Kurt Hamrin, born on November 19, 1934, came to AIK as a 14-year-old in the summer of 1949 and played with the club’s junior team in the first seasons. On May 23, 1952, AIK in Division II Nordöstra took on Hammarby IF at home at the Råsunda football stadium in Solna, which during the year celebrated 15 years since the inauguration in April 1937, and for the first time Kurt Hamrin was selected for one of the A team’s competitive matches. At that time, the teams played 2-3-5 and Kurre took the place as right winger in jersey number 7 under the leadership of the coaching duo George Raynor and Per Kaufeldt. The relatively chance-rich match ended 0-0 in front of 6,952 spectators and the visitors were the closest to victory, but a strong defensive game, mainly by goalkeeper Bengt Kjell and team captain Börje Leander, saved AIK’s points. Today’s news gave the following assessment to the 17-year-old debutant, “young Hamrin was too nervous to be able to achieve anything of value on the right wing”. The match was the only non-Allsvenskan match during the time in AIK. In the 1951/1952 season, AIK won the series twelve points and goal difference ahead of runner-up Karlstad BIK and was back in the Allsvenskan after a year’s absence. Worth noting is that a win at this time yielded two points, so the series victory was superior.
On May 10, 1953, it was time for Kurre Hamrin’s second competitive match in the AIK jersey and also his first Allsvenskan match. The match was played at Malmö IP and the opposition was IFK Malmö. AIK fell 0–3 in front of 11,898 spectators and Hamrin had the away team’s best scoring chance when, at the beginning of the second half, he fired a hard shot that hit the goal frame. Kurre played in AIK’s six final games in Allsvenskan 1952/1953 when the club finished in fifth place in the table, seven points behind league winners Malmö FF. His first goal in the A team came on 14 May 1953 when he scored at home against Gais (2–3) in front of 14,016 spectators at Råsunda for the 2–3 reduction in the 57th minute of the match after he received the ball from Ingvar “Tjotta Olsson. It was a total of three goals for him during the season when he also scored at home against IFK Gothenburg (4–0) and at home against IFK Norrköping (4–3).
In the 1953/1954 season, AIK finished fourth in the Allsvenskan, three points behind the league winners Gais in an equal top of the table. Kurre Hamrin came second in the internal shooting league after he answered for 15 goals, one less than Ingvar “Tjotta” Olsson. Kurre scored twice during the season in four Allsvenskan matches in a row (in rounds 5-8 and in rounds 14-17) and after 19 rounds played looked to be AIK’s top scorer, but beautiful singing “Tjotta” Olsson accounted for seven goals in the final three rounds. With 23 minutes left in the series epilogue away to Degerfors IF, “Tjotta” scored the goal that gave him a solitary victory in the internal shooting league. Kurre, along with Ivan Bodin, Bengt Kjell and Lennart Askinger, were the only AIK players to play all 22 Allsvenskan matches during the season.
After he proved to be a good goalscorer, Kurre Hamrin raised the level further in the 1954/1955 season. Already in the fall of 1954, he accounted for 14 goals and in the home meeting with Sandvikens AIK (6–1) on October 24, 1954, Kurre accounted for four of the goals. AIK was in the fight for the SM gold for a long time, but too many points lost at the end of the season meant that the team finished third in the table, five points behind the series winners Djurgårdens IF. Kurre Hamrin accounted for eight goals in the spring of 1955 and finished with a total of 22 goals scored in 22 games played. The goal production made him the all-Svenska top scorer, three goals ahead of runner-up John Eriksson from Djurgårdens IF.
AIK mixed and gave during the fall of 1955, but right winger Kurt Hamrin delivered as usual. There were 13 goals in the twelve autumn matches and he was a great match hero on 4 September 1955 when AIK defeated Hammarby IF (6–1) in front of 35,663 spectators at Råsunda and Kurre accounted for four goals in the Stockholm derby. On December 30, 1955, Kurre went to Bromma Airport, together with his legal advisor Henry Nord, to fly down to Torino in Italy and negotiate with Juventus FC and a transfer to the Italian club took place. After Kurt Hamrin left AIK, they no longer had anything to do with the top fight, but finished in fifth place in the Allsvenskan table in 1955/1956, eleven points behind the series winners IFK Norrköping.
After the time in AIK, there were games in Juventus FC (1956-57), AC Padova (1957-58), AC Fiorentina (1958-67), AC Milan (1967-69) and SSC Napoli (1969-71). He also played 32 A international matches for Sweden and was noted for 17 goals. Kurre Hamrin played five of six games as Sweden took silver in the World Cup on home soil in 1958. He started his five games in jersey number 7 as Sweden reached the final against Brazil in front of 49,737 spectators at Råsunda on June 29, 1958 and the home team led by 1 -0 before Pelé & Co finally won 5-2. Kurre Hamrin won the Serie A (1968), the European Cup (1969), the Cup Winners’ Cup (1961, 1968) and the Italian Cup (1961, 1966) during his time in Italy. He also played two A-national games for the Swedish national ice hockey team.
Kurt Hamrin’s last AIK match was a practice match against Brazil (2–4) when they played a practice match before the World Cup in England. The match was played in front of 21,908 spectators at the Stockholm stadium on 4 July 1966, which was a new attendance record at the stadium during a football match. Kurre, with his socks rolled down, pushed in 2–2 behind goalkeeper Manga in the Stadion’s south goal at the end of the first half, after receiving a left cross from Roland “Rimbo” Lundblad.
There were a total of 63 competitive matches in the AIK jersey for Kurre Hamrin and he scored a whopping 54 goals. He won the Allsvenskan shooting league in 1954/1955 when he scored 22 goals in the 22 matches and no AIK player has won the shooting league since then. Kurre was for many summers a valued visitor at AIK’s matches at Råsunda and Friends Arena when he was home from Italy. AIK has had a number of great footballers throughout the ages, but there has only been one Kurt Hamrin. Thanks for everything, Kurre!
