17 August 2009

Jonas Bergström and football

When the engagement of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Jonas Bergström was announced on 11 August, the royal court published a cv where we were told that he "has been active in different sport activities including football at top level".

Curious about Bergström's football career, I have searched around for more information, but the few articles on the subject gives another picture than the royal court has wanted to show.

The Swedish newspaper Expressen wrote already in May 2007 that Bergström started to play football (soccer) only 6 years ago and was viewed as a promising striker. For 10 years he played for several clubs in the Stockholm area before he decided "to retire" only 16 years old to concentrate on school.

But football is still an important part of his life, and he still plays amateur football for the Swedish 7th division side Rara Avis BK, which he founded together with friends back in 2002. The other major tabloid in Sweden, Aftonbladet, claims to know that Jonas once dreamt about becoming a professional football player, but when his studies took more and more time he had to make a choice.

A person named RubyTuesday tells at the discussion forum Flashback on 11 August 2009 that Jonas Bergström used to play for AIK at junior level. His sources are not revealed, however. But if we take RubyTuesday's words for granted, is it still correct to say that Jonas used to play football at "top level"? I would think that the royal court is stretching the truth a bit too far...

I have of course asked the royal court's information department for more details about Bergström's football career, but have not received an answer as yet.

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