Karl Viljo Halme (24 January 1907 – 21 October 1981) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He earned 30 caps for the

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body ...

and was a member of the Finland squad at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. Halme is considered one of the all-time best goalkeepers of Finland.

Career

Halme started his career in the

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

working class side Jyry, playing in the

Finnish Workers' Sports Federation The Finnish Workers' Sports Federation ( fi, Suomen Työväen Urheiluliitto, ''TUL'', sv, Arbetarnas Idrottsförbund i Finland, ''AIF'') is a Finnish amateur sports organization founded in 1919. In addition to the competitive sports, TUL focuses o ...

(TUL)

Championship series In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

. Due to the 1918

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Finnish football was divided, TUL and the

Finnish Football Association The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footba ...

(SPL) had their own leagues and the national team was composed of SPL players only. Halme represented the TUL football team at the 1928 Summer Spartakiad in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, although the

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

TUL had forbid its athletes to participate the games of the Communist

Red Sports International The International Association of Red Sports and Gymnastics Associations, commonly known as Red Sport International (RSI) or Sportintern was a Comintern-supported international sports organization established in July 1921. The RSI was established ...

. All athletes who competed at the Spartakiad were dismissed form TUL, and Halme was left without a team. In 1931, Halme switched to the ″bourgeoisie″

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

, which made him eligible for the national team. Halme debuted for Finland against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in October 1932. In the Finland squad at the 1936 Summer Olympics, Halme was one of the eight former TUL players who had defected to the Finnish Football Association's side.

Club honours

* Finnish Workers' Sports Federation Championship: 1927

References

1907 births 1981 deaths Footballers from Helsinki Association football goalkeepers Finnish footballers Finland international footballers Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Finland Mestaruussarja players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players 20th-century Finnish people {{Finland-footy-goalkeeper-stub