The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Page 32

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING, 1981
entirely within this province and that all but
one of its members were of Icelandic heri-
tage. Much later I came to know Fredrick-
son, the team’s most gifted player.
He was a typical Icelander. Though he
was one of the greatest freelance talkers I
have ever known, his topics rarely included
sport. Flying, politics, music and Icelandic
history all rated a far higher conversational
priority than the games people play. He
never talked about his own athletic accom-
plishments even though they made him one
of the earliest inductees into the Hockey
Hall of Fame.
But despite this national disinclination to
talk about their own athletic involvement,
one discovers Icelanders have a tradition in
sports that dates back nearly as far as the
althing itself.
Painfully aware of how ill-equipped I was
to complete the assignment willed on me by
Mr. Tergesen, I turned to the Free Press
library for help. Through sheer good luck
the first title to catch my eye was “The
Icelandic People in Manitoba,” Wilhelm
Kristjanson’s marvelously lucid and imma-
culately researched history.
In typically Icelandic fashion, Mr.
Kristjanson filled 454 pages before he
deemed it necessary to devote a chapter to
sport, but it was a chapter which contained a
goldmine of information.
There was one other reference to sport,
however, — one which I trust you will find
as welcome and significant as I.
In the first chapter of his “Manitoba
Saga,” Mr. Kristjanson tells us of Iceland’s
beginnings . . . how the island was origin-
ally settled in 874 by well-heeled Norwe-
gians looking for a place to stretch out and
be free. Then he informs us how a national
assembly (althing) was formed in 930 and
how it met for fortnight each June.
But let him tell it:
“. . . the place of assembly being the
Plains of Parliament (Thingvellir), near the
site of the present city of Reykjavik, the oc-
casion had its festive aspect; the elect for-
gathered from all parts of the island and it
was common practice for the men to bring
their wives and daughters. There was a
variety of entertainment, including wrest-
ling, swimming, ball games, recitation of
poetry and story-telling.”
So there you have it. The Winnipeg Blue
Bombers may think 50 years of football
existence is an occasion worth celebrating,
but sport has been part of Icelandic lifestyle
and heritage for 1,050 years. (So, one dares
hope, is sports writing since it does not seem
too far-fetched to believe at least some of
those early story-tellers were recounting the
exploits and perhaps some of the foibles of
the wrestlers, swimmers and ball players of
their day).
I don’t know about you, but I consider
that good news. While it’s a source of pride
to know one’s forebears were literate folk of
poetic bent, it’s also reassuring to learn they
also were competitors who prized the
healthy bodies and mental discipline de-
manded by sport.
And though most Icelanders don’t seem
to have made much fuss about the games
they play, great numbers of them play them
extremely well.
Mr. Kristjanson related that the first re-
corded instance of icelandic participation in
a Manitoba sports event was in the walking
matches popular in the latter part of the 19th
century. These were usually 24-hour races
with time out only for brief rests, refresh-
ments and a rubdown. Some allowed for a
12-hour break between two 12-hour
walking sessions. A first rate walker could
cover more than 100 miles in 24 hours.
The first Icelandic immigrant to compete
in one of these matches was Sigurdur An-
tonius. He reportedly covered 132 miles in a
Winnipeg competition in 1879, but glory
day for Icelandic competitors came in a 24-
hour race on June 15, 1888.
History records that three Icelanders —
John Hordal, a youth of 17; Thorarinnn