Community » Hattrick Press

Bob Sunesson - the story about an anti-hero

Written by Tjecken

The world is full of heroes, and game worlds are even fuller of heroes. We never seem to get enough of bravery, strength and the stories about a single man or women saving the whole world. Hattrick is not any different, we all dream about that perfect skilled player or picking up that fantastic youth player who'll bring trophies and glory to our team. At least that was the case until a 22 year old wretched youth keeper made his entry in Jan 2001. How did he end up as the most famous Hattrick player of all times?

(This article was originally written for the HT-book, but as that project is more or less on ice I'll publish the story about Bob here instead)

Back then around 2000 we were around 15 guys in the Swedish community (almost all of us living in Stockholm) who used to regularly meet at least once a season. This January 2001 we made a weekend trip to Hasse's (later HT-Hasse) home in Ludvika around 25 miles northwest of Stockholm.

We all brought a print of our team so everyone could brag about their players, but mostly all of us wanted to have a look at Geddan's (coach for Gäddträsket, winner of the Allsvenskan a couple of times) and Micke's (coach for IFK Livergården, also winner of some big trophies) teams as they were so much better than the rest.

One can say there were two major events during a meeting like this, at least if you exclude all the laughs, talks, nice dinners and going out to the pub. One was of course watching our matches together, and the matches took place on Sunday morning at 10. The other major event was the youth pick competition, which took place when we got home from the pub late Saturday night.

The rules were simple, best youth pick wins! At that time my youth squad level was disastrous, but that didn't stop me from competing! There were stories about it being easier to pull an ok goalie, so to increase my poor chances to win I pulled a goalie and just seconds afterwards everyone in the room started laughing.

In front of the screen I was looking at Bob Sunesson. For a youngster he was very old, 22 years, and as this happened at the end of the season he would soon turn 23. Hooray!

His keeper abilities wasn't exactly divine either, he was wretched. As if this wasn't enough to show the world what a "fantastic" keeper he was, we also noticed that what was supposed to be his best skill (keeper) wasn't even his best skill - he was in fact a better winger, but poor of course. Naturally I won the youth pick competition and an anti-hero was born.

Soon after the birth there were a lot of stories about Bob. He was the most fantastic football player the world had ever seen even though the jealous reporters did everything in their power to deny that - he literally made jam out of his opponents (BOB is a Swedish jam brand).

He was also so very good looking and all the girls dreamed about him. Every week the gossip papers had a story about Bob being on a "love vacation" with the most beautiful women, mostly actresses and models. Bob was simply put a star.

Bob's real debut on the pitch was the first cup match of the season after his birth, and I don't think anyone was surprised when he scored the first goal in the match after just 7 minutes. That's how stars do it! That said, it wasn't his performances on the pitch which would made him big - it was all the stories around him.

The rumours of Bob spread to the HT-team's (at that time only Johan and Björn) ears and some months later they turned him into a beloved team member - the first and only player of that kind. Their thought with this so called "easter egg" was to turn Bob into a mascot for Hattrick, but that plan was never made real as a loud part of the community didn't like the fact that Bob had been altered with (even though it didn't give him/me any benefits as his leader abilities were so poor).

This episode made Bob even more famous and despite the mascot plans being abondoned he turned into a kind of unofficial mascot, which culminates when the player faces are introduced in the Spring 2002. Bob doesn't get just one picture, he gets several and in each and every one of them there's something covering his face: a bucket, a flag, a football and even a cat! His different "faces" added a lot to the mystic around him and if he wasn't famous before he was for sure famous now.

The years went on, Bob played at least one competition match each year and when Tjecko-85 played in the Allsvenskan I made sure that nr 10, Bob Sunesson, also played at the highest level. Thanks to Bob we made it a draw against Inter Sthlm, at that time the dominating club in the world.

New fans all around the world joined his fan club every day, but one day it was time for Bob to retire. Bob felt it was time for new stars to shine and he thought his appearance was holding others back. Bob and his passion for drama could however not resist playing one last trick with his audience, he announced his decision to quit on April 1st 2006 so people couldn't be sure that his decision was for or an April's fools joke.

His decision was for real and the match against phobos fc three days earlier became his last appearance on the pitch. In the first half Bob scored a Hattrick - what a way for a star to finish off his long career!

I will always remember what a fantastic player Bob was, but especially because he created another Hattrick dimension. Fantasy really makes a difference.