Norwegian Newspaper reports on Airdrie’s tour of Norway,
1925
The following pages provide a summary of items appearing in Norwegian newspapers in May 1925 relating to the tour undertaken by Airdrieonians. Airdrie played in three Norwegian towns:
· 17th May: Skien (where they played against a team called Odd, who – like Airdrie - had won their national F.A. cup in 1924);
· 21st May: Oslo (where they played against a combined team made up of several local teams, and where the Norwegian King & Queen were present);
· 24th May: Trondheim (where they also played against a combined team).
All three games were clearly quite an event in all three towns.
In Skien, the date of the match is very significant: the 17th of May is Norway’s national day. Unlike the Scottish St. Andrew’s day – which is not a public holiday, and attracts little public attention – Norway’s 17th May is very dear to Norwegians. It celebrates the signing of the constitution in 1814, and is a public holiday that is celebrated with great enthusiasm. Football is no longer played on the 17th of May, so it is now the evening of the 16th of May that is one of the biggest days in the football calendar. Evidently this was not the case in 1925, and the game against Airdrie was clearly a “big game” as it was played on the 17th of May itself.
The town of Skien is a few hours journey by road southwest of Oslo.
In Oslo, the King and Queen attended the game. The Norwegian Royal Family are considerably less pompous than their British cousins, and it is not inconceivable that Norwegian royals might go to a football match informally out of nothing more that an interest in the game. This was not the case with the Airdrie game, where reports and pictures make it clear they were attending in an official capacity.
If you have a map of Norway at all, you are sure to find Oslo on it, as it is the capital city.
In Trondheim, the game attracted considerable interest before it even took place, judging by the articles that appeared in the papers. The crowd size at the game itself was, however, very disappointing. The reports remark on this, and speculate about whether the heavy defeats suffered by the Norwegian teams in Skien and Oslo frightened off the Trondheim public, who were not keen to see their local heroes suffer a similar defeat.
Trondheim is about 8 hours journey by train, due north of Oslo. It is only about two hundred miles south of the arctic circle, so the Airdrie players were well travelled indeed to get that far north. But Norway is a very long country, so if you look at a map you will find that Trondheim actually lies in the southern half of the country.
The tour of Norway was followed by a trip to Sweden, where they played two games in Stockholm on the 27th and 29th of May.
One thing that is not explained in any of the reports is how the tour came about in the first place – what prompted Airdrie to come to Norway and Sweden? One clue might be that they had visited Denmark the year before – perhaps they developed a liking for Scandinavia? Another clue is that the first team they played, Odd, had won the Norwegian F.A. cup the year before, in 1924, and that Airdrie had also been the cup winners in Scotland that year. Another important factor is the general high regard in which British football was (and indeed still is) held in Norway. As football was still very much a developing sport in Norway (it only really started to attract public attention from about 1920), perhaps it was the Norwegians who took the initiative to get some experts over to show them how the game should be played? The very positive descriptions of Airdrie’s skills in several of the reports tend to support this theory. There was also something of a history of visits by Scottish teams. The reports refer to “the Scots games in 1912” (but do not go into details), and the club history of one of the local teams in Trondheim lists several games against Dumbarton prior to 1925.
About the newspaper clippings and the attached
summary:
Each article summary is preceded with a “clipping number” - referring to
numbered labels on copies of the newspaper clippings. I can provide copies of the clippings themselves on request. Almost all of them are, of course, written
in Norwegian. I have provided
translations into English of selected passages. For anyone who is specially interested, I can translate others
parts too.
Joe
Gorman, Malvik, Norway. July 2002.
Email: joe.gormanZZZ@c2i.net (remove "ZZZ" from address before sending)
|
Clipping nr:
1 |
|
|
|
En interessant footbalkamp An interesting football match This is just a short notice saying there will be a match against the Scottish team (which it calls ”Airdrionia”) the next day. |
|
Clipping nr:
2 |
|
|
|
Fotballkamp 17.mai Football Match 17th May This is just a simple advert for the game. |
|
Clipping nr:
3 |
|
|
|
Airdrionians—Odd Airdrionians—Odd A straight match report. Starts off by saying the game was played more or less against one set of goals – Odd’s. Airdrie receive great praise: ”Football like this has never before been seen in Skien, and Odd’s players knew it.” ”The Scots were fast on the ball and had phenomenal dribbling skills.” The result at half time was only 1-0, but the report excuses this because Airdrie had strong sunlight against them. The Airdrie players deserving special praise, it says, are the centre forward, the inside right and the left half. It mentions only the left half by name – Bennie, the team’s captain. The crowd is estimated at 2500.
From the stand A more informal, humorous match report. A few quotes: ”The only time the teams could be considered equal was when the photographs were being taken. Even then the strips were different.” ”6-0 was the result of this match, and 2, 3 or 4 kroner was the price. But it was worth it – no one would protest?” |
|
Clipping nr:
4 |
|
|
|
Skottenne sieret i Oslo med 5—1 Scots Victory in Oslo: 5—1 Straight match report. The first goal was scored within 5 minutes. Crowd estimated at 10000. ”Most Norwegian attacks were strangled at birth.” Airdrieonians kommer til Trondhjem søndag Airdrionians coming to Trondhjem on Sunday A preview of the Trondheim match. It includes some brief notes about Airdrie’s 1925 season: they had just finished a season with 44 games; for the third year in a row they were runners up in the league after Glasgow Rangers; they didn’t win the cup (after being champions, as we know, last year). Six players are mentioned as being internationals. Gallagher is said to be one of the main reasons that Scotland were champions in Britain that year. The team are also reported as having shown that they can be champions in Norway too – having ”easily and playfully disposed of” Odd, and having won 5-1 over a ”very strong” combined team in Oslo. The Scottish party is reported as numbering 21 men, together with their Norwegian ”cicerone” (guide/host), a Mr. Steen from Mercantile (an Oslo club, I think). They were put up at the Brittania hotel – the city’s best (then and now). A taste of the tone can be had from the opening paragraph: ”The Trondheim football public can expect a big day on Sunday, when the famous Scots will play their 3rd and last match here in Norway on the grass pitch.” The report also refers to “new politics in the football association”, saying this makes it likely that it will be a long time before it will again be possible to see a Scottish team play in Trondheim. No further explanation is given of what might be behind this. The report lists all the players who will make up the combined Trondheim team (with players being drawn from four different local teams: Rapp, Kvikk, Brage, and Freidig). Two of these teams still exist. Details of the players in the Airdrie team are not listed – other than saying it will be the same team as played in Oslo. |
|
Clipping nr:
5A/5B |
|
|
|
Skottene kom, saa og vand The
Scots came, saw and won A report on the game, written in a rather formal style. It starts by saying that the crowd was about 6000, with the terraces very full, but with lots of empty places in the expensive stand. It then goes on to say how the King and Queen arrived at exactly one o’clock, and were greeted with the national anthem, played by a boys band and sung by the crowd. The efforts of the local team are criticised: “The Norwegian team were very disappointing, with the half-back play particularly weak.” There was disappointment too that there was not much competition: “Thus far it had been a pure exhibition game. But the crowd demand not only good football, but also a competition. But there was not much of that.” But the Norwegians did make some good moves, it seems: “Despite this, the Norwegian team did get through with some attacks, which really helped add some ‘fight’ and accentuate the game. Halvorsen scored for the Norwegians, amidst great celebrations. And there was another time, when the Scottish keeper had wandered far from his post, that there was a near thing”. Kritik Assessment This section of the article is by a different journalist, and assesses the performance rather than reporting on specific events. While the assessment is largely very positive, there is some criticism too: “We were reminded of the Scottish games in 1911 and 1912. Just like back then, we saw the same excellent ball handling, the same phenomenal dribbling, and the same flattering triangle play (between the two inside forwards and the centre half, and between the inner and outer forwards and the backwards operating half back). Everything seemed so easy, yet – for us – so unbelievable.” “What we perhaps did not see so much of, but which we did see from Mr. Chapman in 1912, were the shots: the long, rapid, unexpected shots. Gallacher was the ball expert and dribbler, but first and foremost the dribbler. He prided himself in running round and round the backs with the aim of playing himself free. At one point in the second half he managed to trick seven men (four of them at least twice) and had in the meantime two chances to score. But he did not take these chances, and just liked to think that he was the one in control of everything.” Despite this criticism, Gallacher is praised later in the article: “It was also fun to observe another aspect of Gallacher’s technique. When dribbling he seemed to move the ball forward in small bounds, and constantly changed tempo. Because of this, the Scots call him “the chameleon” – a description he certainly deserves”. The best player, in the opinion of this journalist, was the team’s captain, Benny: “He could get hold of the ball in a tackle, dribble one man, then another (all at great speed), then run 40 metres forwards, then pass at a point in the attack where you could see a Scottish scoring opportunity in the next kick.” Russel was also considered a particularly good player. The whole team were also considered very fair: “Play without contact or breaking of rule 9 was typical of this team, who were gentlemanly and fair all the way through.” Much of the rest of the report consists of detailed assessment of the Norwegian players. The assessment concludes that: “The whole event was excellent. Mercantile and Trygg [two local teams in Oslo] can be proud for having taken the initiative. They have certainly enriched Norwegian football.” Fra tribunen From the stand This is a rather more informal, humorous view of the game: "I have always thought of football as a fair game, but after today's match I have to revise my opinion. When a Scottish player can run precisely twice as fast as a Norwegian one, then – in the name of justice - either the Norwegian team should be allowed 22 players, or the Scots should be allowed only 5 and a half. In this case, you could pick any 5 Scottish players at random, then split Mr. Sommerville in two. The Sommer half could stay out (and perhaps bring some warmth to the terraces), or if he didn't want to then maybe Ville would." This last part is a play on words. Sommerville was clearly one of the best Airdrie players, from other parts of the report. "Sommer" is Norwegian for "Summer" and "Ville" is Norwegian for "would". There is also some fun made of the role of the Airdrie goalie: “At the end of the first half, great difficulty was experienced in awakening the Scottish goalkeeper, Mr. Ewart, who had quiety dosed off, due to unemployment.” |
|
Clipping nr:
6 |
|
|
|
Fra Græsbanen igaar middag From
the Grass Pitch at noon yesterday A set
of six photos, labelled (from left to right, back row first):
|
|
Clipping nr:
7 |
|
|
|
Fotballkampen Football
Match Small
advert for the match in Trondheim. It
reads: ”Airdrionians F.C. – Combined Trondheim Team at the grass pitch, tomorrow at 12 noon”. |
|
Clipping nr:
8 |
|
|
|
“Airdrionians F.C.” Another
small advert for the Trondheim game. The headline part reads: ”Airdrionians
F.C. (Scotland) versus Combined
Trondheim Team at the grass pitch,
tomorrow at 12 noon”. It then
lists the prices as 4 kroner for the stand (seats), 3 kroner for the stand
(standing) and 1.50 kroner for ”standing places behind the goals”. Tickets are advertised as being
available at Gavrilof, Nicola Høye and Øyens Cigar Import. |
|
Clipping nr:
9 |
|
|
|
Fotball Football This is
a report about a game held in Trondheim prior to the game with Airdrie – with
the aim of picking which players from the various local teams would make up
the combined team to meet Airdrie. It
was said to be a good game, with a lot of good defensive play on show. It ended in a no-score draw. The
selection committee are also reported to have had a hard job, and
expectations are high about the opponents the combined team will meet: ”Choosing the forwards is a sore point, but maybe it matters little one way or the other against the phenomenal Scots. It will be important to find two insiders who can pull back to the defence and help out there”. |
|
Clipping nr:
10 |
|
|
|
“Airdrieonians” lavet opvisning i Oslo og vandt med 5 mot 1 ”Airdrionians”
put on a show and won 5-1 A short
report on the Oslo game, concentrating mostly on the poor performance of the
Norwegian players, saying: ”Most Norwegian attacks were strangled at birth”. The
report also mentions that the match was attended by the King and Queen, and
estimates the crowd at 10000. Skotterne kommer i morgen The
Scots come tomorrow A short
piece promising the football public that they have something to look forward
to when the Airdrie team comes to Norway: The article also reports that the team were very well liked by the Norwegians: ” In an earlier report we have already provided a detailed critique of the various players in the team. So today we just want to mention that reports from Oslo tell us of what fantastic sportsmen these footballers are, and that they are pure gentlemen to the very tips of their fingers. In both Oslo and Skien the Scots are enormously popular. After the game in Oslo the Scots treated their Norwegian hosts to a splendid dinner!” |
|
Clipping nr:
11 |
|
|
|
Airdrieonians F.C. – Welcome! A few paragraphs, in English, welcoming the Airdrie team to the city of Trondheim, accompanied by the club’s official picture following their 1924 cup victory. While most Norwegians in 2002 have a very high standard of English, this was not the case in 1925, when the preferred foreign language was German. This goes some way to explaining why the English in the welcome text is not quite perfect. The grammatical imperfections, however, serve only to add to the charming politeness of the text: “The players and footballpublic of Trondhjem hereby
take the liberty to wish you all a hearty wellcome to Trondhjem, and at the
same time beg to express our hope that will enjoy the stay in our city. |
|
Clipping nr:
12 |
|
|
|
Det skotske fotballag som kommer til Trondhjem Scottish
Football Team Coming to Trondheim This article, accompanied by the club’s official 1924 cup-winning photo, tells readers about the club and its players, in preparation for the games to be played in Norway. It starts by summarising the team’s recent successes: ”Airdrieonians, who arrived in Norway on Monday, have just completed a particularly hard season with 44 games, and succeeded for the third time in a row to come second in the league, after Glasgow Rangers. But they did not manage so well in “the cup” as they did last year, when – as is well known – they were Scottish Champions. However, the club have time after time won the Lanarkshire County Cup, which has been theirs for 19 of the 26 seasons in which teams have competed for this honourable football trophy.” After mentioning that the club has 6 international players, the article goes on to provide a short paragraph on individual players. Here is a short summary of some of the main points: Hugh Gallacher: … has led the Scots in all national matches and is one of the main reasons that Scotland are this year champions of Britain and Ireland ….. known as “Wee Hughie” …… like a Chameleon changes colour, Gallacher can change his play…..one moment he can be moving slowly, only to change in the next instant to an electric spark storming towards the opponents goal…. the team is very dependent on this goal scorer….. “Jock” Ewart: … after several seasons with Bradford City, came back to his old club ….. many of Airdrie’s successes can be attributed to him ….. off the football pitch he is a student of philology, is interested in reading and music, and plays the flute and violin ….. a player with life and soul and a great source of inspiration and support. Alexander Dick: ….. few better right backs in Scotland ….. good tackler…. George McQueen: ….. known as the “penalty kick king” ….. played with Glasgow Rangers before, but only reached the top at Airdrie….. Willie Neil: ….. suits any position except goals ….. just as good at theory as practice…. John McDougall: One of the few first-class centre-halfs in Scotland … would have been an internationalist but for health problems …. known as “Big Jackie”. David Gordon: ….. a hard and good player ….. a very unselfish player….. Robert Bennie: …. learned to play in his school team …. despite his youth now Scotland’s best in his position …. he can kill a ball as well as if he had used his hands …. has reached his best form recently…. James Reid: ….. an old war-horse …. previously Scotland’s leading goal-scorer ….. now creates openings and chances for the younger players…. William Russel: ….. Scotland’s best …. has 1000 tricks….. has “twinkling feet” like in the most difficult of fox-trots…. Robert McPhail: …. only 20 years old, and still developing …. may be the inside left for the national team next year …. a deadly shooter….. James Sommerville: ….. not yet completely first-class, but nevertheless one of Scotland’s best and a great sprinter…. John Murdoch: … known as “Wee Johnnie” …. much too good to be a reserve, but the team’s strong winger forces it upon him….. a dozen league clubs would pay gold for him…. James Allan: …. a real live wire from Airdrie …. expected to develop into a “top notcher” soon …. temperamental, unpredictable in positioning, but with colossal speed…. |
|
Clipping nr:
13 |
|
|
|
SPORTEN SPORT A
detaled, factual match report. A few
quotes: ”The
Scots fulfilled expectations”. ”... their play was excellent propaganda for the sport….” “…no sign at all of hard or dangerous play – quite the
opposite, their play was based on a minimum of contact…” Omkring skottebesøket About
the visit by the Scots A
report filling in some background about what the Airdrie players did during
their visit, and some of their opinions: ”The
Scots liked the grass pitch a lot and said it was ’far better’ than in Skien
and ’most better’ than Oslo”. [The
Trondheim pitch was a relatively new pitch at the time.] "All of
the Scots were of the opinion that the Trondheim team was the best team they
have played against in Norway! When
this journalist smiled at their remarks, they insisted that they really meant
what they said, and that they were not just saying it to be polite to their
hosts." “One thing
the Scots were surprised about was that there were not more spectators. In a town of Trondheim’s size, they had
expected a crowd of at least 10 to 15 thousand when a foreign team was
playing. But we have to admit that
Scotland is football’s homeland, and that football is their national sport.” “On Saturday the Scots went on an outing to
Fjeldsaeter, and visited the student chalet - which they found
delightful. On Saturday evening, all
the Scots had been invited to a performance of "Bajaderen" at the
theatre. They enjoyed themselves
enormously, even though - naturally - they didn't understand a word of it. |
|
Clipping nr:
14 |
|
|
|
IDRETT SPORT A very detailed, factual account of the Trondheim game. It says that the Scots were excellent at dribbling and positioning, but that their shooting skills were not so good. Some criticism that their play was not very “effective”, and that Gallacher did not show off his best skills. The referee was judged to be OK, but missed a few off-sides and some high kicks that should have been considered dangerous play. |
|
Clipping nr:
15 |
|
|
|
Airdrieonians mot Odd 6—0 Airdrieonians versus Odd 6—0 A match
report from a local newspaper in Skien.
Like many of the other articles it is a mixture of detailed reporting
and high praise of Airdrie. It
begins: ”A good crowd found its way to Odd’s stadium yesterday to see the famous Scottish professional team meet Odd. And the Scottish team showed in an excellent way how football should be played, and just how far British football is ahead of the Norwegian game.” The article refers to a local controversy concerning the football association and its opposition to inviting foreign teams, saying this match provided clear evidence that such matches are very useful for the sport. The report also tells how the teams came onto the pitch: ”The stadium’s pitch was in excellent condition as the Scottish team entered in their white strips and were met by a sign in front of the south stand which read: ’Welcome to game in Norway’. All this while the English national anthem was played. [Then, as now, Norwegians have an annoying tendency to say ”English” when they mean ”British”]. Odd then followed, in their yellow strips for the occasion, while ”Yes, we love this country” [the Norwegian national anthem] was played.” Fitness problems are also remarked upon: ”Odd’s defence were under great pressure, and when you take account of the exhausting play of the Scots and Odd’s lack of training, it is no wonder they were absolutely exhausted by the second half.” The article concludes: ”All in all, yesterday’s exhibition was a delight to
football enthusiasts, and it is to be hoped that the town’s clubs, in their
training sessions, will make use of
what the Scots taught us.” |
