Iceland review - 2004, Qupperneq 38

36 ICELAND REVIEW
CHASING A DREAM
At the beginning of Iceland’s men’s basketball season, the prognosticators predicted
that Snæfell, the team from the tiny town of Stykkishólmur (pop 1,100), would wind
up at the bottom of the league. But Snæfell defied all the odds with a Cinderella
season that saw them claim the League Championship. They swept through the first two
rounds of the playoffs before their championship dream was squashed by Keflavík, 3
games to 1 in the finals. To reach the finals, Snæfell won what has been billed as
the most exciting game in Icelandic history, a come-from-behind thriller against
Njardvík. Edward Weinman recounts this remarkable game.
I’ve just arrived in the small town of Stykkishólmur, on Iceland’s Snæfellsnes peninsula. I’ve
come to watch a playoff basketball game between Snæfell and visiting Njardvík, the most
successful team in league history.
While Icelandic hoop phenomenon Jón Arnór Stefánsson plays for the NBA’s Dallas Maver-
icks, Iceland’s Super League, as it’s called around these parts, is not exactly bubbling over
with major talent. Still, each team has three foreigners (mostly former college players from
the States trying to hang on to their dream) so the games are competitive. And the locals
love it.
We’ve got two hours to kill before game time, so the photographer and I drive around the
town, which takes all of about five minutes. We pull up to a teenage girl and ask if she’s
going to the game. She smiles, and says of course.
The next stop is near the harbour, where the main tourist boat is dry-docked for repairs. We
talk to a tall, gangly man who’s applying a red coating of paint to the hull of the boat. We
ask if he’s going to the game.
“Of course,“ he says, his face covered in paint. “I’m on the team.“
After a few trips around town, we decide to get some dinner. We stop at both restaurants.
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