The Azkals' Ray Jonsson on life in a northern country, Sigur Ros & that darned volcano

When I first met Ray Jonsson, I couldn’t believe how he couldn’t speak Tagalog but speak Visayan fluently. Haha. That was hilarious. And he would oft sit with the military players of the national team who were all from that region. From Vietnam, Manila, Indonesia, and Bacolod, we would always chat not just about football but music, life in Iceland, and traveling.

Here is one excerpt of an interview with Ray Jonsson.

Rick: Jeez, man. I thought you’d be playing hockey given how cold it is.

Ray: Haha No. No. Football is the most popular sport in Iceland although believe it or not, handball is the main sport. Do you know that Iceland is one of five best handball teams in the world? Hockey’s is getting more and more popular but it’s still far from the popularity of football.

Rick: Okay. Now that’s clear and you have no plans on being Iceland’s version of Alex Ovechkin, how about that UEFA experience?

Ray: I played in Azerbaijan, Switzerland and Austria. Total 6 games and I scored one goal. I scored from a free kick that I took 40-45 meters away from the goal and the ball went to the top corner. I still have the copy of it somewhere. I need to show you some day. It was against Karten FC of Austria. The game in Switzerland was the opening game of the new stadium in Basel. Then the game after us was between Borussia Dortmund and Monaco.

Rick: So you’re used to big crowds? Do football matches in Iceland draw a lot of people? Or was it in My Dinh and the Bung Karno where you experienced playing in front of a massive crowd?

Ray: The crowed in Iceland are not so many. My team plays in front of a crowd of around 1,200 people. Sometimes when we play against the bigger teams then there are around 2,000-2,500 people. When Iceland national team plays there are around 8-12,000 people.

So yes, clearly the biggest crowd that I’ve seen is in Indonesia. That was magnificent.

Rick: Okay, so it’s football. How do you – pardon the term here – chill out away from the game?

Ray: Hahaha. When I’m not playing I work a lot. But if I’m not working I usually spend my time with my family. During the summer time, we try to go camping or after the football season in the fall, we try maybe sometimes go to some hot country to relax. Like Spain, Portugal or the Philippines.

Rick: Speaking of vacations and life, did – damn these names and how to pronounce them – what’s that darned volcano’s name? Eyjafjallajökull there ya go. Did that… volcano, yeah, volcano disrupt your life in Iceland? (the photo above is from Ray's bro)

Ray: No, it did not disrupt my life. Far from it. It was not as frightening as the news abroad was reporting. The volcano is in the middle of Iceland where only few farmers live so it did not really affect the people except for the airplanes.

I´m gonna send you some picture that my younger brother took when it was almost over. People could not go there when the eruptions started so by the time my brother took it, it was already safe.

Rick: I’m going on a limb here since we’re on the topic of unpronounceable names and words. You like --- tada – Sigur Rós?

Ray: I lent (Azkals reserve keeper Toffer) Camcam my Sigur Rós albums. I listen to any music but if I put on some music it´s 90% alternative rock. I love Kings of Leon, Muse, Nirvana, Oasis and an Icelandic band called Dikta (Cammy also has the album). Any album with this band then I´m happy. And of course Sigur Rós. ég elska Sigur Rós!

Sigur Ros -- I speak Hopelandish

When I was covering Smart Gilas (and now that he is in Ateneo), I chatted a lot  about music with Greg Slaughter. He took quite a number of music from my iTunes. We like a lot of heavy music. With Ray Jonsson, we talk about our respective adventures traveling around Europe, football of course, and music. Sigur Ros is a common passion. As is Oasis.