Gustav "Måsen" Björk (10 July 1900 – 12 May 1928) was a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, best known for being a prolific goalscorer for

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

. In 1921, he won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

Sweden national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

Athletic career

Football

In 1916, at age 16, Björk was promoted to the senior squad of

.Persson, p. 60-62 Björk soon became known as a prolific goalscorer and established himself as one of Hammarby's key players, together with goalkeeper Victor Olsson and defender Gösta Wihlborg. In 1920, Hammarby debuted in the Svenska Serien, by then the highest league in Swedish football. The club finished third in the table, three points behind winners

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area, just to the east of the city centre. It has a populati ...

. The same year, Björk won two

for the

, featuring in two 0–3 losses against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

In 1922, Hammarby had an other strong showing where they went to the finals of

Svenska Mästerskapet Svenska Mästerskapet was a Swedish football competition held as a cup to decide the Swedish Champions between 1896 and 1925. It was held during a short period, and all games were often played in either Gothenburg or Stockholm. For many years only ...

, a cup by then held to decide the Swedish champion, losing 1–3 to

GAIS , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden i ...

in a game where Björk scored the consolidation goal. In 1924, Hammarby IF was one of the founding members of

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, a new league that was established to determine the Swedish champion. He was forced to retire from football in 1925 due to suffering from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

Other sports

Like many footballers at the time, Björk also played

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

with

between 1918 and 1925. In 1921, the club founded their ice hockey department, and on 7 March the same year, Björk became the very first goalscorer for

in a 7–5 win against

IF Linnéa IF Linnéa was a sports club in Stockholm, which was subsequently split into two clubs, IF Linnéa Friidrott and IF Linnéa Boxning. IF Linnéa Friidrott was the section for athletics and IF Linnéa Boxning was the section for boxing. IF Linnéa ...

. He was part of their roster for two seasons in total.

Personal life

Björk died on 12 May 1928, aged 27, due to

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a rup ...

Works cited

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjork, Gustav 1900 births 1928 deaths Allsvenskan players Association football forwards Hammarby Fotboll players Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players Hammarby IF Bandy players Footballers from Stockholm Swedish bandy players Swedish ice hockey players Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Deaths from appendicitis