IK Start and sports during World War II
There were few spectators present during the National Confederation Football Championship at Bislett in 1943. A tournament that, due to the sports strike, was not considered an official Norwegian Championship. (Photo: Unknown/Arbeiderbevegelsningsn archive and library)
During the German occupation of Norway (1940–1945), Norwegian sports were subjected to attempted Nazification through the establishment of the NS Sports Federation (NS Idrettsforbund). In response, many sports clubs, including I.K. Start from Kristiansand, chose to boycott official sports.
This was part of the so-called sports strike (idrettsstreiken), a broad civil resistance movement in which clubs and athletes refused to take part in Nazi-controlled activities. I.K. Start joined this sporting front and did not participate in NS-organized sports.
The club thus became part of illegal sports, also known as jøssing sports, where people continued to train and compete outside the occupation authorities’ control, often in secrecy out in nature. This form of civil resistance was seen as important for maintaining national identity and the will to resist.
The authorities’ reaction went so far that I.K. Start’s chairman, Finn Hansen, and secretary, Bjarne Sørensen, were to be brought before an NS “people’s court” accused of unlawfully obstructing sports activities. The background was that, at an extraordinary general meeting in the spring of 1941, I.K. Start had decided not to adopt the “new” sports system — a decision passed by a vote of 66 to three. Nor would the club hand itself over to the members (three) who wished to follow the new arrangement.
Thanks to excellent work by Start’s lawyers, the case was withdrawn from the legal system. Start was the only football club to be indicted in this “People’s Court.”
During this period, Start played only three illegal matches against Vigør, winning two and drawing one. The club’s members also took part in illegal ski and orienteering events.
In this way, the club was part of the broader sporting front that resisted the Nazis’ attempts to control Norwegian sports. Many of the club’s members could also be found among the gutta på skauen (resistance fighters hiding in the forests) and ended up in captivity for that reason. But that is another story. [related_articles _document="__macroDocument1"/]
The Finn Hansen mentioned here was, incidentally, the father of honorary member Finn Hansen, who was part of I.K. Start’s leadership in the 1970s and 1980s.
