Roald Jensen (11 January 1943 – 6 October 1987), nicknamed "Kniksen", was a Norwegian footballer who played as a winger for Brann, Heart of Midlothian ("Hearts") and the Norway national football team. He is regarded as one of Norway's greatest footballers. His nickname, Kniksen, is a Bergen term meaning "juggler".
Jensen made his senior debut for Brann and his international debut for Norway in 1960, aged 17. He helped Brann win the Norwegian league in 1961–62 and 1963. Following Brann's relegation in 1964, he joined Hearts in January 1965 and became the first Norwegian footballer to play professionally in Great Britain. Becoming a professional made him ineligible for Norway under the Norwegian Football Association's contemporary amateur-only selection policy; he returned to the national team after the restriction was lifted in 1969.
Jensen returned to Brann in 1971 and won the Norwegian Cup the following year. He retired after the 1973 season and finished his international career with 31 appearances and five goals. He died in 1987 after suffering heart failure while playing in a training match with Brann's old-boys team. The Kniksen award was named in his honour, and a statue of Jensen by sculptor Per Ung was unveiled outside Brann Stadion in 1995. Early life Roald Jensen was born in Bergen, Norway and grew up at Eidsvågsneset, Bergen. He was the son of architect Karl Ingolf Jensen and Kirsten Alice Rokne. His brother Kjell Jensen was also a footballer. As a child, Jensen played in the garden with a football for hours on end. In the SK Brann club biography, Gje meg en B - !, Boka om Brann, he describes a situation when he lost a small ball he got when he was four years old as the most unhappy time of his life.Sæter & Øiestad, p. 167 When he was ten years old, he was a founding member of a football club called Dynamo. In a game Dynamo won 22–0, Jensen scored 15 goals. Jensen was also a member of the buekorps ("Archery Brigade") Nordnæs Bataillon.
Jensen joined Brann at age 13, and dominated on the club's youth teams. Even as a youth player, he was noticed for his extreme technical skills. In 1959, SK Brann's junior team won the National Championship. The final at Brann Stadion was attended by 16,000 people.
Jensen finished high school and attended Bergen Technical School for two years, before he decided to concentrate on football.
Senior career
Brann (1960–1964)
Jensen played his first senior match for Brann against Viking in April 1960.Nielsen, p. 213 Because he was only 17, the club had to get a special permit in order to use him. He played all six of the remaining games of the 1959–60 league season, scoring two goals. Despite Roald Jensen's early success, Brann was relegated to the regional league Landsdelserien ("Regional series").Nielsen, p. 73 Roald Jensen played all eight games in the Landsdelserien in the fall of 1960. Roald Jensen soon became famous for his ball control and his accurate shots and passes. He became Norway's biggest sports star and a darling of the media, and earned the moniker "Kniksen", which translates into "juggler" in English.
After the 1961 spring season, Brann were promoted from Landsdelserien. The Norwegian League system was reorganized, and the autumn season was the start of a marathon campaign that lasted throughout 1962.Nielsen, pp. 76–77 Ten out of 30 games were played that autumn, and Jensen was on the pitch in all of the games, scoring five goals.Nielsen, p. 214 Jensen also played in all of Brann's games in the Norwegian cup in 1961, which ended in October when Fredrikstad FK defeated them in the semifinal at Brann Stadion. The attendance for that game, 24,800 people, is to this day the record at Brann stadium.Nielsen, p. 76 Jensen was in and out of the national team in 1961, but played seven games.
In the 1961–62 season, Jensen helped Brann win their first ever League Championship. In the book Godfoten, Nils Arne Eggen describes a situation where Jensen and Rolf Birger Pedersen, in the next-to-last game of the season against Rosenborg, took off their football shoes and humiliated their opponents by playing in their socks in a demonstration of superiority. However, the fact is disputed, and Pedersen denied that it ever happened.Nielsen, p. 77 Brann won the game 4–1, with Jensen scoring one goal.Nielsen, p. 215 Following that season, Jensen was named "striker of the year" by the newspaper Verdens Gang, and "player of the year" in Sportsboken, a sports yearbook published in Norway.Sæter & Øiestad, p. 166
Brann repeated their success and won the Norwegian First Division in 1963.Sæter & Øiestad, p. 168
Hearts (1965–1971) Hearts first encountered Jensen when they played Brann in Bergen in 1962. Although Hearts won the match 4–0, Jensen impressed the Scottish club, and he later recalled that the game had made him think a move to Edinburgh might be possible. He joined Hearts after Brann were relegated in 1964, becoming the first Norwegian footballer to play professionally in Great Britain. As the Norwegian Football Association still selected only amateur players, turning professional also made him ineligible for the Norway national team.
Jensen made his competitive debut on 2 January 1965 in a 3–2 defeat away to Dunfermline Athletic. Manager Tommy Walker described him as the club's greatest new talent in years, and the Edinburgh Evening News reported on his debut under the headline "Jensen's five-star show!". His performances against Third Lanark and Celtic were also singled out in the Scottish press as Hearts challenged for the 1964–65 league championship. Going into the final match against Kilmarnock, Hearts were two points clear and would take the title unless they lost by two goals or more. Jensen hit the post after six minutes, but Kilmarnock won 2–0 and took the championship on goal average.
He made 18 competitive appearances during his first half-season, followed by nine in 1965–66 and 12 in 1966–67. Injuries affected his time at Tynecastle, and he had a difficult relationship with John Harvey, who replaced Walker as manager in 1966. Jensen later said that he felt Harvey had treated him unfairly. Alex Ferguson, then playing for Dunfermline, later recalled that his team's plans when facing Hearts centred on stopping "Super-Jensen". Jensen also played extensively outside the first team, making 88 appearances and scoring 35 goals for the Hearts reserve side between 1965–66 and 1970–71.
His first-team involvement increased again in 1967–68, when he scored nine goals in 22 competitive appearances. Hearts reached the Scottish Cup final, with Jensen scoring in a 1–1 semi-final draw against Morton. In the replay four days later, he scored a penalty in the 118th minute as Hearts won 2–1 after extra time. He started the final, a 3–1 defeat to Dunfermline.
On 9 November 1968, Jensen scored in a 2–0 league win over Partick Thistle. The Guardian later reported that many older Hearts supporters remembered it as one of the club's finest goals. Jensen received the ball on the left before beating several defenders and the goalkeeper.
A serious knee injury in 1969 continued to trouble him. Jensen made five competitive appearances in 1969–70, scoring three times, and another ten in 1970–71 before returning to Brann. His Hearts record was 102 competitive first-team appearances and 25 goals, of which 74 appearances and 19 goals came in the league.
Back in Brann (1971–1973) Jensen returned to Brann in the summer of 1971. He played the final nine games in the league that season, scoring two goals.Nielsen, p. 89 Despite Jensen's return, Brann ended ninth—second from the bottom in the league. Usually this would mean relegation, but the league was expanded to 12 teams in 1972, and only one team was relegated.
Controversy started in the pre-season during 1972, when Jensen ended up in a fight with the referee during an indoor tournament in Haukelandshallen.Nielsen, p. 90 Jensen was suspended for six months, unable to play half the season. Jensen returned after the summer break, and Brann ended up in the cup final, beating Rosenborg 1–0, 47 years after Brann's last cup triumph. Despite his long suspension, Jensen was named "footballer of the year" in Norway after playing a total of ten games and scoring three goals in league and cup.Nielsen, p. 225
Jensen played regularly through the 1973 season, and at age 30, he was expected to play for many years to come. After a quarrel on the pitch, manager Ray Freeman took away Jensen's status as team captain. However, the club's board insisted that Jensen was to remain captain. When Jensen also ended up in conflict with new manager Billy Elliott, he and his brother Kjell chose to retire.Nielsen, p. 93 His last game as a Brann player was in the European Cup Winners Cup, against Glentoran, on 7 November 1973.Nielsen, p. 93, 226
In total, Jensen played 244 games for Brann, and is regarded as the club's greatest player ever.
National team Jensen made his international debut for Norway in a friendly against Austria on 22 June 1960, aged just 17 years and 161 days, which makes him the third-youngest player to have appeared for Norway's senior national team. Although the selection committee was skeptical of him, due to his young age, Jensen earned excellent reviews for his performance against Austria, and kept his place in the team. Jensen scored his first international goal, becoming the Norway team's youngest-ever goalscorer, in his second game, against Finland on 28 August 1960 – a game Norway won 6–3. However, his breakthrough for Norway was in a game against Sweden on 18 September 1960, where Jensen and his Brann teammate Rolf Birger Pedersen, charmed the entire country with their magnificent football and shy appearance. Norway won the game 3–1.
Jensen remained a regular in the Norway side throughout the early 1960s, and on 7 November 1963, following a game against Scotland, he became the youngest-ever player to receive the Gold Watch for having played 25 senior international games. However, due to the Norwegian FA's self-imposed "amateur rule", Jensen became ineligible for the national team when he joined Hearts in 1964, and did not play for his country again until 1969, when the amateur rule was lifted. In total, Jensen played 31 international games for Norway, and scored five goals, earning his 31st and final cap in a match against Hungary on 27 October 1971.
Outside football Roald Jensen married Eva Sofie Jetmundsen on 15 July 1967. Before his comeback for Brann in 1971, Jensen worked for Fiskernes Bank in Bergen. After he retired from football, he continued to work in Bergen's banking and insurance sector.
Jensen played for Brann's various old-boys' teams. He died of heart failure on 6 October 1987, while on the football field training with Brann's old-boys' team Gamlekara. Thousands attended his funeral in Fyllingsdalen's church. In 1990 and 1991, Jensen's son Sondre Jensen made five appearances for SK Brann.Nielsen, pp. 124, 243–244 He is the father-in-law of the Norwegian football manager and former player Roy Wassberg, and the grandfatherfather of the current player Niklas Jensen Wassberg.
A bronze statue of Kniksen made by the Norwegian sculptor Per Ung was installed outside Brann Stadion in 1995; it is among the football statues erected in Norway. In 2008, a large area outside the two new stands at Brann Stadion was named "Kniksens plass" after Roald Jensen. This also became SK Brann's new address.
The Kniksen award
In Roald Jensen's honour, the Kniksen award is given to Norwegian football players after each football season. The award is handed out by Norsk Toppfotball, and has been awarded annually since 1990. There are separate awards for best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker, manager, and referee. It is recognized as Norwegian football's most prestigious award.
Career statistics