PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Most people probably know how Sven Tumba left his mark on Botkyrka outside Stockholm.
But there are probably fewer people who know that Börje Salming also did it, albeit in a slightly different way.
– Börje was probably a little embarrassed, says Kenneth Jansson, who was present at the incident, to Mitt i Stockholm.
It was a Thursday in March 2004. Botkyrka’s culture and leisure department was in full swing investigating the possibilities of being able to practice ice sports inside the Tumba sports hall during the summer half-year. And they were stuck with a company that lays plastic floors that work like ice.
Salming’s nice gesture
The company had taken in the brothers Stig Salming and Börje Salming as ambassadors to sell their product. Börje, who lived in Vaxholm, went out to Tumba to test the ice together with expectant young people who practiced sports on ice. Kenneth Janssonunit manager for facility management of the municipality’s sports facilities, was the person who arranged the day with Börje Salming.
The article continues after the picture.
– We had a whole evening where we had invited both Tumba and Tullinge ice hockey club and Botkyrka figure skating club. Each team got 30 minutes with Börje, so we were probably between 16 and 22. He drove the whole time – he thought it was fun, says Kenneth Jansson to the newspaper Mitt in Stockholm.
But the whole thing would then take an unexpected turn.
READ MORE: Absolutely decisive move – which was about to stop Börje Salming’s powerful tribute: “I had my hunches”
“Probably a little embarrassed”
Salming mostly glided around and chatted with the young people and the children, but then something happened.
– Börje mostly glided around the whole evening and talked to people. But somewhere he suddenly got the feeling for a couple of shots against the small floorball goal we set up. So he grabbed a puck and sped up and pulled it towards the cage without thinking that we were in a sports hall, says Kenneth Jansson.
If it was a goal? Unfortunately not, but instead the puck went outside and straight through a wall and into a storage room.
– Börje was probably a little embarrassed, so he quickly arrived with a marker pen and wrote his autograph on the wooden board that we set up.
The article continues after the picture.
Since that shot in 2004, there has been a disc made of Plexiglas as protection to prevent the disc from being destroyed.
– The years have passed, and Börje is no longer there, so it feels even more important to preserve it in some way now, concludes Kenneth Jansson.
READ MORE: Börje Salming’s beautiful greeting to two little guys shows how incredibly missed the icon is: “So terribly nice”
See picture of Börje’s “gift of forgiveness”