Every June Norwegian fans of British clubs come together in Oslo to play in a seven-a-side football tournament. This year’s took place last weekend and Mats Sollie told TWTD all about it.
The annual Norwegian Supporters Cup was held at Fornebu outside Oslo on Saturday 1st June, the 23rd time staging of the competition.
The cup gathers around 500 Norwegian (and some British) supporters of different British teams in (nearly) friendly combat. Ipswich was, for the first time in the cup's history, represented by three teams, while Norwegian-born academy keeper Michael Crowe lined up as an outfield player.
Ipswich’s first match of the tournament saw the second team come up against the much-fancied first team of Manchester United.
Both teams went through their own unique warm-up routines, with the Manchester United players completing passing drills and laps of the pitch, and the Ipswich players nursing bottles of Powerade and shaking off the effects of a heavy Oslo pub tour and beery barbecue.
Needless to say, Manchester United won the game, but Ipswich managed to keep the score down to 4-0 thanks to heroic efforts from the players.
Next up was the first team’s opening match. An equally-challenging battle against one of the better sides in the tournament, Liverpool's first team.
And history repeated itself. Despite more heroics from the Ipswich players/supporters the final score was 4-0 to the opposition. A tough start to the tournament.
And the hangover wasn’t all over yet. Ipswich’s second team followed up the first match with a narrow 1-0 defeat against Hull, and the first team lost by the same scoreline to Aston Villa (I can see a pattern here).
Things were going to get better though. The highlight of the tournament came when the third team beat the team from Norwegian TV2 (the broadcaster that shows Premier League matches in Norway) with former Premier League players Claus Lundekvam (Southampton) and Erik Thorstvedt (Tottenham) as coaches. The video from this match can be seen here.
After this, spirits were flying high and the second team could collect a walk over win over Nottingham Forest, while the first team scored their first goal (a deflected fluke) to pick up their first win of the tournament against West Ham. It was definitely time to party (even more than the night before).
The Norwegian Supporters Cup has seen English supporters make the trip over the North Sea on a number of occasions, but this year English fans were well represented. Ten came over from Ipswich to represent the blue and white colours both on and off the pitch.
They seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Sam S sent the Ipswich Town Supporters Club Of Norway a message of thanks on behalf of all those who made the trip from England: "I believe Tottenham went on to beat Man United and win the tournament, which was good to hear as everyone hates Manchester United! Plastic supporters!
"The tournament was extremely well organised, some of the football was great to watch, the weather was great after heavy rain to start and our fellow Norwegian players and hosts were extremely welcoming and great people. An amazing time was had and if invited, we would love to come back and try and finally get through a group stage.
"After the tournament we were invited back to the MC Club for further beers, a barbecue, a quiz and... well more beers. The bar staff were great, the beer ran freely and in the later part of the evening some terrible English dancing was on display. Nearly as terrible as Michael Warne’s missed header against West Ham in the final game (hopefully he won't read this).
"Can’t ever say I’ve been to a country where I have felt more welcome, or where the people are so friendly. I would like to thank the ITSCON on behalf of all the English lads who came. Everybody keeps saying how they had such an amazing time and were so well looked after.
"The people who hosted us did an amazing job and we all hope to repay the favour somehow. I'm sure the next time any ITSCON member is in England for an Ipswich match they won’t have to pay for many beers!
"Thanks again for a wonderful experience and a great start to the summer. Let’s hope it’s followed by an amazing season for the Town under Mick McCarthy. Things are looking good. COYB."
Photos from the Supporters Cup can be viewed here.