I'm going to be spending my summer in Tomsk, and I wouldn't mind attending a few games. I'm having a bit of hard luck finding info on the first division - so any general info would be appreciated, as well as advice on attending a match. thanks
First Division in Russia is an interesting experience. You have a very good chance of seeing a crooked ref, a moderately good chance of seeing a fix and not much of a chance of seeing good football. A decent muddy muscle-fest could be in order, though, and in that we can hold our own with the lower tiers of English footie. Tomsk used to have a good side but they are faultering lately. If you are fortunate enough to see them play Terek, you may see some extremely good, Premier-League-type football. This year the situation in D-1 is quite strange. Usually you've got 3-4 favourites who compete for the 2 promotion spots, but now it's only Terek Grozny, the weird Chechen side, which doesn't play home matches in Chechnya. They are so above and beyond the competition, they could have the promotion spot wrapped up by August. Terek have a strong core of veteran, ex-RPL players which have led them to the Russian Cup final (to be played Saturday), the first Cup final appearance by a lower-division club in USSR and Russia since 1969. Besides Terek, nobody else seems worthy of promotion and the second berth will probably be contested by 5-6 so-so sides. It doesn't seem likely that Tom Tomsk will be among them, but in the depths of the D-1 ladder, you just never know.