FC Flora; A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia.

FC Flora play at the A. Le Coq Arena. This is where the Estonian National Team play, and I was fortunate enough to be able to walk round the ground, when watching a game on the smaller out pirches, grounds in their own right, outside.



A. Le Coq is one of their best selling beers.



This is the view from outside.



And behind the goal, outside. Note thise steps. Upstairs to a series of changing rooms, which we used for our match a couple of days later against JK Jalgpallihaigla.
Through the doors at ground level, to a foyer, and glass doors were unlocked so I could just walk onto the pitch!



A couple of shirts on display in the foyer.





I enter the ground from the middle, behind the goal. This is the view as I look right; but I will turn left, and go round in a clockwise direction. The following pictures are very 'samey'. This is a modern stadium, but still a smart one to view.



So turning left, this is the rest of this end.



Looking across, to my right, I take a picture of a fellow Hamlet fan Hutty, with the two tiered stand along the side behind him.



This is the identical one, down the left, with a pitch sprinker watering the pitch.



Looking down the lower section.



And looking straight across to the other side.



Looking up at the roof from the lower tier.



From the middle, looking back behind the goal, where I cam into the stadium.



The dugouts, in fornt of the left hand stand.



A close up of the sprinkler! I made sure i got a bit of a soaking, as it was still in the sixties to seventies at half past nine in the evening!



Our first sight of the far end, the only uncovered part of the ground.



There were huge billboards in each corner.



Looking back to the 'sprinker' side, from behind the goal.



And staring straight down the pitch.



Another shot of the sprinker!



And the identical stand opposite it.



Another of the corner hoardings.



I decide to climb up to the second tiers on this side.



And look at the open end from higher up.



Behind this stand is the Sportland Arenal, where second division FC Elva play their games.
You can also see the car park, with a small football court in the middle.



A snap from the back, at the top, looking to the covered end.



Same end, by further along.



Another snap of the sprinker in action, facing right into the sun. Not the best of snaps, I just took it to see what it would come out like.



A last glimpse of the covered end.



And down the side..



Before it's back outside for the second half of FC Elva versus JK Jalgpallihaigla, in the Estonian Cup!



And finally two quick snatched photos of the ground taken from a passing train a couple of days later!

Tallinn Racecourse, Tallinn, Estonia.

horse racing has never interested me. But I'm sure some of the tracks around the world are superb, sport architecturally.

Tallinn racecourse wasn't somewhere I planned to look at, I jsut happened to pass it on a trolleybus, on the way to a museum, and hopped off on the way back into the centre.

It looks rather basic. What makes it unusual is the rugby pitch in the centre, which is the home of the Tallinn Tigers.

Here is the main entrance.



This is the main stand, the only built up spectator area.



The enclosure.



Looking across the track you can see the rugby posts.



A look back at the enclosure.



Another view over the track, from in front of the enclosure.



I am guessing this is the finishing line.



Advertised in a window, just outside the entrance, which is how I knew who played there!

JK Kalju; Hiiu Stadium,Tallinn, Estonia

This was certianly the smallest of the main Estonian top flight stadiums. But one where I got lucky! I'd been out sightseeing, and it was early evening by the time I got here, a place I'd certainly never have found if I hadn't bought a proper Tallinn street map. What also helped was seeing an advert for a recent home match on a billboard in the town centre, which gave the street name of the ground.

But that wasn't the 'lucky' thing. I arrived just before six o'clock on the Tuesday evening, and as I approached the entrance I heard the shrill blow of two blasts on a referee's whistle to indicate the start of a game!

So I count actually count the ground as one I've been to, rather than somewhere I've just taken photos at! Marvellous! Hop, hop! ;-)

It was a youth game, one of the players spoke a little English when I tried to speak to him at half time, and he said it was a league match. (Though not which league!)
Though the ground is that of JK Kalju, they were not playing. The whites had SC Real on their shirts & ran out comfortable 5-0 winners. The other team in blue were JK Sillamae, from the crest of the badge of the player I talked to.

That's all I know about them, so if anyone can work out exactly what competition this match was played in, and who was the 'home' side I'd be grateful!
This was the advert in the street





Pointing the way...



On the side of the changing room/grandstand building



This is the view of the only real spectator facilities



Just three rows of benches, but a nice design



Presumably the ticket booth, by the gate.



Past the stand there is clearly nowhere to view the game, round the track:



A view, from behind the goal, on the track, over the other side, towards the dugouts.



The dugouts down the far side. No spectator facilities on this side at all.



One of the dugouts.



The scoreboard, not the most high tech!



And this is round the other side, to the right of the ticket booth, as you enter. Presumably some sort of open air beer staff at JK Kalju First Team games.



In the corridor of the building, which had club offices, toilets & the changing rooms, there was this shirt hanging up.



A glimpse of the ground and track, from where I took the earlier snaps.



Note the wooded area behind. No need to pay admission if you don't want to!



Here you can see there is also no facilities for spectators behind the other goal.



And game over!



With one last view of the ground, looking in from the wooded area