On Friday the 27th, the Estonian FA published the III.Liiga groups composition for 2017 season. Rumori Calcio was included into the Northern group, which means the Skyblue will play in Tallinn and surroundings. In fact, the ’longest’ trip is the 20’ ride from the city center to Saku where Rumori Calcio will pay a visit to local club Saku Sporting. Let’s check one by one the 11 clubs in the III.Liiga Northern according to last-year final table
PIRITA JK RELIKVIA
They should not be here. Assumingly for financial reasons (the club’s licensing costs in II.Liiga are more expensive without mentioning the travelling costs for a semi-national tier), the club founded in 2007, and playing in Wismari Stadium albeit their district being Pirita, has decided to stay in III.Liiga, a tier they dominated last season as they finished 4 points clear of FC Hell Hunt winning 17 games out of 22 and scoring 65 goals (second best attack) while suffering only 26 in the process. More than half of the goals were scored by Marion Adusoo (a former Paide Linnameeskond player) and Jaanus Põllumees (14 each) and 10 goals by Kristian-Hindrek Tamvelius. The team is coached by Priit Simson, a 49-year-old former lower league player (his last game dates back to 2007 when he featured for now defunct club FC Volunder in a 2-5 loss to FC Olympic) but most of all, Estonian Champion with defunct FC Norma Tallinn in 1988 when our coach Angelo Palmeri was only 13! Siimson went on winning also the Estonian Cup in 1989. Talking about lower league careers, Pirita JK Relikvia is the first club to whom our coach, Angelo Palmeri, scored a goal to in a 7-0 whitewashing in IV.Liiga in 2008. A survivor of that game is August Sai, 1983-born striker (and an artist in everyday life) who hit the back of the net only 3 times last season in 20 games of III.Liiga, Estonian Cup and Amateurs Cup. According to last-year squad the team does not include any foreigner. In 2016 they debuted away with a scoredraw against Castovanni Eagles. Their motto is ’In Hoc Signo Vinces’, the famous sentence that led Emperor Constantine to the victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in Rome: the reference to the ties of the Pirita district with the St.Brigit nunnery is very strong as the club’s coat of arms reproduces the typical cross of the order. Faith and football sometimes go along.
Stadium: Wismari (artificial)
Coach: Priit Simson
Website: www.jkreliikvia.ee
Facebook: reliikvia
Twitter: @JKReliikvia
Contact: einar@jkreliikvia.ee (Mr.Einar Lillo)
FC HELL HUNT
If lower leagues were once known in Estonia as ’pub leagues’, FC Hell Hunt is the ’pub club’ by name as they clearly refer to one of the Old Town’s favourite pubs, Hell Hunt (literally, the gentle wolf). From the club’s history page, we learn that initially the club was known as Eurouniv FC as the initiative to create the club started from university students. Founded in 2001, the club started to compete in Estonian lower leagues in 2002 (they started from the then-existing V.Liiga). Except from Taras Bondarenko (from Ukraine) the team is fully composed by Estonian citizens who collected 15 wins out of 22 games with a +31 goal difference in the process. Their top-scorer was Jaan Sinka with 11 goals: the 1993-born scored 2 hattricks, one against KSK FC Strommi (6-3 FT score) and one against Nõmme Kalju FC III (3-2 FT score). In the latter game, the score was opened by our very new signing in defence, Federico Levi. Mihkel Heinaste was the king of bookings with 7 yellow cards collected in the league games. In 2017 squad (check the list here) there is also Delfi football reporter and former FC Castovanni Eagles player Rasmus Raidla.
Stadium: Kalev (artificial)
Coach: –
Website: www.hundid.ee
Facebook: fchellhunt
Twitter: –
e-mail contact: info@hundid.eu
JK RETRO
Flora’s Alliku (left) tries to catch veteran and former national team coach Tarmo Rüütli in a cup tie (Delfi Sport)
With due respect to all other opponents in this league, this is probably the most interesting ones the Rumori Calcio footballers will have a chance to compete against. As the name suggests, this is a squad composed by ’retro-players’. From former national team coach Tarmo Rüütli (who might not be part of the squad this year) to former national team goalkeeper Toomas Tohver (24 caps); football agents and former international players Andrei Stepanov and Jevgeni Novikov (they represent, among others, Konstantin Vassiljev, the Estonian National team Maestro plying trade in Poland at Jagiellonia Byalistok); the Estonian National Team doctor, Kaspar Rõivassepp; FC Infonet sport director, former football player and Estonian Futsal National Team coach Dmitry Skiperskiy (also team and league topscorer with a whoppy 30 goals in 22 games!); Levadia’s coach and former player of the same club, Igor Prins; Nõmme Kalju’s former player Alo Dupikov and Estonian U19 National Team coach Lars Hopp. The latter, together with Mikhail Iliin, is the only foreigner of the team as Mr. Hopp is a German national as our very own German Christoph Puschmann: whether we will see a ’Battle of the Panzers’ will depend upon Lars’ engagement with the youth national team during the football season. The team is also coached by a former international, Erko Saviauk (1977), 60 caps and 1 goal.
These are the kind of opponents you can expect anything from thanks to their huge experience on the field. The club was originally known as ’Eesti Koondis’ (Estonian National Team) as it was the gathering team for veterans willing to play at amateur level. Albeit the name changed, the purpose has remained the same.
Stadium: EJL TNTK (real grass)
Coach: Erko Saviauk
Website: –
Facebook: –
Twitter: –
Contact: toomas.tohver@gmail.com (Mr. Toomas Tohver)
JK KALEV TALLINN III