ONCE UPON A TIME…

…in 1954 and 1955.

The prominent Swedish bandy leaders Sune Almkvist and Torsten Tegnér made some fruitless attempts at creating bandy contacts with Soviet. Gunnar Galin and Börje Tegfors followed up with more success. The result was a four-nation tournament in Moscow in 1954.

The leaders of the four nations, Norway, Finland, USSR and Sweden, spoke of forming a Federation and a preparatory meeting was held in Helsinki on 4-5 September, 1954. This led to the establishment of the International Bandy Federation IBF (now FIB) in Stockholm on 12 February 1955.  Signatures to the founding document were L.I. Suurla, Finland, Jens Raanaas, Norway, Michail Kanunnikov, USSR and Gunnar Galin, Sweden. 

Gunnar Galin was elected to be the first Federation President and he chose his own Swedish Federation Secretary, Börje Tegfors, as General Secretary.

At the initial Congress common rules were accepted and already at the Moscow Tournament, the Soviets insured that the Nordic countries gave approval to the boards on the sides of the ice that they had already adopted. And so it was. At the same time the Soviets accepted the somewhat more flexible Swedish Bandy sticks. Also on the agenda stood a proposal to institute a championship competition.

A significant contribution to establishing bandy contacts with Soviet was made by Finlands Bandy Secretary John Gustafsson. He worked intensively with the Sports Committee in Moscow and from there opened the way to Moscow Tournament through the generous offer to pay the travel and accommodation expenses for the three Nordic teams.

Gunnar Galin, the historic first President and held that post 1955-1963. 

They say he played bandy like an angel. Possibly due to Galin’s smooth play, his genius for playing off his teammates and his exquisite ball sense. In addition, he was small in stature and had what is usually called a “biblical” profile. 

He was the strategist and forward who let the others score the goals. Typical for him is said to be the time in 1920 when AIK beat Nacka 20-1 in bandy at Laduviken: He did not score a single one of the twenty goals. Galin was also a successful ice hockey player, but in bandy he won 4 Swedish championships with IK Göta and played 9 international matches. Gunnar Galin passed away in 1997 at the age of 94.