St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Item
JY129
Object ID
JY129
Type
Rights Holder
CIC
Provenance
Bengt Oberg
Season
Description
Jersey, Sweden, 1982 tour to Wales. Yellow with white collar. Swedish Rugby Union 50th anniversary badge on left breast. Blue No17 on back.
Info
This is a player's jersey from the visit to Swansea of the Swedish national rugby squad in Easter 1982. The visit marked the 50th anniversary of the Swedish Rugby Union (Founded: 1932) and was facilitated by then Swansea RFC Coach and now Club President Stan Addicott. The other significant party to this event was Bengt Oberg. A long time friend of Stan Bengt was a former Marine in the Swedish armed forces and a PE teacher. He was a stalwart of Enkoping Rugby Club in Sweden and coached the national side for four and a half years circa 1978 to 1982-83. Through his long standing connections with Swansea University Stan was able to arrange a training session and match between the University team and the Swedish team. The tourists also played a match against the Swansea Athletic. Although both matches were lost, the tour was however successful as St Addicott explains: ", It was a successful experience for when they returned to Sweden they won 4 matches against the countries in their European league and gained promotion.
1982 was a special year for Swedish rugby because they celebrated 50 years since their founding. The badge on the jersey was created and used for all matches played during that year. The animal head represents the elk (or moose) and has 15 horns (antlers) to represent the players in the team. Vikingarna Sverige means land of the Viking/Sweden or something similar. The posts and ball represent the game and the crowns I believe perhaps the monarchy. Then we have the dates of the 50 years. The current Swedish national badge is just the posts and ball. The colour yellow is used for home matches and blue for the away strip. I don't think it is an international shirt but one that was played in during the 1982 visit."
1982 was a special year for Swedish rugby because they celebrated 50 years since their founding. The badge on the jersey was created and used for all matches played during that year. The animal head represents the elk (or moose) and has 15 horns (antlers) to represent the players in the team. Vikingarna Sverige means land of the Viking/Sweden or something similar. The posts and ball represent the game and the crowns I believe perhaps the monarchy. Then we have the dates of the 50 years. The current Swedish national badge is just the posts and ball. The colour yellow is used for home matches and blue for the away strip. I don't think it is an international shirt but one that was played in during the 1982 visit."
Keywords
sweden, swansea university, Bengt Oberg, stan addicott, swansea athletic,
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