Fram’s 1966 champions reunite after six decades

Eight former Fram footballers who won Iceland’s boys’ fifth-category championship in 1966 reunited last week, mbl.is reports. Some had not seen one another for 50 years, and two travelled from Denmark and Norway, where they live, to attend the gathering at Fram’s premises in Úlfarsárdalur.

Fram representatives presented the players with medals for their achievement. Medals were not awarded to children and teenagers at Icelandic championships in 1966, so the former players asked the Icelandic Football Association to have them made. The association agreed.

Hlöðver Örn Rafnsson organised the reunion. He also hoped to strengthen the former players’ ties with Fram today, saying that a sense of community matters to the club and that he considers it important to give back. Guðmundur Torfason, chairman of Fram’s football department, presented the medals. Torfason was also marking 40 years since winning an Icelandic championship with Fram’s senior team.

Fram won the title on 21 September 1966 after a final against FH. Fram won 2-1, following two earlier matches that ended in draws. Three coaches worked with the team: Alfreð Þorsteinsson, Skúli Nielsen and Hilmar Ólafsson. Þorsteinsson, who was also a city councillor and sports journalist, was remembered by Hlöðver for wearing a white dust coat to training. Þorsteinsson and Ólafsson have since died.

Guðmundur Páll Arnarson, one of the 1966 champions, later became a world bridge champion in 1991. Hlöðver said he had been the team’s leading scorer that summer.

The eight players at the reunion were Kristinn Guðlaugsson, Guðmundur Páll Arnarson, Bergsteinn Gunnarsson, Finnbjörn Hermannsson, Árni Grétarsson, Birgir Sveinsson, Sveinbjörn Egilsson and Hlöðver Örn Rafnsson. The full 1966 squad also included Sighvatur Magnússon, Björn Arnarson, Guðmundur Arnarson, Sigurður Svavarsson, Ólafur Jóhannsson, Sigurjón Ólafsson and Bjarni Jónsson.