Åke Gustav "Plutten" Andersson (8 June 1918 – 11 May 1982) was a Swedish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

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 ...

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 ...

player and manager, known for representing

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 all three sports. He represented his country at two Winter Olympic games, finishing fourth in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

and winning a bronze medal in 1952. He was the captain of the Swedish national team from 1945 until his retirement in 1954.

Early life

Andersson grew up in a working-class home in a southern part of

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 ...

known as

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

. His father was working as a groundskeeper at Hammarby Idrottsplats, the home of local club

which he joined at age 14.

Athletic career

Ice hockey

In 1934, Andersson started to play hockey with

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

, Sweden's top tier. He won six Swedish championships – in 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1946 and 1951 – with the club. In total, Andersson made 351 competitive appearances for Hammarby, scoring 150 goals. He played 23 seasons in the Swedish top league, a domestic record. He was known as a hard-working player with a lot of stamina, possessing a good tactical mind and a great sense of play. He was also good at positioning himself and had good offensive qualities. Andersson was, among other awards and prizes, crowned as "Sweden's best hockey player" seven years in a row. Andersson formed a strong defensive pairing with the physical defenceman Rune Johansson for several seasons. Andersson decided to stay with Hammarby during his whole career, even though he had frequent offers from other teams in Sweden. About his love for Hammarby, Andersson said the following in November 1957: He won 62 competitive caps for the Swedish national team, scoring a total of 18 goals, and regularly captained the side. Andersson represented his country at six major tournaments, and his biggest achievements were winning the bronze medal in the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 195 ...

and Sweden's first ever World Championship win in 1953. He is a recipient of the honorary award

Stora Grabbars Märke Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...

and was inducted into the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012; both awards are handed out by the

Swedish Ice Hockey Association The Swedish Ice Hockey Association ( sv, Svenska Ishockeyförbundet (SIF)) in Swedish, is an association of Swedish ice hockey clubs. It was established in Stockholm on 17 November 1922 by representatives from seven clubs. Before then, organized ...

. In total, he made 134 appearances for Sweden, including friendlies and exhibition matches, between 1937 and 1954. Andersson retired from hockey at the end of 1958, at age 40, due to a fracture. He was the head coach of Hammarby between 1960 and 1962.

Football

In 1937, at age 19, Andersson debuted in the senior football team of

. Up until 1951, Andersson made 231 league appearances for Hammarby, mostly in the Swedish second tier Division 2, scoring 40 goals, playing as a midfielder. In 1939–40, Hammarby competed for one season in

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 ...

, the domestic top league, with Andersson playing 13 of 22 fixtures, but was relegated immediately. He was the player-manager of Hammarby for one season in 1950–51 together with

Folke Adamsson Folke Adamsson (1911–1977) was a Swedish football player and manager. He represented Hammarby IF during his whole playing career and later went on to coach the club for 18 years, as the longest-serving manager in its history. Club career He gre ...

, after which he decided to retire from football.

Bandy

Andersson was also a prominent bandy player for

between 1932 and 1947. He was a member of the Swedish national team and won a total of seven caps for his country. As well as in ice hockey, Andersson is a recipient of the honorary award

in bandy, an award that is handed out by the

Swedish Bandy Association The Swedish Bandy Association ( sv, Svenska Bandyförbundet) is the governing body of bandy in Sweden. It organizes the bandy leagues, Elitserien and Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women, and the men's and women's national teams. It w ...

Personal life

He was the younger brother of

Stig Emanuel Andersson Stig Emanuel "Stickan" Andersson (16 October 1914 – 23 March 2000) was a Swedish ice hockey, football and bandy player, known for representing Hammarby IF in all three sports. He competed in the men's hockey tournaments at the 1936 Winte ...

, who also was a celebrated sportsman. His nephew Börje Andersson also played hockey and made one season with Hammarby IF in 1968–69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Ake 1918 births 1982 deaths Sportspeople from Stockholm Ice hockey players at the 1948 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Swedish bandy players Swedish footballers Swedish football managers Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 1952 Winter Olympics Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players Hammarby IF Bandy players Hammarby Fotboll managers Hammarby Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Association footballers not categorized by position