The last few years have been good for Icelandic sports enthusiasts, as Icelandic national teams in various disciplines have had great success in international tournaments and thus made the Icelandic nation happy. The results of our national teams in soccer, handball, basketball and group gymnastics have caught attention worldwide and become a research topic for scientists. One of them is Viðar Halldórsson, assistant lecturer in sociology, who recently published his book "Sport in Iceland: How small nations achieve international success“.
Viðar has, in collaboration with Þórólfur Þórlindsson, professor emeritus, studied how individual success and groups/teams are formed by their social and cultural environment and published learned articles on the subject in various scientific journals. He has furthermore acted as a consultant for Icelandic teams and national teams in various sports. "When the male national team in soccer got to the finals in the European Championship in 2015 it caught considerable attention worldwide and a sociological analysis was needed in my opinion. It is quite special that all of our national teams in the most popular group sports in Iceland excel at the same time - during the last 10 year. This clearly needed looking into in a comprehensive way," said Viðar when asked about his research.
In his book, Viðar covers his research on all of Iceland's national teams that have had great success in international tournaments in the last few years, soccer, handball, basketball and group gymnastics, in which he studies especially common factors between the teams. "I argue that the good results of these teams stem from the socio-cultural context that forms the way they play. I follow Gary Alan Fine, a sociologist who suggested that sociologists look for the common in different situations. I tried, in other words, to analyse what the teams had in common and show how their main characteristics are produced in the interplay between the socio-cultural context in Iceland and current international trends and opportunities," says Viðar.
Viðar adds that the results show that the national teams in these different sports are in fact remarkably alike in many ways. "They all possess a strong team unity and good spirits. They even use the same rhetoric to define how they play, such as that they "play with the heart" and "the Icelandic insanity." The smallness of the nation, its history and traditions have shaped the characteristics of the national teams, making them different from many of the opponent teams. The strength of the Icelandic teams lies in this approach combined with increased professionalism in training and sports activities in Iceland in recent years," said Viðar.
Viðar said that the book was written for the use of a wider audience than academia. "I believe that those generally interested in sports and the success of these teams can benefit from and enjoy this book," he adds.
It is one thing to achieve good results with a national team, but quite another to build upon it or even maintain it. What is needed for Iceland to maintain its position among the best sports nations according to Viðar? "We need, first and foremost, to realise our strengths. What makes for the great results we have achieved in recent years? We need to preserve the playfulness, the unity, the confidence and the struggle; the vital factors, and at the same time promote professionalism in sports activities," he says.
The book is published by Routledge.