459 Mauno Rintanen

Biography

The Football League was largely manned by professional footballers by the mid-1950s, which made the trail-blazing signing of amateur footballer Mauno Rintanen in September 1956 all the more notable. The Finnish goalkeeper was a decorated sporting polymath in his home country who was already part of the Hull tennis scene, having come to the city from Finland as a trade envoy drumming up business for Valio, his Finnish food manufacturing employer. Rintanen’s time with the Tigers coincided with an injury and first team absence for Billy Bly and Mauno was given four starts in Bob Brocklebank’s Division Three North side. Rintanen saved a penalty on his debut but still conceded four goals to Bradford Park Avenue, City won two of his other three starts as only three further goals were conceded. Rintanen was without question Hull City’s first footballer to hail from Finland, adding a further Scandanavian flavour to the Tigers squad that already included Dane Viggo Jensen. It is also widely understood that Mauno Rintanen was the first Finn to play in the English Football League.

Mauno Olavi Rintanen was born in Vaasa, a coastal university city with strong historic links to Sweden, which lay west of Vaasa across the Gulf of Bothnia. He started playing for Vaasan PS in 1945, making over 170 appearances and twice lifting the Finnish League title in 1945 and 1948. Playing as an amateur, Mauno commenced studies at the Helsinki Business School in 1947 and worked in the export department of a Finnish company. He joined HJK Helsinki in 1953 after being chosen as Finland’s reserve goalkeeper for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and was Finland’s footballer of the season in 1953. After gaining a masters degree in Economics Rintanen joined food production company Valio in 1955 as export director, a role that took him to the UK for several years and to Hull in 1956. He continued to work for Valio for the next three decades, becoming the firm’s head of foreign trade between 1961 and 1987. He was given a governmental counsellor role by the Finnish parliament in 1980.

Rintanen was also a basketball player for Vaasa Lightning and became one of Finland’s top squash players in the 1960s. He retired to Espoo, a city a few miles west of Helsinki, where he died in July 2000.

Rintanen was a Finland amateur international, winning seven amateur caps between 1946 and 1954. His debut for the Finland amateur side came in June 1946 against Norway when Rintanen saw twelve goals sail into his net. He wasn’t recalled until June 1952 when Finland beat Sweden and Hungary, then was selected for Finland’s 1952 Summer Olympics squad as reserve goalkeeper – he didn’t play in his country’s only match in that competition. Between September 1952 and October 1953 he played in further matches against Sweden, Belgium and Denmark before his final appearance in May 1954 against Scotland. He captained his country in the last three of those caps.

Details

Nationality: Finland
Date/Place of Birth: 28 April 1925, Vaasa (Finland)
Hull City First Game: 17 September 1956, Bradford Park Avenue A (Division Three North), 31 years, 142 days old
Hull City Final Game: 13 October 1956, Oldham Athletic H (Division Three North), 31 years, 168 days old

Clubs

Vaasan PS (1945-1952), HJK Helsinki (1952-1956), Hull City (1956)

Hull City Record

Career: 4 apps, 0 goals