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Sport in Iceland: How Small Nations Achieve International Success

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Sport in Iceland: How Small Nations Achieve International Success Sport in Iceland Iceland is a tiny Nordic nation with a population of just 330,000 and no professional sports leagues, and yet its soccer, basketball and handball teams have all qualified for major international tournaments in recent years. This fascinating study argues that team sport success is culturally produced and that in order to understand collective achievement we have to consider the socio-cultural context. Based on unparalleled access to key personnel, including top coaches, athletes and administrators, the book explores Icelandic cultural capital as a factor in sporting success, from traditions of workmanship, competitive play and teamwork to international labor migration and knowledge transfer. The first book to focus specifically on the socio-cultural aspects of a small nation’s international sporting success, this is an original and illuminating contribution to the study of the sociology of sport. Sport in Iceland: How Small Nations Achieve International Success is fas- cinating reading for team sport enthusiasts, coaches, managers and organis- ers, as well as for any student or scholar with an interest in the sociology of sport, strategic sports development, sports policy or sports administration. Vidar Halldorsson is an assistant professor in sociology at the University of Iceland. Routledge Focus on Sport, Culture and Society Routledge Focus on Sport, Culture and Society showcases the latest cutting-edge research in the sociology of sport and exercise. Concise in form (20,000–50,000 words) and published quickly (within three months), the books in this series represents an important channel through which authors can disseminate their research swiftly and make an impact on current debates. We welcome submissions on any topic within the socio- cultural study of sport and exercise, including but not limited to subjects such as gender, race, sexuality, disability, politics, the media, social theory, Olympic Studies, and the ethics and philosophy of sport. The series aims to be theoretically-informed, empirically-grounded and international in reach, and will include a diversity of methodological approaches. Available in this series: Sport in Iceland How Small Nations Achieve International Success Vidar Halldorsson Sport in Iceland How Small Nations Achieve International Success Vidar Halldorsson First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Vidar Halldorsson The right of Vidar Halldorsson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-68179-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-54558-5 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC To Þórólfur Þórlindsson Contents Preface: “the general within the particular” ix PART I Setting the scene 1 1 Introduction: “small” teams and “big” results 3 2 From nature and nurture, to culture: theoretical basis and methods 13 3 The social and structural organization of sport in Iceland 25 PART II How Icelandic sports progressed 39 4 Building the infrastructure: towards professionalism 41 5 New conditions, new generation, new heights 53 PART III How Icelanders play sport 63 6 “The Icelandic madness”: winning the character contest 65 7 Teamwork: playing your own game 79 viii Contents PART IV How culture affects sport 93 8 The value of play 95 9 The advantages of small populations 106 PART V How it all comes together 123 10 Conclusion 125 Appendix 135 Index 139 Preface “The general within the particular” The sociological literature has not addressed sporting achievement to any extent; this has been left to other disciplines such as sports psychology, physiology and even business. Nor has it been the custom for sporting organizations and sports teams to seek the help of sociologists in order to help lay the foundations of a successful sporting culture, aimed at high- level sporting achievement, or to help sports teams achieve their potential in competition. For some years now, my professional activity has embraced my academic career as a sociologist – doing research on the social aspects of sporting per- formance – and work as a practicing sports consultant in Iceland – helping sports organizations and teams to lay the foundations of sporting success. Owing to my experience in these fields I am inclined to approach sporting achievement from a socio-cultural perspective at the collective level instead of, as is customary, at the individual-level. My perspective is grounded in the idea that all sporting achievement is built on collective action and can therefore be viewed as cultural productions that are informed by traditions, norms and values. In this book I will try to present the case of collective sporting achieve- ment as a cultural production by analyzing the recent and intriguing sport- ing successes of the various national sports teams of Iceland. My main task is to locate, what Gary Alan Fine (2012) phrased as “the general within the particular”; that is, to show how elements that reside in the general culture are represented in how sports teams perform in action. Thus, the underlying argument in this book is that the discipline of sociology can make an impor- tant contribution in helping to fill a gap in our understanding of collective sporting achievements. Howard S. Becker ([1982]/2008) argues that all social action is collective in nature. This book is no exception, and I want to thank those who helped me, in one way or the other, along the way. First, I want to acknowledge my debt to my mentor, Þórólfur Þórlindsson, for his guidance, support and x Preface enthusiasm for our sociological work, as well as our friendship, in the last 20 years. Many of the concepts and ideas proposed in this book are the harvest of our discussions and collaboration through the years. I should like to express special gratitude to Michael A. Katovich, Stephen G. Wieting and Jón Gunnar Bernburg for their valuable help with the manuscript, and to Jeffrey Cosser for helping me improve the language of this book. I want to thank the University of Iceland Research fund; Aron Gauti Kristjáns- son and Signý Rún Jóhannesdóttir, for their assistance with the interviews; Gísli Pálsson, Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir, Stefán Hrafn Jónsson, Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen, Baldur Þórhallsson, Ragna Benedikta Garðarsdóttir, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Gunnar Valgeirsson and Frode Telseth for their invaluable comments and assistance. I further want to thank the interviewees who gave their time and shared their insights into the sporting world, which provided me with the “rich” material that I had for this book. Finally, I want to thank my wife Ásdís, our kids and our families for their support and simply for “being there.” Huh! References Becker, H.S. ([1982]/2008). Art worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press. Fine, G.H. (2012). Tiny publics: A theory of group action and culture. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Part I Setting the scene 1 Introduction “Small” teams and “big” results I call it the Icelandic miracle. – Ramón Calderón1 On 28 June 2016, Iceland beat England 2–1 in the pre-quarter-finals in the European Men’s Football Championship. This victory eliminated England from the competition and placed Iceland in the quarter-finals against the hosts, France. The result was a shock to the football world. How could such a tiny nation – with an amateur football league and a joint-coach who works part-time as a dentist – eliminate England – the birthplace of football with one of the most prestigious football leagues in the world? The unexpected result attracted worldwide attention. Searches for Iceland on the Google search engine multiplied during the competition – reaching the same level as when an Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, erupted and disrupted all air traffic in Europe in 2010.2 However, the results of this sin- gle match not only evoked such attention (surprise results tend to happen in sports), but the fact that such a small nation qualified for and reached the quarter-finals in one of the largest sporting competitions in the world’s most popular sport came as a shock to followers of the sport. Reporters from all over the world traveled to this tiny island to cover the story of the national football team. What secret did Icelandic football keep? Modern sports emphasize winning, and what makes a winning team is a sort of Holy Grail in modern sports (Cashmore, 2002). This goal to win is also the case in business or anywhere else where the result stems from cooperation between individuals striving towards a common goal. But win- ning usually belongs to those with the most resources. At the end of the day, especially in sports, the biggest, strongest and richest usually win. The pro- fessionalization and commercialization of modern sports, in the late twen- tieth century, have further widened the gap, in terms of financial resources, between the levels of “those who have” and “those who have not.” A deep 4 Setting the scene divide between the richest and the rest exists and has become ingrained into the system.
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