Gustav "Måsen" Björk (10 July 1900 – 12 May 1928) was a Swedish

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 ...

player, best known for being a prolific goalscorer for

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 1921, he won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

Sweden men's national football team The Sweden men's national football team () represents Sweden in men's international Association football, football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Strawb ...

Athletic career

Football

In 1916, at age 16, Björk was promoted to the senior squad of

.Persson, p. 60-62 Björk soon became known as a prolific goalscorer and established himself as one of Hammarby's key players, together with goalkeeper Victor Olsson and defender

Gösta Wihlborg Gösta "Pysen" Wihlborg (19 February 1898 – 28 November 1968) was a Swedish-American football player, best known for representing Hammarby IF. A full international between 1919 and 1923, he won 7 caps for the Sweden national team. Club caree ...

. In 1920, Hammarby debuted in the

Svenska Serien Svenska Serien (literally, "The Swedish Series", also Svenska Fotbollserien, "The Swedish Football Series") was the highest league in Swedish football and was played since 1910–1917, 1920–1921, and 1922–1924. It was then replace ...

, by then the highest league in Swedish football. The club finished third in the table, three points behind winners

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area just to the east of the city centre. History The or ...

. The same year, Björk won two

for the

, featuring in two 0–3 losses against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

In 1922, Hammarby had an other strong showing where they went to the finals of Svenska Mästerskapet, a cup by then held to decide the Swedish champion, losing 1–3 to

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

in a game where Björk scored the consolidation goal. In 1924, Hammarby IF was one of the founding members of

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 ...

, a new league that was established to determine the Swedish champion. He was forced to retire from football in 1925 due to suffering from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

Other sports

Like many footballers at the time, Björk also played

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 ...

with

between 1918 and 1925. In 1921, the club founded their ice hockey department, and on 7 March the same year, Björk became the very first goalscorer for

in a 7–5 win against

IF Linnéa IF Linnéa was a sports club in Stockholm, which was subsequently split into two clubs, IF Linnéa Friidrott and IF Linnéa Boxning. IF Linnéa Friidrott was the section for athletics and IF Linnéa Boxning was the section for boxing. IF Linnéa ...

. He was part of their roster for two seasons in total.

Personal life

Björk died on 12 May 1928, aged 27, due to

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

Works cited

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjork, Gustav 1900 births 1928 deaths Allsvenskan players Men's association football forwards Hammarby Fotboll players Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players Hammarby IF Bandy players Footballers from Stockholm Swedish bandy players Swedish ice hockey players Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Deaths from appendicitis 20th-century Swedish sportsmen