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

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, 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 playin ...

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 differ ...

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 current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

and winning a bronze medal in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. He was the captain of the Sweden 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, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

known as

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

. 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

in Elitserien, 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 consecutive years. 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 Sweden 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 (; ) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting ...

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 and ) is a Finnish and Swedish forest industry company. It develops and produces various materials, mostly based on wood, for a range of industries and applications worldwide. It has headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, and ...

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 () 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 ice hockey in Sweden had been admi ...

. 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 (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, 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 gr ...

, 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 Sweden 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 () is the governing body of the winter team sport 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, who also was a celebrated sportsman. His nephew Börje Andersson also played hockey and made one season with Hammarby IF in 1968–69.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Ake 1918 births 1982 deaths Allsvenskan players Men's association football midfielders Hammarby Fotboll managers Hammarby Fotboll players Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players Hammarby IF Bandy players Ice hockey people from Stockholm Ice hockey players at the 1948 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Swedish bandy players Swedish men's footballers Swedish football managers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen