The actions of some parents and coaches and other adults, in particular, have been called into question, while underlying national and ethnic tensions have also been identified as a factor, including in relation to Saturday's incident.

The match, an under-15-level first division game between Nõmme United and Tallinna Legion at the Männiku Stadium, Nõmme's home ground, had to be abandoned 20 minutes before full-time, after Tallinna Legion players launched violent attacks on opposing players.

This included kicking and punching, with one player so seriously injured his leg is now in a cast, Postimees reported.

While Legion on Monday issued a statement apologizing for the "unsportsmanlike" behavior of its players, the statement also claimed its players had been provoked by insults such as "Sibul" ("Onion") and "Tiblad" (a specific slur deriving from a Russian-language expletive).

"To be honest, I do not remember a case this bad," said Uku Laht, head coach of football club Tammeka's boys' team, while Kristofer Kaasik, head coach of the joint team of football academy Tartu Kalev and football club Merkuur-Juunior, called it "sad to watch," and "brutal behavior," which he, too, had not witnessed before.

Clips circulating on social media showed the match degenerating into unsportsmanlike behavior and physical assaults. The head referee stopped the match in the 60th minute, while Nõmme officially recorded an 11–0 win.

Ott Järvela, head of the sports desk at Postimees, gave "Ringvaade" more details. Thirteen-year-old boys were playing against each other, and the match got completely out of hand. One team was far superior to the other. Legion's side was aggressive. They kicked and punched the opponents."

"At this point, it is likely possible to say that it was a complete mess. The match was being officiated by a very inexperienced referee, but the fact that he ended up officiating this game is not his fault. It is difficult to blame him for it. If a referee is officiating his very first match ever, then naturally he will struggle. This match needed a referee with more experience," Järvela went on.

"I cannot recall violence on this scale in Estonian football in recent years. There have been ugly incidents such as punching someone in the face, but because football is a contact sport, that still happens from time to time. But I cannot remember anything like this kind of collective act of violence," he said, echoing the comments of the coaches.

The fact remains, however, that for one young player the match ended with a leg in a cast, and several others were injured because of the rough style of play.

ERR sought an answer to the question of whether victory is sweeter when it is achieved through football skills and combinations practiced in training, or through physical and psychological violence, finding whenever a situation arises in any sporting event where violent behavior goes unnoticed by the referee and the coach fails to intervene, this concerns the enforcement of rules, the educational role of youth sports, and the responsibility of the club or sports association all at once.

Saturday's fiasco clearly showed that something has gone wrong somewhere. Kert Valdaru, an educator and father of two sons who also play football, noted that in the U15 age group, as the name suggests, boys under the age of 15 are playing. This is an age at which there is a wide range of physical strength and abilities, and the same can be said of role models this age group can end up following, Valdaru said.

"Of course, incidents like this happen on the sidelines. I have gotten feedback from several parents saying that their recent experiences have also been very negative. It seems that lately a trend has been spreading in which parents do not behave appropriately on the sidelines. This actually carries over onto the field as well – if a parent applauds when a child plays brutally, then the child is encouraged by that," Valdaru said.

A club's culture, where the only goal is victory, while the development of the child and the team is pushed into the background, plays a role here too.

"Breaking up the other team and going onto the field to fight does not actually improve football skills in any way. Perhaps some promising youngster could become an MMA fighter, but in that case they should go straight into that kind of training. In reality, this is a question for the club: What goals have they set for their children's teams? Does winning as a goal justify the means, or is our goal to give children joy from football? At the same time, we should help them achieve that joy in a way that allows young people to develop personally and feel that this is a nice place to be. The goal should be to raise cheerful, mentally healthy, and physically active people for the future," Valdaru continued.

Coaches play a key role too. Coaching licenses and the assessment of coaching competence fall under the authority of the Estonian Olympic Committee (EOK).

The committee's vice president, former Olympian and a gold medalist in the discus, Gerd Kanter, said Saturday's incident went beyond the events themselves and forms part of a broader issue of sporting ethics and safety, which still tend to get neglected from a coaching perspective.

"At present, an awareness of sports safety and sports ethics forms a very important module in obtaining a coaching license. It is clear that today there is still, in some places, an attitude that glorifies only results. Fortunately, however, there is a growing understanding that if we speak about discipline, consistency, and hard work, then these must be based on a motivated young athlete who genuinely wants to achieve something. In reality, this can primarily be achieved by providing a safe environment where it is possible to develop and where it is also okay to make mistakes. That is the message sport should give a young person – that it is a rewarding field to be involved in, both with elite sport in mind and as a hobby," Kanter told ERR.

In conveying how a sport works, the coach brings "certainly a very clear example through their own personality" and as such "a coach is a carrier of values and a role model."

The Estonian Football Association (EJL) also carries out preventive work and also invests in children's safety. But with hundreds of matches taking place every year, being in all places at all times is not viable.

EJL spokesperson Kaarel Täll conceded that Saturday's incident was a serious one, but it has at least not been concealed.

"For that reason, we are currently gathering details and information. The parties have until Wednesday to submit their explanations, because it is important for us to get as accurate an overview as possible from both sides. We are also analyzing all of the photo and video material, of which we have quite a lot," Täll said.

"At the moment, it is still difficult to comment very precisely on this individual case, but I can confirm that we are taking it very seriously. Decisions will be reached soon, but exactly what they will be and when they will come is still too early to speculate," he added.

EOK organized campaign on parental behavior on the touchlines

As for parents, Kanter recalled last year the EOK even organized a campaign to address parents' behavior at youth sporting events.

"Parents also have a very important role as examples. Their main role is to support their children, not to interfere from the stands with instructions about how the children should play. Otherwise, the child becomes confused about who is directing the game – the coach or the parent. This conflation of roles is dangerous. Since this topic is so current right now, it could become a topic of discussion in many homes as well," Kanter said.

As for the underlying tensions on Saturday, Järvela said he "does not know exactly what happened, but I think that when the sporting superiority is very obvious — the score was more than ten goals in United's favor." In the context of the win-at-all-costs mentality mentioned above, this meant that tensions could already have been simmering.

Järvela called it "also impossible to ignore the fact that United is an Estonian-speaking team and Legion a Russian-speaking team. Clearly, there was also an ethnic conflict involved."

However, he said that while we do not know for sure what comments were directed between players, "Russian-language shouts could be heard from the stands, and they are much more vulgar."

The current geopolitical situation hardly helps either, Järvela noted.

"It is difficult and unfair for me to start drawing conclusions, but from the phone calls I have made today, people do tend to say that since February 24, 2022, it has been possible to observe a certain rise in tensions on sports fields, especially in team sports. Among adults this is less common, and it certainly does not exist at the professional level," he went on.

As for what happens next, on Monday, the prosecutor's office announced that it had opened criminal proceedings over the match. The EJL's disciplinary and ethics committee has also launched its own investigation.

"The parties have until Wednesday to collect and submit evidence, after which the football association will begin evaluating and reviewing it. Serious punishments are clearly to be expected, and I would venture to say that the biggest culprits in this situation are Legion's coaches, not the players. When 13-year-old boys are playing, the coach of that team must take responsibility for them. The coach's actions were clearly inappropriate in this situation," Järvela concluded.

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