L'uccellino - Little bird

If Padova and Fiorentina ever conduct polls to decide their greatest ever
line-ups expect the name of Kurt Hamrin to feature for both clubs. The man
from Stockholm, a fantastic right-winger and an ice-cool scoring machine, is
revered in Padua where his 20 goals helped Padova to a brilliant third place
Serie A finish in 1958, and especially in Florence where he fired a 150 goals
in nine years.

Hamrin, who was known in Italy as ‘l’uccellino’ - the little bird - was
one of Serie A’s great players of the 1950s and 60s. He was also one of the
finest footballers Sweden has ever produced. He was fast, sturdy, skilful and
courageous with superb powers of dribbling and acceleration. He was also
blessed with a centre forward’s nose for goal.

Despite being a winger, Hamrin nearly always challenged for the title of
Serie A capocannoniere. Born in 1934 he began his career with local side AIK
Stockholm in 1952. Hamrin was a product of one of Sweden’s ‘Stars of the
Future’ courses which were devised to replace the talent leaving the country
following Sweden’s triumph at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. The policy
was a huge success.

Apart from Hamrin the courses also produced Skoglund, Axbom, Parling and
Borjesson, all players who starred in the Swedish side that reached the World
Cup Final in 1958. Hamrin’s displays for AIK - he scored an incredible 54 in
62 matches - naturally caught the attention of Italian clubs.

In the 1950s Swedish players were all the rage in Italy. Gunnar Nordahl, a
prolific striker, and Nils Liedholm, a graceful midfield player, had both
joined Milan. Skoglund, a mercurial left winger, had gone to Inter.
Selmosson, a talented striker known as the ‘Ray of Moonlight,’ signed for
Udinese. Gustavsson, a hard defender joined Atalanta and Jeppson, an elegant
forward, was a star at Napoli.

Hamrin’s destination in 1956 was Juventus, but he had an unhappy time in
Turin. He struggled to hold down a first team place and he was part of a
mediocre Juve side, the Bianconeri finishing a disappointing ninth. Not
surprisingly there was a clearout. Two new forwards, Omar Sivori and John
Charles arrived and Hamrin, after just one season with Juve, was offloaded to
Padova who were then managed by Nereo Rocco who would later win trophies
galore at Milan.

It proved an inspired move for Hamrin. Virtually everyone had tipped little
Padova for the drop. "Words, words, nothing but words. What the newspapers
write, we should take no notice of," Rocco told his players. The Coach built
a robust and well-amalgamated side with Hamrin forming a sublime
understanding with the Argentine playmaker Rosa and striker Brighenti.

The men from Veneto finished third, thanks mainly to Hamrin’s goals and that
summer he returned - understandably on a high - to his native Sweden to take
part in the World Cup. The winger made his international bow in 1956 but
after joining Juventus where he turned professional, he forfeited his place
in the national side since only amateurs could play for Sweden. However, on
the eve of the 1958 Finals, this rule was relaxed by the Swedish FA - no
doubt to improve Sweden’s chances on home soil.

Hamrin emerged as one of the stars of that World Cup, coming into his own in
the quarter-final against Russia and the semi-final against West Germany.
Against the Russians he unleashed his full armoury of tricks, dummying both
ways and accelerating past his markers. The Swedes won 2-0 with Hamrin
heading the first and setting up the second, beating three men before cutting
the ball back to the grateful Simonsson. One journalist describing this match
said: "It was though Hamrin had launched a personal blitzkrieg."

Against the ruthless Germans he was once again Sweden’s danger man,
tormenting his marker, full-back Juskowiak, time and time again. The defender
became so wound up that when Hamrin - who, wrote the English journalist Brian
Glanville, bore his way through the German defence "like an inspired mole" -
fouled him 12 minutes into the second half, he lost his temper and
retaliated, resulting in him being sent off.

With the Germans down to 10 men Sweden won 3-1 with Hamrin scoring the third
a minute from time. It was arguably the best individual goal of the
competition. Receiving the ball he began to trundle with it towards the
touchline "like a man stricken by temporary amnesia," wrote Glanville. Then
he suddenly came alive, beating one man, then a second and a third before
slipping the ball past German goalkeeper Herkenrath. Sweden were in the Final
where they faced Brazil. But Vicente Feola, Brazil’s Coach, had done his
homework and replaced his usual right-back, De Sordi, with the powerful, more
defensively astute Djalma Santos. It worked. Hamrin was marked out of the
game by Santos and was reduced to the role of a hapless observer as the
Brazilians ran out comfortable 5-2 winners.

By now Hamrin was a Fiorentina player, signed by Coach Fulvio Bernadini to
replace the Brazilian winger Julinho who had returned to Brazil. Julinho’s
were big boots to fill but the Swede proved a sensation in Florence, scoring
26 goals in his first season and another 26 in his second. By the time he
left for Milan in 1967 he had become Fiorentina’s record scorer with 150
goals. It was only surpassed by Gabriel Batistuta in the 1999-2000 season.

Sadly, Hamrin never won the capocannoniere title. Twice he finished second,
to Juventus’ Sivori in 1960 and to Bologna’s Nielsen in 1964. He came close
to winning Lo Scudetto with Fiorentina on three occasions, in 1959, 1960 and
1962 although he did help the Viola win the first ever Cup-Winners’ Cup in
1961 against Glasgow Rangers. In 1967 his love affair with Florence ended. He
was transferred to Milan, to be reunited with Rocco, in exchange for the
Brazilian star Amarildo. "They must have been crazy to let him Hamrin go,
absolutely crazy," Rocco later remarked.

It was with the Rossoneri that Hamrin won most silverware, picking up another
Cup-Winners’ Cup medal as well as Lo Scudetto in 1968, followed by the
European Cup the following year. Hamrin, even though he was now well into his
30s, offered Milan more options and he eased the attacking burden from
playmaker Gianni Rivera and striker Pierino Prati.

As the late Rocco himself said: "Yes, we have Rivera and Prati but this would
not be enough without Hamrin. Any team with brains in their heads could plug
the centre just by bringing an extra forward back into the penalty area. But
with Hamrin we have two options, wing play and centre play. All right, so
Hamrin is past his best but then his best was fantastic. Show me a better
winger in Italy, if not Europe."

Rocco had coached Milan’s European Cup-winning side of 1963 but reckoned the
class of 1969 were better. "Hamrin, I think, tilts the balance between this
team and that one," he explained after the second European Cup triumph. He
was released by Milan after that terrific 4-1 victory over Ajax in Madrid’s
Estadio Bernabeu and he ended his career with Napoli, finally retiring in
1971. He still lives in Florence and the now portly Hamrin can often be
spotted at Fiorentina’s home matches.

STAR RATING: 9/10 He is, without doubt, a Serie A legend and one of the
greatest stranieri to have played in Italian football. His tally of 190 goals
scored from the wing is unlikely to be beaten.

Kurt Hamrin
Born: Stockholm, 19/12/1934
Position: Right-winger
Serie A debut: Lazio 0-3 Juventus, 16/9/56
Clubs: AIK Stockholm, Juventus, Padova, Fiorentina, Milan, Napoli

Honours:
Lo Scudetto (1968)
European Cup (1969)
Cup-Winners’ Cup (1961, 68)
Coppa Italia (1960, 66)
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