The Development of Sámi Sport, 1970–1990: A Concern for Sweden or for Sápmi?

Abstract It is widely agreed that sport and national identity are two interwoven phenomena. Recently, researchers have taken an interest in how sport has been used for nation-building purposes among groups not defined in terms of nation-states. These include the Sámi, an Indigenous people living in an area that extends over the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Sámi championships and a Sámi national football team have been important elements in shaping a Sámi national identity across the state borders. Against this background, the historical development that led to the formation in 1990 of a Sámi National Sports Federation was highly complicated. The period from 1970 to 1990 was fraught by the dilemma of how sport was to be organized – based on the division of the Sámi by state borders or through a transnational Sámi sports organization. The outcome was a compromise in that the Sámi National Sports Federation was founded as an umbrella organization under which Sámi in Norway, Sámi in Finland, and Sámi in Sweden established separate and autonomous Sámi ‘district associations’.

Denmark-Norway, Sweden-Finland and Russia began to collect taxes from the population in the north, the need arose to define the borders more precisely. An addendum to the Treaty of Str€ omstad in 1751 defined the exact course of the border between Norway and Sweden-Finland. This addition, the so-called Lapp Codicil, ensured the right of the S ami (especially the nomadic reindeer herders) to cross the border without hindrance. In the nineteenth century, however, the political climate between the states hardened, resulting in the restricting of freedom of the S ami and the closing of the borders. The breakthrough of the modern western idea of the nation-state led to a shift in that the identification as S ami took second place to identification based on citizenship. 2 The size of the S ami population is difficult to establish as there are no ethnic censuses in the Nordic countries. How many people identify as S ami is therefore uncertain, but according to one estimate, the number is 80,000-100,000, of whom 50,000-65,000 live in Norway, 20,000-40,000 in Sweden, about 8,000 in Finland and about 2,000 in Russia. 3 Nonetheless, today elected S ami parliaments exist in Norway (established in 1989), Sweden (established in 1993) and Finland (established in 1996). The influence and powers of these S ami parliaments vary from one country to another, as does the official status of the S ami. 4 Although the Swedish Parliament recognized the S ami as an Indigenous people in 1977, Sweden has not ratified ILO 169, an international convention that secures and protects Indigenous peoples' rights to their land, whereas Norway did so in 1990. 5 The S ami ethnopolitical movement started as early as the first half of the twentieth century, when S ami associations were founded in Sweden, which in 1950 merged into the National Association of Swedish S ami. In the same year, the Swedish S ami Ski Association (Svenska Samernas Skidf€ orbund) became the first S ami sports organization. One purpose of this association was to organize the S ami Championships, an annual ski sport event first held in 1948 in Jokkmokk in Sweden. The sports comprising this championship proceeded from the traditional practices of reindeer herding, with competitions in crosscountry skiing and a reindeer herders' relay race (a patrol competition where three-man teams skied, lassoed reindeer antlers and shot at targets in the shape of wolves). 6 From the beginnings in the late 1940s and throughout the next two decades, the S ami Championships were a concern solely for S ami in Sweden. 7 Although voices called for the event to be opened to S ami in the surrounding countries, the leaders of the Swedish S ami Ski Association were uncompromising. In the 1950s and 1960s, the S ami Championships remained a competition for S ami in Sweden only. Consequently, during the first decades of the S ami Championships, the picture that emerged was that of the S ami as an ethnic minority in Sweden, rather than as a transnational people. 8 In the early 1970s, however, S ami sport underwent a noticeable ideological change. As is particularly evident from the opening quotation, sport expresses the image of the S ami as a nation with a flag and a national anthem of its own. These changes contributed to the creation of the S ami National Sports Federation in 1990, establishing a transnational S ami sports movement.
The crucial developments of the process that led to the formation of the transnational S ami National Sports Federation took place in Sweden, which for decades was the only country where organized S ami sport occurred. Moreover, it was sports leaders on the Swedish side who began to pursue the issue of organizing S ami sport across the state borders. Whereas previous research on S ami sport has mostly dealt with the situation in Norway from 1990 onwards, the role of the Swedish side in the establishment of the S ami National Sports Federation has been invisible. Since the development of S ami sport in Sweden differs markedly from that in Norway, a nuanced picture of the history of S ami sport is required.
Sport contributed significantly to the creation of a S ami nation, although challenges arose when organized S ami sport went from being an annual skiing championship in Sweden to becoming a transnational S ami sports movement with its own national federation. The intentions held by the key actors in S ami sports organizations between 1970 and 1990 and the tensions that arose after the implementation of these intentions demonstrate the dilemma that characterized S ami sport throughout the whole period. The dilemma revolved around the question of whether S ami sport should be organized according to the division of the S ami by state borders or through a transnational S ami sports organization. The dilemma was not only of an organizational nature as much as a question of how to express the S ami identity through sport. Whereas some regarded S ami sport as a concern for Sweden, others looked upon it as a tool to transcend the state borders in order to express a S ami national identity.

The S ami Nation
Sport and national identity are two interwoven phenomena. The 'metaphorical warfare' waged in international sporting spectacles such as the Olympic Games, as maintained by several researchers, has been especially significant in legitimizing the hegemonic position of the nation as an object of collective identification, even in a time of increased globalization and mobility across state borders. 9 As argued by historian Eric Hobsbawm, the impact of football in the construction of national identities cannot be underestimated, since '[t]he imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people'. 10 Benedict Anderson defined the nation as an 'imagined political community', since it ties together people who for the most part have never met and who will never meet or hear tell of each other. 11 Sports scholars, however, have criticized the excessively mechanical use of the concept of nation, especially the taken-for-granted linkage of nation and state in sports contexts. 12 By detaching nation from state in international sports contexts, Hywel Iorwerth, Alun Hardman, and Carwyn Rhys Jones have sought to shed light on groups that do not define themselves in terms of citizenship but rather with respect to ethnic-cultural identity. 13 The latter applies in large measure to the S ami with their status as an Indigenous people, a non-dominant group within a state with an acknowledged claim to Indigenous status within a geographical area. As Thomas Hylland Eriksen has pointed out, the term 'Indigenous' does not necessarily mean that a group claims to have been the first to settle in an area. Such populations do, however, represent a non-industrial mode of production and a lifestyle that makes the group vulnerable in relation to the surrounding society. 14 Eriksen, moreover, points out that 'Indigenous peoples nonetheless stand in a potentially conflictual relationship to the nation-state as an institution'. The aim is nevertheless rarely to establish a nation-state of their own, but rather to continue to live as a 'culture-bearing group'. 15 Over and above the definition of the S ami as an Indigenous people, the late twentieth century saw the rise of the idea of S apmi as a S ami nation. As the historian Lars Elenius says, S apmi is an example of a 'symbolic nation', or an 'ethnopolitically imagined nation', within which language, history, culture, and a shared territory are held up as identity markers. The relevance of talking about a symbolic nation is that it can be regarded as a stage in a postmodern identity creation that challenges 'the posttraditional nation-state' and in this way becomes a platform for political aspirations. 16 Unlike the symbolic nation, the nation-state consists of a territory where the geographical borders are connected to a state apparatus with a far-reaching concentration of power as regards the monopoly on violence, taxation, and legislation, for example. 17 By emphasizing non-dominant cultural and political markers, such as a language that is not the official language of the nation-state or a geographical territory that does not coincide with the borders of the state, the symbolic nation can challenge the dominance of the nation-state. Central markers of S apmi in its capacity as a symbolic nation are, for example, the S ami languages and a territory that extends across several different states. As regards the latter, S apmi can thus be additionally defined as a transnational symbolic nation. In this context, 'transnational' refers to processes whereby networks, organizations and relations are established that transcend the political borders of sovereign states. Within these processes, new identities and new concepts of the nation are constructed, based on territories and forms of community that cross state borders. 18 The rise of Nordic S ami championships is thus a stage in a transnational process to construct a symbolic nation. 19 The term 'Nordic' may however seem misleading in that it usually refers to the Nordic countries of Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, thus excluding the Sovietlater Russianpart of S apmi. The fact that the transnational S ami sports movement often called itself 'Nordic' should, nevertheless, not be interpreted to mean that there was a desire to exclude S ami on the Russian side. The reason was rather that bureaucracy and closed borders rendered it impossible to incorporate the Russian part of S apmi in the S ami sports movement (see the section 'Divided sport').

Indigenous Sport
The development of S ami sport during the period studied cannot be regarded as isolated in a Nordic context. From an international perspective, the 1970s and 1980s were dynamic decades, marked by Indigenous peoples' assertions of selfdetermination. Sports and games fulfilled an important function in this respect, as evidenced by several studies from North America. The Northern European and transnational context in which the S ami sports movement developed contributes to the relatively extensive international research on Indigenous peoples' organized sports movements. Janice Forsyth and Kevin B. Wamsley have shown how Indigenous sports leaders in Canada have reshaped sport from having been an instrument for assimilation in the hands of the majority society to becoming a means for the cultural revitalization of Indigenous peoples. The establishment of an all-Native sport system separated from the Eurocanadian sport system was a step in this process, as were the efforts behind the initiation of the North American Indigenous Games and the visions of a World Indigenous Nations Games. 20 Previous research has also examined other sports events that can be viewed as counterparts to the S ami championships, in that the forms of competition in these events have their roots in the traditional cultures of Indigenous peoples. Like the sports that are practised at the S ami championships, these events form a contrast to the 'mainstream' sport of the dominating society. An important sports event for Indigenous people are the Northern Games. This Inuit event, which has existed since 1970, was first held in Inuvik in the Northwest Territories of Canada. As pointed out by Victoria Paraschak, the organizers did not prioritize standardized rules at the event and the schedule was very flexible. By organizing the Northern Games in this alternative manner, it thus 'challenged the naturalness of Eurocanadian-derived sport as the sole, "legitimate" form of government-sponsored physical activity'. 21 In several studies, the focus lies on the opportunities and the challenges that arose when Indigenous peoples renegotiated and transformed elements of their traditional practices into competitive activities performed at games and sports festivals, such as the Dene Games, first held in 1977. 22 The Dene Games involve physical skills and contain the traditional games of the northern Athapaskans, a First Nations community. Michael K. Heine has described the incorporation of events and competitions from the Dene Games into the Arctic Winter Games during the 1990s. The latter is a circumpolar sporting festival, founded in 1969, containing competitions in 'mainstream' and Indigenous sports. The inclusion of the Dene Games in the Arctic Winter Games had, according to Heine, an important function in revitalizing traditional practices of Athapascan culture. However, since the games are not fully compatible with the 'performance principle' of modern sport (i.e. focussing on winning), the challenge has been to emphasize their cultural meanings rather than the results and outcomes. 23 Audrey Giles has highlighted a gender-related tension regarding the Dene Games, in which several competitions are exclusively male events. Giles analyzes this circumstance by problematizing the concept of 'tradition'. She defines the tradition as an outcome of power relations where certain interpretations are suggested, while others are invisible. In this case, when speaking of the revitalization of traditional practices, '[t]he voices of Dene women have been conspicuously absent from discussions concerning Dene Games'. 24 As with Indigenous peoples' sports organizations in North America, S ami sport stems from practices and skills with roots in the traditional S ami reindeer herding culture. 25 In addition to cross-country skiing, reindeer herders' relay races and lassoing, reindeer racing is a popular S ami sport, particularly in Norway. 26 Although organized S ami sport arose in Sweden as early as the 1940s, research has largely concerned aspects related to Norway. 27 However, a transnational perspective is apparent in sports historian Helge C. Pedersen's study of the history of S ami sport from 1990 onwards. Pedersen found that sport has been an important tool in shaping a S ami national identity across state borders and in strengthening the image of the S ami as an Indigenous people. S ami participation in the Arctic Winter Games since 2004 has particularly boosted this image, Pedersen argues. 28 In a study on sport in S ami areas in northern Norway, sports scholars Kirsti Pedersen and Kolbjørn Rafoss describe the emergence of cross-border S ami sporting events as follows: 'Since 1971, the Saami skiing championships in Sweden have been open to Saami from the other Nordic countries, and both elite and recreational participants can take part'. 29 This description, however, is oversimplified. Although the emergence of S ami Championships open to all S ami was in fact a complicated process, previous research has depicted it as relatively smooth, likely a result of the prominence of Norwegian perspectives in current research. 30 S ami in Norway encouraged the idea of S ami Championships for all S ami, regardless of citizenship. Among S ami in Sweden, however, opinions were divided. On the one hand, a younger generation of S ami sport leaders arose in the 1970s whose intention was to make S ami sport independent of state borders and incorporate it in the symbolic creation of a S ami nation. On the other hand, a faction opposing this ambition developed, instead advocating a policy of organizing sport on the basis of citizenship.

The Awakening of S ami Sport in the Early 1970s
After a strong first decade following the establishment of the S ami Ski Association, S ami sport declined in the 1960s. S ami associations 31 in Sweden showed little interest in organizing the S ami Championships, which meant that the S ami Ski Association had to cancel the event five times during the decade. 32 The reasons for this decline are a matter of speculation, although the lack of interest in sport shown by S ami associations and S ami villages and the fact that the board of the Swedish S ami Ski Association did not forcefully encourage the S ami associations to arrange the event likely led to these frequent cancellations. A turning point came at the start of the 1970s, when both competitors and organizers regarded some of the championships as a success. 33 An awakening occurred within S ami sport in the early 1970s. In order to understand the new directions that S ami sport took during these years the ideas and the actions of the sport leaders must be scrutinized. This was a consequence of the increased commitment displayed by the leadership of the Swedish S ami Ski Association, which also resulted in extensive changes to the form in which the S ami Championship was held in Jokkmokk in 1973. Under the leadership of Anders Stoor, its chairperson, new statutes and competition rules were adopted, and the name was changed from the Swedish S ami Ski Association to the S ami Sports Federation 34 (and from 1975 the Swedish S ami Sports Federation). 35 The name change signalled the broader scope that the executive board wished to achieve. The intention was that S ami sport should not only include skiing and other winter sports but also football and athletics. 36 To the chagrin of the sports federation, the S ami associations continued to show a decreasing interest in the S ami Championships. As an argument for persuading the S ami associations to change their attitude, the board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation stressed the importance of sport for the S ami people's cultural aspirations: 'We all feel responsibility for our culture. S ami sport is a living part of the cultural heritage. So it should not be a problem. S ami associations get up and say: "We'll undertake the S ami Swedish Championship"'. 37 This cultural image building for S ami sport is also present in the 1973 revision of the statutes. Previously, the main task of the Swedish S ami Ski Association had been to 'utilize and stimulate the sporting interests of S ami youth'. 38 After the revision of 1973, the Swedish S ami Sports Federation underlined that its main task was to promote 'the sporting and cultural interests of S ami youth'. 39 Because of the lukewarm interest in sport, the Swedish S ami Sports Federation departed from the usual principle that S ami associations should arrange the S ami Championships. Instead, for three years in a row, 1973-1975, the Swedish S ami Sports Federation organized the event in Jokkmokk on its own. 40 Another problem that burdened the Swedish S ami Sports Federation was the poor financial situation, which was due to several circumstances. 41 The most important was that the federation did not belong to the Swedish Sports Confederation, the body responsible for managing the Swedish state's grants to sport. A relevant factor is that state and sport were and still are closely interwoven in Sweden, as virtually all membership-based club sport is run and financed through corporative collaboration between the state and an organization with a monopoly on club sportin the case of Sweden, the Swedish Sports Confederation. 42 Consequently, S ami sport does not fit very well into the 'Nordic model' of sport, as pointed out by sociologist Eivind Å. Skille. 43 However, the separatism of S ami sport from the Swedish sports movement had one important function. The executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation was anxious to retain its autonomy and wanted 'to act as an alternative to other sports organizationsan alternative through which we can preserve and develop S ami sport', even if the consequence was that they did not receive any of the state allocation to sport. 44 The most important source of income consisted of grants from the culture delegation of the S ami Foundation (formerly the Lapp Foundation). This foundation allocated the state funding intended to promote and support S ami organizations, S ami culture and reindeer herding. As S ami sport required funding to expand and the culture delegation distributed the grants, there were strong incentives to emphasize the cultural values of sport. However, the sums allocated to sport by the culture delegation were, according to the executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation, too low to organize S ami sport activities. 45 Sport was not acknowledged in the discussions of what constitutes S ami culture, as is obvious not least from the government inquiry 'The S ami in Sweden: Support for Language and Culture', which did not include a word about sport. 46 This incensed the executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation 47 and provoked the athlete Mikael Svonni to write a critical article in the S aminuorra magazine. 48 The status of sport in the S ami movement in Sweden was rather low and that the executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation had little success in arguing that sport should be regarded as an expression of S ami culture. Nevertheless, the economic difficulties intensified the determination to fight in the federation, which successfully organized the S ami Championships on its own. Spectator figures were relatively high: an attendance of 2,000 at the 1975 championship was sufficient to make ends meet. 49 Three years later, the federation was bold enough to say, for the first time in its history, that the financial situation was 'stable'. 50 The executive board of the Swedish S ami Sport Federation had on its own initiative taken control of the Swedish S ami Championship and thus improved the financial situation. By increasing the interest in these championships among S ami in Sweden, the executive board had reversed a negative trend.

The Transnationalization of S ami Sport
In the early 1970s, the situation of S ami sport was strongly marked by the struggle for financial resources. A reasonably sound financial situation was in fact necessary in the endeavour to change S ami sport in both ideological and organizational terms. A growing ambition within the executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation was that the Swedish S ami Championships should be open to all S ami, including those living outside Sweden. 51 By advocating for an event open to all S ami, the executive board aimed to make S ami sport independent of state borders.
This ambition corresponds with the aims of the ethno-political development simultaneously taking place among the S ami. The political mobilization among the S ami began to change from the 1950s. Instead of organizing themselves separately within each nation-state, the S ami initiated collaboration across state borders to a much higher degree than before. The S ami of the Nordic countries thereby acquired a strong political voice, and during the 1970s these efforts resulted in a transnational ethno-political movement. 52 This movement toned down the view of the S ami as a minority group in four different nation-states in favour of emphasizing the image of the S ami as one people spread across several nation-states. In that way, the idea of S apmi as a symbolic nation emerged in S ami cultural life and among S ami politicians. 53 The transnational S ami movement also left its mark on the S ami Championships, especially on the rules that determined who could compete. Ever since the start in 1948, the S ami Championships had been open solely to S ami who were Swedish citizens, and the S ami Ski Association rejected all suggestions to invite participants from other countries. 54 The interest among S ami in Norway remained high, however, and competitors from both Finland and Norway registered for the 1971 championship. Two years later, sixteen participants from Norway entered, but since it was a Swedish championship, for them it was only a matter of taking part without being able to win officially. 55 The question of Norwegian participation was a topic for lively discussions in 1974, when Tore Oskal from Tromsø quite unexpectedly came first in the reindeer herding competition. Since he was a Norwegian citizen, and thus participated without being able to win officially, he did not receive a medal. 56 The executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation began to find it embarrassing that S ami from Norway were not allowed to compete on equal terms, especially when it turned out that athletes competing for first place could not be proclaimed the official winners. 57 Whereas the leaders of S ami sport had previously been very firm in their view that only Swedish citizens were entitled to compete officially, the situation now changed quickly. The 1974 annual report noted: 'We hope that the Swedish S ami Championship will soon have had its day and that it will be replaced by a championship comprising all S ami regardless of citizenship'. 58 An editorial in Samefolket, the leading monthly S ami magazine in Sweden, supported this stance: Will the S ami Championship competitions become Nordic? Yes, everything suggests that they will. These borders have been nothing but a nuisance for the S ami. And when it comes to choosing the S ami champion in different skiing events, it should not matter which side of the border you happen to live on if you want to compete. Next stop, the Nordic S ami Championships, please! 59 Not only was the incentive to open up the S ami Championship for all S ami a question of achieving fair competitions but it also contained a strong political undertone. The latter becomes especially apparent in the quotation by the emphasis on the creation of a S ami identity independent of state borders and citizenship status.
The programme printed for the 1975 S ami Championship in Jokkmokk likewise painted a picture of S apmi without state borders: 'We are all brothers and sistersthe borders have just divided us. We shall therefore work to achieve S ami championshipswhere the designation "Swedish" is a mere memory'. 60 The man behind these words was Nils-Gustav Labba, a young skiing talent who was to become the leading figure in S ami sport in the 1970s, both as a practising athlete and in organizational and ideological matters. He often excelled so much in skiing competitions that the regional Swedish press called him names like 'Sirkas lightning', 61 'the Sirkas express', 62 or 'the King of S ami skiers'. 63 In Swedish crosscountry skiing, he belonged to the elite, with a seventh place as his best result in the Swedish Championship. 64 Exceedingly dedicated as a sports leader, he replaced Anders Stoor as chair of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation in 1976. 65 After Labba took office, the Swedish S ami Sports Federation emphasized the importance of inviting S ami from other countries. 66 Many S ami competitors from both Norway and Finland participated in the 1977 championship in Kiruna. 67 Yet, it was no easy matter to open the S ami Championship to all S ami. First, the statutes and competition rules of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation had to be changed. At the annual general meeting of the federation held in conjunction with the Malå Winter Championship in 1978, the executive board considered for adoption the proposed change of rules and statutes. The most striking change was that S ami associations outside Sweden could become 'supporting members' of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation. This meant that the Swedish S ami Sports Federation made it possible for S ami without Swedish citizenship to participate officially in the competitions. 68 Another major change in the statutes was the revision of the criteria for participation. From now on, anyone who was a member of a S ami village and/or a S ami association could compete. 69 This change might seem innocuous, but its ideological significance was tremendous. Previously, the only people allowed to compete were those entitled 'to herd reindeer according to the Act of 1928 concerning the right of Swedish Lapps to reindeer herding in Sweden'. 70 Removing this criterion meant that S ami without the right to herd reindeer were now able to participate. It is noteworthy that the Swedish state lay behind the criteria for who was entitled to herd reindeer. Consequently, from the Swedish S ami Sport Federation's point of view, the change seems like a radical departure from an earlier order whereby it was the Swedish state's definition of the S ami that formed the basis for inclusion in the S ami community at the championships. The revised criteria meant that the S ami now defined the S ami identity.
In the mid-1970s, S ami sport began to comprise other activities than winter sport. The first summer championship, containing competitions in lassoing and a summer variant of the reindeer-herding competition, which consisted of running and lassoing, was organized in Ankarede in 1977. 71 As a stage in the symbolic nation building across state borders, however, football was the most important event. In 1972, in connection with a youth conference, S ami from Sweden and S ami from Norway played a football match with the former winning by 2-1. 72 However, S ami football has a longer history. In 1960, S ami in Jokkmokk founded the Sarek IF sports club with the primary purpose of organizing football among the S ami. The club, which had its base in Jokkmokk and Porjus, was for a time a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation. It participated in the Swedish national football league for some years and occasionally co-organized the S ami Championships. 73 In 1962, Sarek IF began to organize the S ami Cup in football, an event that had become a recurrent happening at Pentecost weekend in May or June. 74 When Sarek IF was unable to organize the S ami Cup in 1978, the Soppero S ami Association undertook to take over the arrangement of the tournament and simultaneously chose to turn it into a Nordic football championship for the S ami. With little time to prepare only five teams enteredtwo from Norway and three from Sweden. 75 The following year the cup took place in Karasjok in Norway. The organizers called the event 'S ami Championship' but because there was not yet any Nordic sports association for the S ami, it had no official status. 76 Nevertheless, football had become an important expression in the symbolic creation of a nation in that S ami came together and competed in a border-crossing sporting event.
For Nils-Gustav Labba and his fellow board members in the Swedish S ami Sports Federation the goal was clear: there should be just one S ami sports association, which should be open to all S ami and independent of state borders. 77 The motives, however, were not merely ideological. An argument with just as much weight concerned sport itself. By opening the championship, it would also be possible to improve the quality of the competitions. 78 At the 1978 Swedish S ami Sports Federation meeting in Malå when adopting the new rules and statutes was on the agenda, the executive board encountered unexpected opposition. Although the executive board supported the changes, the full membership at the annual general meeting rejected many of them. 79 The most striking setback was the rejection of the proposal that S ami associations outside Sweden could become supporting members of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation and would hence be entitled to take part in the S ami Championships. 80 The 1978 S ami championships in Malå were a turning point in the history of S ami sport. From the early 1970s, the executive board of its sport federation put large effort into creating a sports movement for all S ami irrespective of citizenship. However, the majority of the members of the Swedish S ami Sport Federation did not support the idea of transnationalization. A division had thus arisen within S ami sport.

Divided Sport
Within the Swedish S ami Sport Federation, a majority of the members held a traditionalist view of the Swedish S ami Championships, which at the time constituted a well-established tradition going back three decades. If the Swedish S ami Sports Federation were to change the rules and statutes quickly, several members viewed it as a break with tradition. 81 This was the embryo of a conflict between two factions, one of which sought to incorporate sport into the symbolic S ami nation building, while the other wanted S ami sport in Sweden to remain unchanged. The conflict strongly affected S ami sport during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The divergent opinions regarding how to organize the S ami Championships and, not least, how to express the S ami identity through sport, demonstrated the difficulties in organizing a unified transnational S ami sports movement.
Although the executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation failed in its attempt to open the S ami Championships to S ami in all the Nordic countries, it did succeed in pushing through a revision of the statutes on a later occasion. 82 The plan was therefore to organize an 'Open S ami Championship' in 1979, where 'open' indicated that all S ami, irrespective of citizenship, could participate. 83 Once again, the plans came to nothing. The local S ami association in G€ allivare had been chosen to organize the championship. However, widespread discontent about the changes arose, and the organizers questioned the legitimacy of the new statutes. 84 The latter therefore defied the instructions of the executive board to make the championship open to all S ami, observing instead that 'what we are organizing is a Swedish S ami Championship'. 85 Further setbacks awaited the executive board. At the annual general meeting of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation, the members criticized the executive board, chaired by Nils-Gustav Labba, so vehemently that the entire executive board resigned. 86 Josef Pittsa then became the new elected chairperson. He did not have much experience working in S ami sport, but he had been on the organizing committee for the championship in G€ allivare and was an influential force behind the decision to allow only S ami from Sweden to compete in the S ami Championships.
S ami sport was now clearly divided into two factions, one of them headed by Pittsa, the new chairperson, and the other by Labba. They represented two divergent views of how S ami sport should be developed. Labba wanted to make S ami sport independent of state borders, whereas Pittsa's organizational line was based on the state borders and laid the greatest emphasis on the S ami Championships being a Swedish event. An article in Samefolket clarified the differing stances. The article consists of a conversation between Pittsa and Labba, the latter serving as editor of the magazine. In the introduction to the article, Labba wrote: Now Josef Pittsa has undertaken to lead the Swedish S ami Sports Federation, which has been split since the annual general meeting in G€ allivare into two powerful camps, with the dividing line running at the question of S ami participation in the S ami Championships regardless of national borders. 87 From Labba's point of view, sport was intimately intertwined with politics. When Labba posed the question 'Is there any link between S ami sport and S ami politics?' to his successor, Pittsa answered, 'I suppose it depends on how you interpret that. But I don't think that politics should be a part of the sports movement because it will only lead to unpleasantness.' 88 When asked how he felt as chairperson about future organizers perhaps inviting participants from Norway and Finland, Pittsa's answer appeared evasive, 'that's a matter we will be discussing', and he underlined: 'We must not forget the voices that want a Swedish S ami Championship'. 89 Pittsa's goal thus seems to have been to guarantee that the S ami Championships would remain what they used to be: a Swedish S ami Championship.
However, the deposed executive board prepared a countermove and organized an alternative championship for all S ami in Kiruna a few weeks after the Swedish S ami Championship in G€ allivare. 90 At a meeting held in connection with this championship, this group emphasized the need for a S ami sports organization acting independently of state borders. They appointed an interim board to continue working with the question of a new, alternative, organization. 91 This new organization thus acted wholly in the spirit of S ami nation building, unlike the Swedish S ami Championships and the Swedish S ami Sports Federation.
In preparation for the 1980 S ami Championship, the two S ami sports organizations negotiated about how the event should be organized. The outcome was a compromisea combined Swedish and open Nordic championship in Kiruna, which thus meant that S ami from Sweden took part in two competitions simultaneously. 'Out of the smoke and fog after the battle in G€ allivare, we have now glimpsed a solution that should appeal to everyone', said Josef Pittsa. 92 The regional Swedish newspaper Norrbottens-Kuriren viewed the event as a milestone: 'Nothing less than S ami skiing history is being written because this is the first official Nordic championship'. 93 However, widespread discontent existed on the Swedish side about the championship being given official status as 'Nordic' because the traditionalists foresaw that the Swedish S ami Championships would ultimately come to an end. The executive board of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation did not oppose Nordic championships, but the Swedish championships took priority for them, and they primarily wished to safeguard the continued existence of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation. If Nordic championships were organized, the executive board considered it necessary that equivalent associations should be founded in Norway and Finland too. 94 For those holding the opposite opinion, the statement revealed the need for an alternative sports organization independent of state borders. 95 'The formation of a S ami Sports Federation is totally independent of what the Swedish S ami Sports Federation thinks', Nils-Gustav Labba emphasized. 96 The goal of founding this federation came to fruition in 1981 in connection with a new Nordic S ami Championship held in Utsjoki in Finland. At the first annual general meeting, S ami associations and S ami villages from Norway, Sweden and Finland founded S amiid Val a stallanlihttu (also called the Nordic S ami Sports Federation). The new federation elected John Isak Sara from Karasjok in Norway as chairperson, and it included Labba and Nils-Henrik Sikku among the Swedish board members. 97 Hence, the vision of a S ami Sport organization independent of state borders was realized. The number of participants in the Nordic championship in Utsjoki was very low compared with the co-arranged event in Kiruna the previous year, mainly because very few participants from the Swedish side chose to take part. The lack of interest on the Swedish side of S apmi was conspicuous since only one S ami association from Sweden participated, whereas nine S ami associations or S ami villages from Norway and three from Finland attended. 98 With the creation of this new organization in 1981 S ami sport now involved two separate sports organizations. One of these (the Swedish S ami Sports Federation) organized the annual Swedish S ami Championship, while the other (S amiid Val a stallanlihttu) organized the annual Nordic S ami Championship. The division followed a clear geographical pattern. The further north and closer to the borders, the greater was the identification with the idea of a S ami nation across state borders. Loyalty to S amiid Val a stallanlihttu was greatest in Kiruna. Those individuals who were loyal to the Swedish S ami Sports Federation, working actively to preserve the Swedish S ami Championships according to the traditional pattern, had their firmest strongholds in Jokkmokk and G€ allivare. 99 S amiid Val a stallanlihttu had little support in Southern S ami areas in Sweden, mainly because of the great distance to the places where the Nordic S ami Championships were held. 100 In the matter of language, too, there was a conflict between S amiid Val a stallanlihttu and the Swedish S ami Sports Federation. At the Swedish S ami Championships in Arvidsjaur in 1983, a highly controversial question arose regarding what language to use, a S ami language or Swedish. A letter to Samefolket declared: I heard on S ami Radio that the Swedish S ami Sports Federation did not want to have co-arrangements with S amiid Valastallan Lihttu because of the S ami language that is used in commenting on the competitions. This depressing opinion of the S ami language is always heard from South S ami areas too. The S ami Swedish Championships in Arvidsjaur were no exception. Now I must ask: [ … ] Have you South S ami (this does not apply to you all) become so Swedified that you cannot bear to hear a S ami language? Has the majority society got you where they want you? To become Swedes.
[ … ] The language is the foundation for the preservation of S ami culture, whether Northern or Southern, and that is far more important than the hunt for gold medals in the Swedish manner. This also applies in very large measure to the Swedish S ami Sports Federation, which isolates itself in Swedishness, which appears to be more important than being S ami. 101 From the Swedish side, the interest in the Nordic championships was rather lukewarm, along with widespread worry that they would engulf the Swedish S ami Championship with its venerable traditions. 102 The greatest involvement in S amiid Val a stallanlihttu was from S ami in Norwaymuch more than from Swedenand in Finland, too, membership rose quickly. 103 Despite the weak Swedish support, S amiid Val a stallanlihttu clung to the idea of the transnationalization of S ami sport by making the championship alternate years among Sweden, Finland, and Norway. In the first half of the 1980s, the financial situation for both the Nordic and the Swedish S ami sports movements was anything but advantageous. At first, the Nordic S ami Council had generously allocated cultural funding to S amiid Val a stallanlihttu, but when this funding ended, the association lacked financial security and came close to bankruptcy. 104 Even if joint arrangements of the type held in Kiruna in 1980 represented one method to relieve the strained situation, it was not until 1987 that the two organizations made renewed efforts to cooperate.
Coordinating the Nordic and Swedish championships in 1987 was a delicate task, however. The two associations not only differed ideologicallythey had also drawn up different statutes and competition rules, with the result that it was difficult to arrange uniform competitions. Several Swedish S ami associations considered a boycott, as they thought that the rules of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation had been ignored. 105 In connection with the championship in 1987, John Isak Sara, the first chairperson of S amiid Val a stallanlihttu, resigned. In his farewell speech, partly published in Samefolket, he did not conceal his view of the S ami sports movement in Sweden as reactionary, while simultaneously emphasizing the significance of cross-border S ami sports: It seems to be the case that SSIF [Swedish S ami Sports Federation] has not matured as much as NSIF [S amiid Val a stallanlihttu]. In our association we are not encumbered with identification problems. We are aware that we are S ami. I have also heard on S ami Radio today from the SSIF annual general meeting that they do not want Norwegians or Finns in their championships, but the truth is that we S ami are a people regardless of national borders. In NSIF we have often experienced how strong the sense of S ami solidarity is. 106 In S amiid Val a stallanlihttu, the aim was that there should be an all-embracing transnational S ami sporting life alongside the S ami Championships. The vision was that S ami national teams would exist in the 1990s in football, skiing, and athletics. The optimism is visible in the following 1986 quotation from S aminuorra: 'It is ultimately about setting our sights on the Olympics, the World Championships, or the European Championships!' 107 The visions of a sporting S apmi without state borders also comprised the S ami from the Soviet Union. From the early 1980s onwards, several efforts attempted to incorporate the Soviet side of S apmi into the S ami sports family, but problems always arose when implementing the intentions in practice. The organizers of the 1982 Nordic S ami Championship in Nesseby sent an invitation to S ami in the Soviet Union, but the authorities on the Soviet side proved an insurmountable obstacle. Nils-Henrik Sikku forged new contacts across the Soviet border in 1988 when he visited the festival days in Murmansk, which by tradition included competitions with S ami elements. 108 As a result of these contacts, a delegation of S ami from the Kola Peninsula prepared to participate in the Nordic S ami Championships at Utsjoki in 1991. This time, too, issues regarding visas and Soviet bureaucracy obstructed Kola S ami participation. 109 It was not until the Malå championship in 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union that S ami from Russia participated in a Nordic S ami championship for the first time. 110 The result of the formation of S amiid Val a stallanlihttu was that football attained an increasingly prominent position in transnational S ami sporting life. S amiid Val a stallanlihttu organized official Nordic football championships for both women and men, but the development did not stop there. For Nils-Henrik Sikku, at the time one of the leading figures in S amiid Val a stallanlihttu, the aim was to serve both ethno-political and sporting purposes by establishing a S ami national team with players from all over S apmi: 'Sport and politics do not belong together, some people preach. But what do S ami politicians say when SVL [S amiid Val a stallanlihttu] issues this appeal to join together for an international match?' 111 That S apmi wanted to have its own national football team was of course a significant assertion of symbolic nation building. The first match for the national team was played in Mariehamn in 1985, when S apmi met the Åland Islands, an autonomous part of Finland, in a match that was broadcast live on the radio in Norrbotten in Sweden, with a commentary in S ami, as well as in Northern Finland and Northern Norway. 112 Mikkel Bongo, the national coach, formulated the purpose of the national team as follows: The S ami national football team wants to increase the understanding of the distinctive character of the S ami as a separate people. We also hope to contribute to reducing the racist tendencies that I personally have witnessed at various sports arenas. Not least of all, I have been forced to experience racism at close quarters, when I travelled around Northern Norway as coach of the 3rd division team Kautokeino. 113 Football was undoubtedly successful as a demonstration of power. Fielding a national team was associated with a large measure of ethno-political self-assertion. Although women's football grew in the 1980s, only the men's side played international matches. From the football point of view, the years 1985-1987 were particularly dynamic, with three matches against Åland and one against the German Democratic Republic. Then there was no activity for a few years, but a new momentum arose at the start of the 1990s. In the years 1990-1992 S apmi played against Estonia three times, with one win at home in Karasjok in 1991. 114 Among the summer sports, football was not the only successful sports concept for the symbolic nation building. In 1985, the same year as the establishment of the national football team, a delegation of S ami athletes went to Friesland in the Netherlands to participate in the Eurolympiadan Olympiad for small nations without a state of their own. When Nils Jon Porsanger from Karasjok won the marathon with the excellent time of 2.30, the victory was described in S aminuorra as historic because it was the first international medal won by S apmi. 115 While national identity strengthened through football and athletics, S ami sport leaders made new attempts to reach a solution to the conflict between the Swedish S ami Sports Federation and S amiid Val a stallanlihttu. Negotiations to bring about cooperation between the two associations began in 1985, but the joint arrangement in Kiruna in 1987 had exposed the differences in ideology and rules. 116 That same year, though, Jan-Olov Winka from T€ arnaby took over as chairperson of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation. He and the executive board attached great importance to improving collaboration with S amiid Val a stallanlihttu. 117 In 1988 the two S ami sports associations began negotiations, and in the end the S ami sports leaders cut the Gordian knot and reached a compromise solution.
In 1990 Nils-Henrik Sikku because chairperson of S amiid Val a stallanlihttu during a reorganization. 118 Those individuals who doggedly worked for S ami sport to become independent of state borders had to modify their ambitions. S amiid Val a stallanlihttu became a superior S ami National Sports Federation within which the three Nordic countries -Norway, Sweden, and Finlandwere district associations. (The aim of establishing a district association for Russia was never accomplished, however.) 119 The Swedish S ami Sports Federation simultaneously renounced its traditionalism by agreeing to be incorporated in a Nordic S ami National Sports Federation but was able to retain a large measure of independence as a district association. This meant that the Swedish S ami Championships could remain as they were. 120 A scarcely noticeable yet important change was the renaming of the Swedish S ami Sports Federation in 1991. At the annual general meeting, the members adopted a proposal to change the name of the federation from Svenska Samernas Idrottsf€ orbund (literally 'the Swedish S amis' Sport Federation) to Samernas Svenska Idrottsf€ orbund (literally 'the S amis' Swedish Sport Federation). 121 The former name emphasizes the word 'Swedish' whereas the focus in the latter is on the word 'S ami'. Thereby, the change of the sequence of the words constitutes an ideological shift of the federation from Sweden to S apmi.
The formation of a S ami National Sports Federation in 1990 was thus a compromise satisfying the interests of traditionalism on the Swedish side and the symbolic nation building of S apmi. Consequently, the S ami sports movement did not become wholly independent of state borders. Nevertheless, its creation was an important manifestation of S apmi as a symbolic nation.

S ami Sport as a Concern for Sweden and for S apmi
The complex process by which S ami sport developed from 1970 to 1990 can be viewed as a consequence of the fact that the S ami inhabit an area stretching across several state borders. In comparison with the simultaneous development in Canada, 122 where an all-Native sport system emerged with financial support from the federal government, the transnational S ami sports movement had not just one but three surrounding majority societies to negotiate with simultaneously in order to obtain resources. Since a transnational sports movement did not fit very well into the citizenship-based 'Nordic model' of sport, a uniform system of financing was, and still is, a great challenge to the S ami National Sports Federation. 123 The development in the 1970s and 1980s was marked by ambitions to achieve sports in S apmi across state borders, as advocated by people like the S ami sports leaders Nils-Gustav Labba and Nils-Henrik Sikku. This development thus shows many similarities to the struggle led by Wilton Littlechild among the Indigenous peoples in North America. 124 In the 1970s, numerous separate sports associations and events arose which, like S ami sport, signalled the cultural revitalization and political struggle of Indigenous peoples in North America. 125 As for the S ami, the symbolic nation building was as a stage in a liberation process. Previously, the definitions of the S ami, within the S ami sport context, derived exclusively from the Swedish state. However, with a transnational context for S ami sport it was possible to mould a S ami identity defined by the S ami, and not by a surrounding majority society.
S ami sport was one of many means of expressing a national S ami identity distinct from the surrounding majority societies. Pedersen has observed that the S ami participation in the Arctic Winter Games and in football tournaments for nations without states has 'emphasized the contrast with "Norwegian" sport and helped to strengthen the understanding of the Norwegians as "the others"'. 126 The same applies to S ami sport in Sweden, as shown through the development of the sport organizations governing S ami sport. However, parallel to this ethno-political wave sweeping across S ami sport, traditionalism also developed on the Swedish side, by which the state borders were more consolidated than transcended. In fact, there was a widespread opposition to making S ami sport independent of state borders, and this traditionalism is not visible in previous research. What distinguishes S ami sport from the self-determination through sport that was simultaneously happening in North America is that there was no unanimity as to what the goals of sport were. The lack of unity was due to the existence of the S ami Championships as an established tradition on the Swedish side when ideas for a transnational S ami sports movement began to flourish.
The long history of the S ami sports movement in Sweden, going back to the 1940s, engendered a notion that sport should not be reduced to an instrument for other (political) purposes. It was at the same time a matter of power and protectionism; the leaders in Sweden did not want to see their powerbuilt up over several decadesover rules and traditions being lost to actors from surrounding countries. Instead of solely focussing on the external relations of S ami sport, i.e. how a S ami identity is shaped contrastively vis-a-vis the majority society, scrutiny of the internal relations additionally enables S ami sport to stand out as a heterogeneous phenomenon, with cooperation and competition between actors with different wills and intentions.