Then we beat Arsenal
A Japanese TV crew filming right now in Östersund. They follow Graham Potter’s journey, from Östersund FK to Sweden’s national team captain. How he danced with a small football club in Jämtland, all the way to the Europa League.
The spotlight illuminates a man lying on Storsjöteatern’s stage. It is completely silent in the audience. The man is Graham Potter. He portrays a childhood memory of playing with a car in the sand. In the background are Östersunds FK’s players and leaders. Equal parts terrified and hopeful. Soon they will dance Swan Lake in front of a packed theater.
A few years later, the same team stood at the Emirates Stadium and defeated Arsenal. Maybe with the same feeling.
In about eight year I was cultural coach in Östersunds FK under Graham Potter’s management. We played theatre, wrote books, met artists, rapped, danced ballet and explored cultures far beyond the traditional world of football. Everyone was going. Players, coaches, the office.
Our common goal was to win football matches. If you get braver off the field, you get braver on. Culture is a powerful tool for building courage.
The outside world was skeptical to say the least: Stop messing around and focus on the ball. But in step with the profits, the cultural work became part of the success story.
Graham Potter often returned to the same call: Express yourself.
To be able to express yourself on the pitch, you have to dare to do it off it. So we wrote, danced, sang and played theater. And something happened to us.
Players who would never have volunteered to speak in front of a group sang solos. People who doubted their own abilities discovered that they could do more than they thought.
It didn’t just build courage.
It built trust, curiosity and empathy. Characteristics that are important not only on the pitch but in society at large.
One by Graham Potter’s greatest strengths are that he doesn’t see just the footballer. He sees people and he knows that people who are given the opportunity to grow, express themselves and trust each other not only become better teammates, they become better fellow human beings. Together they form a stronger team. A collective where there is room to be yourself.
Sometimes they even get good enough to go to London and beat Arsenal.
Or win a World Cup match 5-1 with players who Anthony Rhythm is a Dancer-Elanga, Lukas Bergvall who show off their Michael Jackson-moves in training, Gustaf Lagerbielke with his book of thoughts and Ken Sema that charms an entire airplane with Let Me Love You.
Players who together form a team and a story we want to believe.
Graham Potter has left Östersunds FK. But in the city, the idea lives on. It is possible to win with the help of culture. And soon the small club from Jämtland will be big in Japan too.
Karin Wahlén, former cultural coach, now board member of Östersunds FK who is currently practicing singing with Tove’s orchestra (to win more matches).
