The melancholy romance of ÍA, the club that once ruled Iceland through thick and thin

Just over 30 miles north of Reykjavik is the small port town of Akranes on the west coast of Iceland. Even for Iceland, it's not a huge place. With its buildings clustered on a thin strip of peninsula that extends stealthily into the ocean, it is home to just 8,000 people.

Like many coastal settlements in Iceland, Akranes is renowned for its thriving fishing industry, and its deep, still harbor is home to a flotilla of trawlers that ply these teeming waters each summer. But there's another reason why Akranes is a household name to many Icelanders, and it has nothing to do with trawlers.

Those who don't go to the waves in search of fish prefer to go to the football field in search of more prestigious fishing. The town's resident football team, Íþróttabandalag Akraness, more commonly referred to by their initials ÍA, is one of Iceland's most successful clubs. It's a remarkable feat given that for much of its 75-year existence the club has been bound by its rural location and small population.

The roots of this success were planted deep in 20th century soil when in 1951, ÍA became the first club outside of Reykjavik to win the title of Úrvalsdeild karla - literally, the Men's Select division. For the first 39 years of the league's existence, the Reykjavik clubs of Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur (KR), Valur, Vikingur and Knattspyrnufélagið Fram had exercised an unshakeable oligopoly over Iceland's elite football division.

But throughout the second half of the century, as the league evolved from a one-round to a two-round format, the people of this small fishing town became famous for their excellence on the football field. Between 1951 and 1990, no club enjoyed more success in Iceland than ÍA, and much of this national dominance has been attributed to the work of Ríkharður Jonsson, who served for a long time as player-manager.

Sadly he passed away in 2017, but These Football Times had the privilege of speaking with his daughter, Sigrún Ríkharðsdóttir, with the help of his grandson, Ríkharður Árnason. Sigrún has attended ÍA matches all her life and is a strong supporter of Skagamenn as they come. "You don't want to sit next to me at a game," she said dryly. "I'm the loudest woman in Iceland when it comes to football!" Meanwhile, his son shares his first name with his legendary grandfather figure and is responsible for social media at the club. Few can claim a richer legacy with this unique football club.

Their past and future are incorrigibly tied to that of Íþróttabandalag Akraness, and it is in their past that this story begins. In 1990, to be precise, after which ÍA suffered relegation for only the second time in its history. Although they won the league twice and the Icelandic Cup four times during the 1980s, by the turn of the decade the club had somehow managed to slip through the dreaded trapdoor of the premier league. /p>

"You know what football is," says Sigrún Ríkharðsdóttir with a wry smile when asked to explain what went wrong for the then 12 champions. “Sometimes you have a good game. Sometimes you have a bad game. But the team of 1983 and 1984 was gone, and the next generation that came after us was young, very young indeed. »

The ÍA team that suffered the infamy of relegation relied heavily on a core of young and painfully inexperienced footballers. Several of the players who have featured in all or almost all of the league games included left winger Haraldur Ingólfsson (20), left midfielder/back Sigursteinn Gíslason (22) and future superstar striker Arnar Gunnlaugsson, who was the team mate. top scorer this season at just 17 years old.

It was so admirable to entrust the ...