Ragnar Gunnarsson (7 December 1891 – 13 March 1967) 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 ...

er who played as a forward, known for scoring the first goal in

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 ...

's history in 1915. He won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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

On 15 August 1915, Gunnarsson scored the first ever competitive goal in

's history, in a 5–0 home win against Västerås SK. Earlier the same year, it had merged with local club Klara SK, where Gunnarsson had started his career.Persson, p. 60-62 During the first seasons, Hammarby failed to reach the later stages of

Svenska Mästerskapet Svenska Mästerskapet was a Swedish football competition held as a cup to decide the Swedish Champions between 1896 and 1925. It was held during a short period, and all games were often played in either Gothenburg or Stockholm Stockholm ( ...

, a cup by then held to decide the Swedish Champions. Known as a prolific goalscorer, Gunnarsson was one of the club's early 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 ...

. He won one cap for the Swedish football team, on 1 October 1916, playing the whole game in a 0–0 draw 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 ...

. Gunnarsson left Hammarby at the end of 1918.

Bandy

Like many other footballers at the time, Gunnarsson 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 1915 and 1918.

Works cited

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnarsson, Ragnar 1891 births 1967 deaths Swedish men's footballers Swedish bandy players Men's association football forwards Hammarby Fotboll players Sweden men's international footballers Hammarby IF Bandy players Footballers from Stockholm