Sweden v Finland

The fourth Sweden-Finland athletics international match was held at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium in late August.

Of the previous three matches, Sweden had won two and Finland one. The total points were 276-275 in favor of the blue-and-yellow team in the marathon table of the meet.

Swift Finns

The protagonists of the fourth match were the sprinters. Representing the speedy Strandvall family, Börje secured victory in the 400 metres, ensured full points for the Finns with a second-place finish in the 200 metres, and contributed in the 1000 metres relay. His efforts were rewarded with a silver tankard from the Finnish sports magazine.

Hurdler Bengt Sjöstedt of Finland nearly joined the ranks. He sprinted to victory in the hundred meters and ran a leg in the 1000 metres relay. In his specialty, the 110-metre hurdles, Sjöstedt crossed the finish line first. However, three hurdles lost their balance along the way, resulting in disqualification according to the rules. Raasepori's lad made up for the lost points by smashing the world record a week after the international match with a time close to 14.4 seconds.

Industrious Järvinens

The son of his father, Akilles Järvinen, conquered the half lap of the stadium, came second in the 400 meters, and sweated through one leg of the 1000 meters relay. The athletic brothers shone on the field otherwise: Kalle won the shot put, while Matti, who dominated the event in the 1930s, came second in javelin. The future Olympic bronze medalist and recent graduate of the cadet school, Eino Penttilä, ruled the javelin pitch with a throw of 68.30 metres (224-1).

From tossing iron balls to hurling hammers, Ville Pörhölä set a Finnish record of 53.82m (176-10), despite grumbling about the throwing circle ("it was poor").

Eric Svensson  set a Swedish record of 15.13m (49-7 1/8) in the triple jump. There was still some distance to Vilho Tuulos who held the Nordic record of 15.48m (50-9 3/8). Skis manufacturer Esko Järvinen's brother Erkki, who had no relation to Verner's sons, was second with 14.49m (47-6 1/2). 

Another Swedish record was set in pole vault, where Henry Lindblad threw himself over the bar hanging at 4.13m (13-6 5/8).  The result did not see the light of day, as the latter part of Saturday's competitions took place under the floodlights of the Stockholm Stadium.  Sports leader Tahko Pihkala was impressed by Lindblad's achievement, stating it was "in the American class".

Less would have sufficed

Future Olympic medalists Lauri Lehtinen and Lauri Virtanen exhausted the Swedes in the 5000m, leaving them a couple of hundred meters behind. Lehtinen, who claimed the trophy for the most stylish victory, bulldozed his compatriot with a fierce kick, starting 300 metres before the finish line. Veteran Paavo Nurmi, kindly guided the youngsters after the race, stating that less effort would have been sufficient.

The Swedish press labeled the victorious Finnish duo as "machine-like athletes." Whether it was praise or insult is hard to say.

Nurmi, who had chased world records over two miles around Midsummer 1931, was also enthusiastic about the international match. The 1931 Athlete of the Year casually picked up full points in the 10K. Insinuations from Sweden about Nurmi's professionalism and scrutiny of travel expenses didn't necessarily raise the atmosphere.

Elbow fights

The 800 metres turned into an elbow battle on the track and, after the race, a verbal altercation off the track among the jury. Through the lens of blue-and-white glasses, Karl-Gustaf Björk of Sweden pushed Paavo Michelsson of Finland aside after a couple of hundred metres of trotting. Birger Kraft of Sweden also exerted force. Instead of turning the other cheek, the Finnish lad reciprocated by tickling Björk's ribs. Eventually, both Michelsson (later Mikkeli) and Björk were disqualified. The victory went to Harri Larva, the Olympic champion over 1500 meters, who reclaimed his top spot from two years ago.

"It seems ridiculous that four runners can't avoid quarreling while running two laps around the stadium," criticized the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter the next day.

Eino Purje, named the best Finnish athlete of the match, won the 1500 metres. Having fought in the ranks of the Reds during the Finnish Civil War, he pulled ahead after the 800 metres and began to disperse the pack like Hicham El Guerrouj himself. The result was a world-leading time of 3:53.6.

There was commotion from the long jump area, as Martti Tolamo's leap, approximately 730 centimeters (23-11 3/8), was flagged as a foul. "I dare say the jump was not foul," defended the historian who fell in the Russo-Finnish Winter War. Elvir Sörensson of Sweden claimed victory with a leap of 7.16m (23-5 7/8)

Finland won the international match decisively with a score of 104-76. In the marathon table of international match points, the Republic took the lead with a score of 379-352.

Good programming on the radio

The international match was broadcasted for the second consecutive time on the modern electronic media of radio. The Finnish broadcast began on Saturday at 7:10pm. On Sunday, the broadcast started at 2:30pm. The commentator was Dr. Martti Jukola, who was now seen for the first time behind the microphone in the match. Reporting on the meet in Swedish airspace was commentator Sven Jerring, whose banter pleased Finnish radio critics more than Jukola. 

The press was also enthusiastically involved. For example, while reports of Nurmi's world records abroad were often only a small news item in Finnish newspapers in early 1920's, the Stockholm battles were spread across several pages with headline-grabbing titles.

Guaranteed popularity

From the Finnish perspective, the match was a real major competition during the gap years between major championships. Even a charter bus was arranged from Finnish Lapland to the Swedish capital for fans, although border formalities in Tornio took longer than they do today. The trip may have been one of the first organized excursions by ordinary citizens of Finland to a foreign sports competition.

Even the difficult global situation did not dampen the excitement of the international match. In the early 1930s, Western countries were shaken by an economic depression caused by the collapse of stock prices, which in Finland manifested as unemployment and forced auctions. Political extremes also strengthened.

Broken relations

After the match, tensions ran high in both countries' leadership. At the closing ceremony, the chairman of the Athletic Association, Urho Kekkonen, stated:

"International matches become so exhausting, heavy, and bloody, if I may say so, that they sometimes seem too serious to be considered sports."

The sports relations between Finland and Sweden did not break immediately after the 1931 match. Rather, both sides took a time-out and began to consider what should be done with the meet. Relations with Sweden were only severed the following year after Nurmi was declared a professional.

In Sweden, there was no particular desire to continue the international matches either. The Swedish Sports Association stated in early 1932 that "an international match against Finland is out of the question," because "Finland is too superior."

The boiling atmosphere of the international matches, the playful Swedish newspaper articles, and Nurmi's disqualification were apparently just excuses to explain the rupture in relations. The real reason may have been related to money. Finnish athletes enjoyed competing in Sweden, where amateur rules were interpreted liberally. As a staunch defender of amateur sports, Kekkonen feared that Finns would get used to competing for hefty envelopes in the neighboring country and start demanding similar compensation from domestic organizers. The earning trips of Finnish athletes to the prosperous Nordic neighboring country had to be stopped.

Apparently, brown envelopes only swelled in Finland after the rupture of sports relations. Kekkonen took action and in 1934 sent Nurmi an offer he couldn't refuse: to stop competing or at least stop demanding compensation.

Results

• Wikipedia (complete)

• Friidrottsstatistik (complete)

• Tilastopaja

Newspaper and online stories 

• Helsingin Sanomat, August 30, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Uusi Suomi, August 30, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Turun Sanomat, August 30, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Hufvudstadsbladet, August 30, 1931 (in Swedish)

• Helsingin Sanomat, August 31, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Uusi Suomi, August 31, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Turun Sanomat, August 31, 1931 (in Finnish)

• Hufvudstadsbladet, August 31, 1931 (in Swedish)

• UKK, August 10, 1934 (in Finnish)

• Iltalehti, September 12, 2015 (in Finnish)

• Liikuntatieteellinen seura, September 4, 2020 (in Finnish)

Statistics

• Tilastopaja