Valur honours its 1956 Icelandic champions

Three members of Valur’s 1956 Icelandic championship-winning football team were honoured at the club’s home ground recently, mbl.is reports.

Árni Njálsson, Gunnar Kristinn Gunnarsson and Páll Aronsson were invited onto the pitch at Valsvöllur in Hlíðarendi before Valur’s home match against ÍA in Iceland’s top men’s division on Sunday.

Kristinn Lárusson, a board member of Valur’s football division, presented them with plaques bearing their names and the inscription “Icelandic champions with Valur 1956”. Halldór Einarsson and Lárus Loftsson also presented the three men with bouquets on behalf of Valur’s representative council.

The honourees wore specially marked shirts made by Henson, designed in keeping with football fashion from the 1950s.

“These three esteemed Valur members have always shown their club great support in many ways, and it was therefore a great honour to celebrate them and thank them,” Valur said in a statement.

The final goal decided the championship

Valur’s 1956 title was not secured until the final round, when the team faced KR at Melavöllur. Árni, Gunnar and Páll all played in the match, which ended 1-1. The point was enough for Valur to win the championship; KR would have taken the title with a victory.

KR took the lead through Hörður Felixson, while Valur’s equaliser decided the championship. Morgunblaðið’s headline read: “The final goal of the tournament decided the outcome.”

“Valur never gave up. Although they failed to create dangerous chances for much of the match, individuals in the forward line tried to make use of the balls sent forward by reliable defenders, Halldór and Páll Aronsson. From one such pass, which did not begin a particularly dangerous attack, Björgvin Daníelsson received a high ball over the KR defence and managed to score with a fine header,” the newspaper wrote about the final match on September 25, 1956.

According to the Icelandic Football Association, Árni played 21 senior international matches for Iceland and Gunnar played seven, scoring once. Ten years after Valur’s football title, in 1966, Gunnar became Icelandic chess champion.

Alongside Árni, Gunnar, Páll and goalscorer Björgvin, the other players in the match against KR were Hilmar Magnússon, captain Einar Halldórsson, Ægir Ferdinandsson, Sigurður Sigurðsson, Björgvin Hermannsson, Magnús Snæbjörnsson and Halldór Halldórsson.