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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Joey Dunlop memorial vandalised in Estonia

A memorial for legendary motorcycle racer Joey Dunlop has been vandalised in Estonia.

Road racing hero and Northern Ireland sporting icon Dunlop died when competing in Tallinn back in 2000.

Allan Amelijusenko, organiser of the Joey Dunlop memorial ride, said tributes and memorabilia had gone missing from the site.

He also said fans were "pretty angry" following the act of vandalism.

"The memorial itself is untouched, but the personal things that make this a holy ground have been vandalised," Amelijusenko told the BBC.

"We contacted the police and hopefully we will find the person who done this. We might not find them but we are doing our best."

Amelijusenko added: "Everyone is pretty angry, devastated actually. Everyone is wondering why somebody would do this.

"As we have deep snow in Estonia right now, those things might be under the snow close to that area so we are crossing our fingers and trying to keep the hope up that if the snow goes, we will have a search party around this place and find most of it, some of it or even find some clues.

Joey Dunlop (Frank Coppi/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

"Some things there had some money value so things might turn up on the internet so we did an announcement, showed the pictures before and after, so if you see any of the stuff on the internet then please contact your community or let us know."

Dunlop died while racing in Tallinn on July 2, 2000, just weeks after winning a hat-trick of races at the Isle of Man TT. He was 48.

Former Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill and midfielder Stuart Dallas pictured during a visit to the Joey Dunlop memorial near Tallinn in 2019 (Press Eye)

The memorial is often visited by fans who leave personal messages and memorabilia at the site.

Previous visitors have included the Northern Ireland football team who paid their own respects to the 'King of the Roads' during a visit in 2019.

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