bärbel P. Kuhn. Colonialism and Decolonization in National Historical Cultures and Memory Politics in Europe, 113.
90. Moore, ‘Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post Soviet’, 22.
91. The Bishop of Livonia (Riga) Albert (1199–1229) commanded Christianizing and bringing under the Livonians, Latgals, and Estonians.
92. Kõiv and Raudkivi, Keskaeg, 153.
93. Annus, ‘Postkolonialismist sotskolonialismini’ [From Postcolonialism to Social Colonialism], 68.
94. Ibid.
95. Kraft, Claudia, ‘Inner-European Colonialism: An Introduction’, 83.
96. Annus, Baltic German Literary History, 188.
97. Annus, ‘Postkolonialismist sotskolonialismini’, 70.
98. Annus, ‘Postkolonialismist sotskolonialismini’, 71.
99. Ibid.
100. Violeta Kelertas states that totalitarianism cannot be used as a basic notion of occupying the Baltic countries because this seems to claim that ‘the occupied were mainly displeased with the form of government’. Kelertas, Introduction: Baltic Postcolonialism and its Critics.
101. Annus, ‘Postkolonialismist sotskolonialismini’, 72–3.
102. Kelertas, ‘Introduction: Baltic Postcolonialism and its Critics’, 4.
103. Moore, ‘Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post Soviet?’, 17.
104. Ibid., 28.
105. Ibid., 29–30.
106. Ibid., 21.
107. Ibid., 26.
108. Annus, ‘Postkolonialismist sotskolonialismini’, 75.
109. See References.
110. See References; Bale and Cronin, ‘Introduction’, 7.
111. Lennart Meri, the President of Estonia in 1992–2001 after regaining independence used cleverly the status of Estonia as an annexed state belonging to both Estonian and Western cultural space when he named Estonia ‘amputated Europe’ at the Fondation de Futur conference held a speech to the European élite.
112. Bancel, ‘Physical Activities through Postcolonial Eyes: A Place of Epistemologic and Historiographical Experimentation’, 25. The page number of the article has been taken from the following: Sports and Postcolonial Worlds, ed. Nicolas Bancel, Thomas Roit and Stanislas Frenkiel. London: Routledge.
113. Mills and James, ‘When Gold is Fired It Shines’, 114.
114. Dimeo, ‘Football and Politics in Bengal: Colonialism, Nationalism, Communalism’, 60.
115. Farred, ‘“Theatre of Dreams:” Mimicry and Difference in Cape Flats Township Football’, 125.
116. Schwede, Väike jalgpallipiibel, 34.
117. It is not possible to agree with Manfred Zeller (Zeller, 224) who has stated that the inhabitants of the occupied Baltic states supported the Soviet teams at least when some their own representatives participated. I can state that supported by my own experience. A vivid example is the volleyball game of The Soviet Union and the U.S.A. in Tallinn on September 2, 1987 where the public support U.S.A. despite the fact that Jaanus Lillepuu, an Estonian was playing in the Soviet team. I witnessed the event myself and the editor-in-chief of Spordileht also wrote about it in the time of the ‘glasnost’. (Paalma, Jüri, ‘Aplausist nii- ja teistpidi’ [Of Applause This and That Way], Spordileht, September 25, 1987).
118. Itkonen and Nevala, ‘A Popular Game in Father Christmas Land?’, 578–79.
119. The relevance of these points is confirmed by the fact that after the restitution of Estonia (1991) football has become the most popular game among the young.