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  Page Last Updated 11 March 2022

Sverige

 

 
209 vs. Norway
210
211 vs. Finland

Monday, 17 May 1937
Stadium Inauguration End-of-Season Tour Match

Sweden 0 England 4 [0-4]
 

Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna kommun, Stockholms Iän
Attendance: 34,199;
Kick-off: 2.00pm CET, 3.00pm BST

Match Summary
Sweden Party

England Party

England - Freddie Steele (opened the scoring 7, seized the ball after Galley had his shot blocked and drove in his shot 13, from a Goulden pass 33 hat-trick), Joe Johnson (raced between the backs and shot into the corner 35)
Results 1930-39

Sweden won the toss, England kicked-off.

 

Match Summary

Officials

Sweden

Type

England
Referee - John L. Langenus
45 (8 December 1891), Berchem, Belgium

Linesmen - Herbert N. Mee, Nottingham, and not known

Introduced to King Gustav V, who officially opened the stadium.

  Goal Attempts  
  Attempts on Target  
  Hit Bar/Post  
  Corner Kicks Won  
  Offside Calls Against  
  Fouls Conceded  
  Possession  

Sweden Team

 

Rank:

No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 22nd
Colours: Yellow shirts with blue collars, light blue shorts, black socks with yellow/blue hoop
Capt: Sven Andersson Selectors: International Selection Committee, led by Ceve Linde
Sweden Lineup
  Sjöberg, I. Gustav A. 24 23 March 1913 G Allmänna IK 1 4 GA
  Axelsson, Nils A.A. 31 18 January 1906 RB Hälsingborgs IF 23 0
  Sköld, Walter 27 12 February 1910 LB Allmänna IK 6 0
  Berg, Fritz, injured off second half nk not known RH IFK G�teborg 12 0
  Andersson, Sven O.A. 30 14 February 1907 CH Allmänna IK 26 3
  Andersson, Ernst 28 26 March 1909 LH IFK G�teborg 26 0
  Joséfsson, K. Gustaf R. 21 16 February 1916 OR Allmänna IK 6 1
  Persson, Erik 27 19 November 1909 IR Allmänna IK 23 13
  Jonasson, Sven G. 27 9 July 1909 CF IF Elfsborg 23 14
  Grahn, Karl-Erik V., injured 22 5 November 1914 IL IF Elfsborg 14 2
  Nilsson, Axel B. 25 12 November 1911 OL Allmänna IK 7 7

reserves:

reserves not known
 
2-3-5 Sjöberg -
Axelsson, Sköld -
Berg,
S.Andersson, E.Andersson -
Joséfsson, Persson, Jonasson, Grahn, Nilsson.
The Swede's changed positions after the injury to Grahn.
They then played with four forwards after Berg left the field.

Averages:

Age 26.2 Appearances/Goals 15.2 3.6

 

England Team

 

Rank:

No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 9th to 6th
Colours: The 1935 home uniform - White collared jerseys, navy blue shorts, black socks topped with two white hoops
Capt: George Male, fifth captaincy Selectors:
In charge: Frederick W. Rinder
Attendant: Tom Whittaker
The fourteen-man FA International Selection Committee selected a sixteen man Party on 26 April 1937, team chosen on day of match.
177th match, W 112 - D 30 - L 35 - F 524 - A 202.
England Lineup
1 Woodley, Victor R., injured 27 26 February 1910 G Chelsea FC 3 3 GA
2 Male, C. George 27 8 May 1910 RB Arsenal FC 15 0
3 Catlin, A. Edward 27 11 January 1910 LB Sheffield Wednesday FC 5 0
5 Britton, Clifford S. 27 27 August 1909 RH Everton FC 9 1
9 Young, Alfred 31 4 November 1905 CH Huddersfield Town AFC 5 0
6 Copping, Wilfred 29 17 August 1907 LH Arsenal FC 12 0
13 Kirchen, Alfred J. 24 26 April 1913 OR Arsenal FC 2 1
10 Galley, Thomas, injured 21 4 August 1915 IR Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 2 1
16
Steele, Frederick C., injured 21 6 May 1916 CF Stoke City FC 5 6
11 Goulden, Leonard A. 24 9 July 1912 IL West Ham United FC 2 1
12 Johnson, Joseph A. 26 4 April 1911 OL Stoke City AFC 4 1

reserves:

4-Eddie Hapgood (Arsenal FC), 7-Harry Betmead (Grimsby Town FC), 8-Ken Willingham (Huddersfield Town AFC), 14-Joe Payne (Luton Town FC), 15-Jack Robinson (Sheffield Wednesday FC).

team notes:

Hapgood had replaced Manchester City FC's Sam Barkas on 27 April. Betmead was then invited to join on 29 April, he replaced West Bromwich Albion FC's Teddy Sandford, who had been struggling with a knee injury. Stoke City FC's Stanley Matthews was also part of the original sixteen man Party, he withdrew and his place went to Kirchen on 5 May.
Although the team was unchanged from that which beat Norway, there were doubts over the fitness and availability of Vic Woodley and Tom Galley. If Woodley was unavailable, Eddie Hapgood would have replaced him in goal, as it was, he played with his right knee bandaged up. Galley too, spent the second half with his knee bandaged. Freddie Steele left the field after he hurt his right foot, but he did return worse for wear.
 
2-3-5 Woodley -
Male, Catlin -
Britton, Young, Copping -
Kirchen, Galley, Steele, Goulden, Johnson.

Averages:

Age 25.8 Appearances/Goals 5.8 0.5

 

Match Report

STOCKHOLM, MAY 17.--Playing with the same determination that marked their match against Norway, England revelled in the mud at the Raasunda Stadium and beat Sweden by four goals to none here to-day.

Although Steele, Stoke's centre forward, scored three goals, the real hero of the match from the crowd's point of view was G. Sjoberg, the goalkeeper, who was making his first appearance for his country...

Johnson, the other scorer, did not have a good match...

The KIng of Sweden, who came back specially from Copenhagen to open the new Rassunda Stadium congratulated both teams on the fine sporting spirit in which the game was played.

The referee, M. John Langenus, of Belgium, who has refereed international matches in England, had a simple task.--Reuter. - The Times - Tuesday 18th May, 1937

SCANDINAVIAN TOUR

F.A. Players Numbered in Matches

   Only a few friends and relations saw the departure yesterday [11 May] of the London group of the F.A. team to tour Scandinavia. Among those accompanying the party were Mr. [Stanley] F. Rous, secretary of the F.A.; Mr. [Henry] J. Huband, the treasurer; and Mr. George Allison, manager of Arsenal. The rest of the team joined their colleagues in the North.
   Mr. [Stanley] F. Rous said, "All the players are fit and well and looking forward keenly to the trip. In all matches the players will be numbered." -
Yorkshire Post, Wednesday, 12 May 1937

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 16 May 1937 that a 29-year-old widow, born and raised in Italy, Laetitia Toureaux, mysteriously became the first person to die on the Paris Métro underground service. She was stabbed in the neck and found alone in a first-class carriage. The murderer would have had less than a minute to commit the crime between stations and disappear, the carriages had windows all around and only the staff had keys to pass between carriages. Nobody had seen anyone else in that carriage. When it was revealed that she had worked as a spy and had links to a far-right organisation, it was thought that it may have been an assassination, but in 1962, a doctor anonymously confessed to the crime in great detail in a letter to police. He had been in a relationship with the woman and when she told him that she would see another man, he secretly followed her into the carriage, stabbing her, and then stepping off the train and back onto it in a second-class carriage. His identity was never discovered and he almost certainly got away with the perfect crime.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Svenskfotboll
Rothmans Yearbooks
Original newspaper reports
Cris Freddi's England Factbook
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CG