Niilo Rudolf Tammisalo (originally Ekbom; 15 October 1894 - 5 February 1982) was an influential figure in Finnish sports in the first half of the 20th century. He was a versatile athlete who represented Finland as a player with the national teams in

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 ...

, ice hockey, and

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 ...

; he was also on Finnish Champion teams in each of the three sports with domestic clubs. When his career as a player came to a close in the early 1930s, he dedicated himself to coaching, refereeing, teaching, and administrating sports organizations. Tammisalo was a founding member of the Ilves Sports Club and won the Finnish Championship in ice hockey as head coach of Ilves in 1936 and 1937. He was the first chairman of Basketball Finland (1939-1943), served as head coach of the Finland national team (1937-38 & 1946), was a sports instructor and lecturer at the University of Helsinki (1938-1958), and served as a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

in international competitions for football, ice hockey, and bandy.

Playing career

Football

Tammisalo played as goalkeeper at the semi-professional level with Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK) (Helsinki Football Club). He began playing on the club's representative team in 1911, when he was 17 years old, and would remain loyal to HJK throughout his sixteen-season football career, helping them achieve seven Finnish Championship Cup victories (1911, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1923 and 1925). He is credited as the first Finnish goalkeeper to knock the ball away from the goal with his fist.

Bandy

Tammisalo was a four time Finnish Champion in bandy with HJK, in 1921, 1923, 1924 and 1928.

Ice hockey

Tammisalo was Finnish Champion in ice hockey while playing with HJK in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

and with Tampereen Palloilijat (TaPa) in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

. While acting as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the

Tampereen Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...

he won Finnish Championship bronze in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

International play

Bandy

Tammisalo played in seven games with the Finnish men's national bandy team. He participated in the particularly significant match at the 1919 Finnish Winter Games, the first game in which players represented the recently independent nation Finland. The national team's roster was dominated by players from Viipurin Sudet and Tammisalo (from HJK) was one of only three players representing a different domestic club. The national team's match against the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

club

IFK Uppsala IFK Uppsala is a Swedish sports club located in Uppsala in Sweden, with several departments: * IFK Uppsala Fotboll, association football department * IFK Uppsala Bandy, bandy department The club was established in 1895. On 30 January 1921, t ...

resulted in a 4-1 victory that was described in the press as “one of the most amazing achievements of Finnish athletes.”

Ice hockey

Tammisalo is credited with one appearance representing Finland in international ice hockey competition, a three-game series of

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against the

Swedish national team Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

that were played in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in February 1933.

Non-playing career

Awards and honors

* Golden Cross of Merit of Finnish Sport *Sports Legend of Helsinki, designated by the City of Helsinki on 12 June 2019 (

Helsinki Day Helsinki Day () is an annual celebration in Finland, held on 12 June, to celebrate the city of Helsinki. The number of attendees in the events on the day exceeds one hundred thousand. On the day, the Helsinki Medal is awarded to noteworthy citize ...

) *''Valmentajien Kunniagalleria'' (Finnish Hall of Coaching Excellence) inductee, 2017 (first class) *Football Association of Finland **Golden Badge honouree **Hall of Fame inductee, 1993 (first class) *Basketball Finland **Honorary President **Golden Badge honouree **Hall of Fame inductee, 2019 *Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK) **HJK Centennial All-Star Team, 2009 **Hall of Fame inductee, 2015

References

Content in this article is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at :fi:Niilo Tammisalo; see its history for attribution.

External links

Images

An HJK football match with keeper Niilo Tammisalo, date unknown.
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HJK Hall of FameNiilo Tammisalo and Risto Tiitola, c. 1931
''(Tiitola (left) is wearing Ilves' first jersey).'' Fro
Ilves Hockey on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tammisalo, Niilo 1894 births 1982 deaths Basketball players from Helsinki Sportspeople from Helsinki Finnish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Finland men's international footballers Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Finnish football referees Finnish football managers Finnish bandy players Finnish ice hockey forwards Finnish ice hockey officials Ilves players