UMFÍ

There was a lot going on at Þingvellir by the Öxará river, the ancient sacred gathering place of the Icelandic nation, on Friday 2 August 1907. A large crowd had gathered for a national festival, the second since the great national festival held there in 1874. Many dignitaries were present, most notably the King of Iceland and Denmark with a splendid entourage to honour his subjects. Icelandic leaders flocked to the site, the newspapers of the time carefully reported their every step and that of the king, and books were later published to commemorate the visit. More than six thousand people were there, from all over the country and from abroad.

That day, eight glíma wrestlers demonstrated their sport for the king on the plains and wrestled bravely. The glíma attracted great attention, as one competitor, Jóhannes Jósefsson from Akureyri, had vowed to win or be considered a lesser man. No modern international football match has attracted as much attention as the King’s Glíma of 1907, and for months the nation talked of little else than whether the wrestlers from the south would manage to humble this proud northerner. Jóhannes did not win: he was thrown twice and finished third. However, he achieved something greater later that day, when he and five other young men founded a national federation of youth associations in Iceland and he was elected its chair. The federation was named Ungmennafélag Íslands and has been the standard-bearer of the youth association movement ever since.

This event was barely mentioned in the newspapers, as everything revolved around the dignitaries present. No one knew what to expect of these so-called youth associations. Now, a full century later, all the festive speeches, cheers and tributes to the notables of that time are forgotten, but everyone knows the organisation that saw the light of day at a small meeting that summer day. It has grown and flourished and taken root in communities all over the country. The founding of UMFÍ turned out to be the gathering’s most significant contribution to the nation, although few suspected it at the time.

Vormenn Íslands, p. 21.

The video below shows photos and footage from the first UMFÍ National Games, held in 1909, up to the 2013 Games in Selfoss.

Filmmaker Marteinn Sigurgeirsson collected the footage in one place. It includes interviews with Sveinn í Kálfskinni, Gísli Halldórsson, Reynir Karlsson, Hafsteinn Þorvaldsson, swimming teacher Hörður Óskarsson and many others. There is also much of interest, such as footage from Laugarvatn in 1965 when the band Mánar played in public for the first time.