Holger "Hogge" Nurmela (28 October 1920 – 1 March 2005) was a Swedish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

player and manager, known for representing

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 all three sports.

Athletic career

Ice hockey

In 1937, Nurmela made his debut for

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

, Sweden's top tier. He won three Swedish championships – 1942, 1943 and 1945 – with the club. He formed a feared line together with right winger Stig Emanuel Andersson and centre Kurt Kjellström. Nurmela was known as a versatile player with great skating abilities: a sniper, playmaker and grinder combined. He won the scoring league in the Swedish top division in both 1949 and 1950. In total, he made 204 competitive appearances for Hammarby, scoring 154 goals. In 1950, Nurmela joined

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

AIK, which caused some upset among the Hammarby supporters. He stayed with the club for two seasons, after which he played three years with Saltsjöbadens IF in the lower divisions. He returned to Hammarby in 1955–56 as a player-coach, before retiring from hockey after the Elitserien season. He worked as the head coach of Hammarby between 1955–1957 and 1966–1971. Nurmela played 121 international games for the Sweden national team, scoring 84 goals, and regularly captained the side. Nurmela represented his country at several major tournaments, such as several

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

s. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1956

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

and won a bronze medal in 1952, finishing fourth in 1948 and 1956. He is a recipient of the honorary award " Big boy" and was inducted into the

Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame The Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame was created 2011 to honor those individuals who have contributed to Swedish ice hockey. The Hall of Fame includes notable players, coaches, referees and other personalities. The first inductees were honored in 2011 ...

in 2012; both awards are handed out by

Swedish Ice Hockey Association The Swedish Ice Hockey Association () in Swedish, is an association of Swedish ice hockey clubs. It was established in Stockholm on 17 November 1922 by representatives from seven clubs. Before then, organized ice hockey in Sweden had been admi ...

Football

In 1939, at age 18, Nurmela debuted in the senior football team of

. During his full first season, in 1939–40, Hammarby competed for one season in

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 ...

, the domestic top league, with Nurmela playing 16 of 22 fixtures and scoring 7 goals, but was relegated immediately. Up until 1950, Nurmela made a total of 111 league appearances for Hammarby, mostly in the Swedish second tier Division 2, scoring 77 goals playing as a forward.

Bandy

Nurmela was also a prominent bandy player for

between 1940 and 1950.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nurmela, Holger 1920 births 2005 deaths AIK IF players Allsvenskan players Men's association football forwards Hammarby Fotboll players Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players Hammarby IF Bandy players Ice hockey players at the 1948 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ice hockey people from Stockholm Swedish ice hockey players Swedish bandy players Swedish men's footballers Swedish football managers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen