Roald Jensen

Roald Jensen (11 January 1943 – 6 October 1987), nicknamed "Kniksen", of Bergen, Norway was one of that country's most celebrated association football players. He played for SK Brann and Heart of Midlothian F.C. ("Hearts"). ''Knicksen'' is a local Bergen word meaning "juggler".

Jensen was born in Bergen. From an early age, he was interested in football. He made his Brann senior-team debut in 1960, while still only 17. He made his debut on the national team the same year. Brann, with Jensen, won the league in 1961-62 and in 1963. After Brann's relegation in 1964, Jensen transferred to professional football in Scotland as Heart of Midlothian's first non-British player. While he was in Scotland, Jensen was unable to play for Norway, as the national team did not allow professional players at that time.

In 1971 Jensen returned to Brann and won the Norwegian championship (cup) with the club in 1972. Jensen retired from football after the 1973 season, when he was 30 years old. Jensen died in 1987 while playing football for Brann's old-boys' team. The Kniksen award, a prize that acclaims the best players in Norwegian football, is named after Jensen. In 1995 a statue of Jensen was erected outside Brann Stadion in Bergen.

Early life

Roald Jensen was born in Bergen and grew up at Eidsvågsneset, Bergen. He was the son of architect Karl Ingolf Jensen and Kirsten Alice Rokne.
His brother Kjell Jensen was also a footballer.
As a child, Jensen played in the garden with a football for hours on end. In the SK Brann club biography, ''Gje meg en B - !, Boka om Brann'', he describes a situation when he lost a small ball he got when he was four years old as the most unhappy time of his life.Sæter & Øiestad, p. 167 When he was ten years old, he was a founding member of a football club called Dynamo. In a game Dynamo won 22–0, Jensen scored 15 goals. Jensen was also a member of the ''buekorps'' ("Archery Brigade") Nordnæs Bataillon.

Jensen joined Brann at age 13, and dominated on the club's youth teams. Even as a youth player, he was noticed for his extreme technical skills. In 1959, SK Brann's junior team won the National Championship. The final at Brann Stadion was attended by 16,000 people.

Jensen finished high school and attended Bergen Technical School for two years, before he decided to concentrate on football.

Senior career

SK Brann (1960–1964)

Jensen played his first senior match for Brann against Viking in April 1960.Nielsen, p. 213 Because he was only 17, the club had to get a special permit in order to use him. He played all six of the remaining games of the 1959–60 league season, scoring two goals. Despite Roald Jensen's early success, Brann was relegated to the regional league ''Landsdelserien'' ("Regional series"). Roald Jensen played all eight games in the ''Landsdelserien'' in the fall of 1960. Roald Jensen soon became famous for his ball control and his accurate shots and passes. He became Norway's biggest sports star and a darling of the media, and earned the moniker "Kniksen", which translates into "juggler" in English.

After the 1961 spring season, Brann were promoted from ''Landsdelserien''. The Norwegian League system was reorganized, and the autumn season was the start of a marathon campaign that lasted throughout 1962. Ten out of 30 games were played that autumn, and Jensen was on the pitch in all of the games, scoring five goals. Jensen also played in all of Brann's games in the Norwegian cup in 1961, which ended in October when Fredrikstad FK defeated them in the semifinal at Brann Stadion. The attendance for that game, 24,800 people, is to this day the record at Brann stadium. Jensen was in and out of the national team in 1961, but played seven games.

In the 1961–62 season, Jensen helped Brann win their first ever League Championship. In the book ''Godfoten'', Nils Arne Eggen describes a situation where Jensen and Rolf Birger Pedersen, in the next-to-last game of the season against Rosenborg, took off their football shoes and humiliated their opponents by playing in their socks in a demonstration of superiority. However, the fact is disputed, and Pedersen denied that it ever happened. Brann won the game 4–1, with Jensen scoring one goal. Following that season, Jensen was named "striker of the year" by the newspaper ''Verdens Gang'', and "player of the year" in '' Sportsboken'', a sports yearbook published in Norway.

Brann repeated their success and won the Norwegian First Division in 1963.

Hearts (1965–1970)

Jensen transferred to Hearts after the 1964 season, while SK Brann was relegated, and debuted as the Maroons' first overseas international on 2 January 1965. He stayed with Hearts until 1971. His Hearts career was plagued by injuries, but he still played 170 games and scored 31 goals. An important goal was the extra-time winner against Morton in the 1968 Scottish Cup

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