As a six year-old, I sat on the barrier at the front of the Hotel End, watching a 23-year-old Trevor Morley captain Northampton Town FC to the 4th division title with a stonking 99 points. It’s one of my earliest memories in football. He went on to have a successful career with Manchester City, West Ham [...]
Valle Hovin – A Modern Day Norwegian Saga
In the Norwegian cities of Kristiansand and Stavanger, the time it took from initial plans being submitted to local government for the building of a new soccer stadium until the final planning approvals had been granted and building could commence was around the 12 month mark. In February 2006, six years ago, Oslo’s Vålerengens Idrettsforening [...]
The Norwegian Match-Fixing Scandal
Despite the obsession with English football, the Norwegian game seems to better resemble the Italian Serie A just lately. A match-fixing scandal? In Norway? Yes, really. The tale of Swedish mafia, Kosovan gangs, money laundering and a lower-league team called Follo has shocked Norwegian sport over the last few weeks. Several players from second division [...]
Pubs of Oslo – Bohemen
I’m delighted to introduce yet another guest blogger here on Life in Norway, Chris Rock. Chris actually lives in the UK but has spent a lot of time in my new home of Oslo. He’ll be writing primarily about Oslo, starting with a place I’ve become rather fond of recently, Bohemen. Welcome to the team, [...]
The Norwegian El Clásico – LSK vs VIF
This weekend saw the biggest local rivalry in Norwegian football, the Oslo-Akershus derby between Lillestrøm (LSK) and Vålerenga (VIF). Lillestrøm are known by many outside Norway due to their regular appearances in Europe during the 80s and 90s, whereas Vålerenga are the biggest club in the Oslo area; in fact they are now the only [...]
Heads Up! Tippeligaen is Back
It was very easy to miss, but the new Norwegian Premier League season got underway tonight. Easy to miss, because most Norwegian eyes are focused on Manchester and the battle for the English title. The Norwegian obsession with English football continues to fascinate me, but even more quirky is the small group of bloggers and [...]
The Norwegian Obsession With English Football
As I write this I’m sitting in my Oslo apartment watching a popular Norwegian TV channel, TV2 Zebra, sort of the Channel 4 of Norway. Any guesses as to what I’m watching? A two-hour English football special, featuring five pundits live in a studio talking about transfer deadline day. Back in December I stumbled into [...]
“My First Trip to Norway” – My Mum’s First Ever Blog Post!
This is the first ever guest post on Diary of David, written by my dear mother! If you enjoy reading, please leave a comment – David How excited was I to be boarding the Norwegian flight to Oslo! Norway is a country that I have always wanted to visit, and now I was on my [...]
Heia Enga – Vålerenga 3 Viking 0
This weekend I hosted my parents for the first time since I moved to Oslo. On the Friday night I took them to the Ullevaal for their (and my) first Vålerenga match, versus Viking. I’d been to the Ullevaal once before for Norway v Iceland and watched several Vålerenga games on the tele, but had [...]
Norge 1 Island 0 – My First Trip to Ullevaal Stadion
Last night me and Matt went to watch Norway v Iceland in a Euro 2012 qualifier. It was my first trip to Oslo’s Ullevål Stadion. We started off at the Billabong Café in Majorstuen then took the T-Bane to the ground. The atmosphere was pretty good with punk music and free programmes unexpected highlights! Considering [...]
