In my ongoing effort to make my consumption of football as geographically and temporally difficult as possible, I am getting a teeny bit interested in the Russian league. (Though probably just because of curiosity about who the hell Zenit were anyway...)

It seems a perfect opportunity not only to watch and read about football, but keep up my rapidly fading fluency in Russian as well--thanks to SopCast, Sport-Express, and so forth.

Wholly capriciously, I've chosen Spartak as my team of choice--believe they have a legacy of being the "people's" (i.e., non-Party sanctioned)team back in the day.

Curious if anyone else follows Russian footie here?

To be frank, I may significantly more attention to Russian ice hockey.

Though after Zenit's performance in Europe this year, I'm trying to keep a bit more up to date. I didn't realise that Sopcast etc had Russian matches.

Spartak were the agricultural club in the Soviet era; there were no clubs that didn't have some kind of party affiliation.

There is an interesting article in the current So Foot (sort of the French WSC) on Terek Grozny. And I'm keeping an eye on newly promoted Shinnik Yaroslavl because we support Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in hockey and because they have a fetching badge:



Zenit are still in the relegation places though with a bunch of games in hand, aren't they?

I try and follow it, mainly for Alexei Eremenko jr's progress with FC Saturn. They have an unusual badge, but I like it:

Another thing I've noticed is that Rubin Kazan, who are currently top of the table, have one of the stranger shirts in top flight football:



The mythologoical creature is the symbol of TAIF,one of the largest industrial groups in Tartarstan.

Oh man, that's tremendous. I wonder what their games against Zenit are like?

Tnere's a possibility (around 50%) that I'll be spending three weeks in Kazan in June, but I assume the Russian league will be suspended for the duration of Euro 2008, sadly.

i am dynamo moscow, as i have seen them play at home

Their next home match is on the 15th of July against Saturn, ursus.

2-0 to Russia in the hockey, btw.

ursus arctos wrote:

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Spartak were the agricultural club in the Soviet era; there were no clubs that didn't have some kind of party affiliation.

As far as I can tell, although they seem to have had some relationship with the kolkhozi and sovkhozi, Spartak's roots were among the workers, outside of "institutional" sponsorship. That in contrast to Lokomotiv, for instance (railways), or Dynamo (security services/K.G.B.), or CSKA (army). The club apparently started in the traditionally working class district of Moscow (Krasnya Presnya). The fact that they don't have their own stadium, but play in the Luzhniki, is linked to the fact that they were never traditionally sponsored by a ministry.

Also, have to love Spartak's traditional nickname--"myaso", which means "meat". Evidently their detractors also call them "sviniy", meaning "swine" or "pigs".

I lived in Moscow for a couple of years when I was growing up, just prior to the 1980 Olympics, and to be honest, I don't remember football being that big a deal there at that time--hockey was much more dominant. I understand, though, that today football is at least as popular, if not more popular, than hockey. In both sports, tons of money being poured into talent, stadiums, etc, by the oligarchs.

I imagine you've done so already, but if not do check out Jonathan Wilson's book Behind The Curtain, which deals with Eastern European football as a whole rather than Russian specifically, but is still a superb intro.

A Slovenian website editor I talk to frequently tells me Wilson is regarded as an expert on Eastern Europe even by Eastern Europeans themselves, and when the locals give him that sort of recognition you know he must good.

He also does a semi-regular column for Guardian Online which is one of their better ones. In fact he did one prior to the UEFA Cup semis on Zenit and why they were dark horses. A good footballing team, he said. 'But Bayern are on another level, they'll beat the poor little Ruskies easily' was a popular consensus on the replies to that blog. After the first leg they failed to stop saying it. Then came the second leg.

I'm not so bothered about the Russian league, but for the hell of it I always like to think Vladivostock will get promoted to the top flight again some time... and perhaps qualify for Europe. Imagine that.

I came across this book today, may be interesting
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Dynamo-Modern-Russia-Peoples/dp/0753513196/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1210984187&sr=8-1

That's reviewed in this month's FourFourTwo. I can't remember what they say about it, and I've got to go to bed now because I'm working at 9 tomorrow morning. I'll dig the review out then.

I didn't mean to suggest that the Spartak/Kolkhozi and Sovkhozi relationship was a strong as those you mention, Lymond, merely to note that they did have an official patron. I wouldn't be surprised if the primary manifestation of the relationship was that bureaucrats from the relevant ministries got preferential treatment for tickets and use of any multi-sport facilities. There were always a lot more soldiers and interior ministry types in Moscow than farmers (and Lokomotiv's relationship with the railways has continued into the present day). There is also the whole story of the persecution of the Startostins by the pre-WWII authorities, which I had forgotten.

I spent a few weeks in the USSR in the early 80s and can certainly second your sense of the relative importance of football. Like their clients in the DDR, the official Soviet focus was very much on Olympic sports (especially in the run-up to Moskva '80) and hockey, and I recall seeing things like artificial ski-jumping facilities in the Lenin Hills. Football always had a popular base though, and got more official support in places like Kiev and Tblissi (in large part, I'd say, because it provided a relatively safe outlet for rivalry with Moscow and Russia).

The question of why the oligarchs chose football is an interesting one, and I think has a lot to do with the fact that their business interests are much more international in their outlook and customer base than the equivalent Soviet enterprises. It also allows them a chance to capitalise on the popular appeal of the sport, while away trips to places like Milan in the Champions League are more appealing to them and their hangers-on than hockey matches in Oulu. It will be interesting to see if the rise of clubs (like Kazan) from autonomous republics continues; you may know that AK Bars (also from Kazan) have become a major force in European hockey (and that this year's Russian championship was won by a club from Ufa).

I have always shared Sam's soft spot for Vladivostok, it is one of those intrinsically exotic places I discovered as a kid that somehow didn't seem quite real (like Ulan Bator and Samarkand). Luch-Energia Vladivostok have been in the Premier League for a couple of years, but are struggling again this year. The travel alone has to be daunting for them.

A number of the Premier League clubs have decent English language websites, though it does not appear that the league does. Here is bit from Spartak's that supports your view:

"Championship of the USSR could not remain out of the policy of the country. So many statesmen saw in the wins of their teams the superiority over the opponents patronizing other teams. Almost all the teams had such kind of patrons: «Dinamo» – police, CSKA – army. And only created by trade union public organization «Spartak» remained really «people’s team». Therefore a lot of people in victories of «Spartak» over imperious opponents saw a victory of the ordinary person over the government machine. Fans saw this opposition in all aspects even in the opposition of the horizontal rhombus of the «Spartak’s» logo from the vertical rhombus of «Dinamo’s» logo."

Spartak
Kazan
Lokomotiv
CSKA

ursus arctos wrote:

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I have always shared Sam's soft spot for Vladivostok, it is one of those intrinsically exotic places I discovered as a kid that somehow didn't seem quite real (like Ulan Bator and Samarkand). Luch-Energia Vladivostok have been in the Premier League for a couple of years, but are struggling again this year. The travel alone has to be daunting for them.

I think the ne plus ultra of exotic places in Russia would have to be Magadan, though the Google doesn't seem to know about any football teams there.

As Sam said, that book was reviewed by 442 (specifically by Jonathan Wilson) and they said that it was good but took in the myths - such as that of Spartak being the people's club - without really challenging to see if it is true. Anyway, it is the kind of book I like so I'll probably buy it. Incidentally, another book about Russian football is Passovtchka by David Downing. There's also Dynamo by Andy Duggan but that is about Dynamo Kiev. Behind the Curtain, by the way, is a must read regardless of your interest in Eastern football.

I used to follow Spartak in the 80s and 90s first because that was where Rinat Dasaev played and then because of Victor Onopko. Anyway there is always a good roundup of the goals from the Russian league here.

I believe Alania Vladikavkaz are not allowed to play their home ties in Europe in Vladikavkaz which I find a great shame.

Even the Moscow clubs don't like playing there. I've heard a great story of a player of a Moscow team saying Alania should "play in Japan" after being beaten there.