It seemed that the midnight sun did something to the representatives when Ski-Norge gathered for things in Bodø at the weekend. Because after a night bathed in this unique light, the mood completely changed in the assembly on the last day of the hearing. “We didn’t need to sleep that much”, said Tove Moe Dyrhaug, when she opened Sunday’s negotiations. Not knowing how right she was. Now the midnight sun may have created a long-awaited awakening in a skin nation, where far too many have been passive spectators for far too long. Saturday lull It started so nice and controlled, seen from the confederation management’s side. A whole Saturday went by for negotiations with nothing but slight ripples in the remarkably calm sea of things in Nordland’s capital, Bodø. Even when the highly critical economic forecasts were presented to the delegates very neatly wrapped, it did not lead to any major debate – about something as fundamental as the future of Norwegian skiing. Because nothing less is actually at stake. You just didn’t notice it at the thing, skiing’s own general assembly. Where everyone has their great, democratic opportunity to speak out. Now it was just quiet. Well-decorated disaster figures were approved at random, increasingly accompanied by sour jabs from the pulpit in the direction of the media. DEMANDING: Secretary General of the Norwegian Skiing Association, Arne Baumann, admits that the association is in demanding financial times. Photo: NTB The clearest in the rhetoric was the union’s chief administrative officer, Arne Baumann, who said it “was sad to read about the risk of bankruptcy at news”. Sad, that’s for sure. But hardly something he needed to go further than his own accounts to be updated on. The demanding bankruptcy risk of the Norwegian Ski Association has been titanicized for quite some time now. Not without reason. Last week it emerged that a board member has warned of a real risk of bankruptcy. Secretary-General Baumann had then also gone further than he perhaps wished in confirming the forecast. Although he is wise enough to use the somewhat more moderate “demanding” in his briefings to the Ski Board. Baumann continued in Bodø to talk about the concerns among the 150 employees he is responsible for, who were presented with these speculations through the media. Which is very easy to understand. Nobody likes to read this about their own employer, and especially through online newspapers. And it is obviously not the first time that Baumann has taken responsibility for his employees. Confidence in the management is said to have been significantly strengthened in the confederation’s offices at the Ullevaal stadium after he was hired. The employees had otherwise contributed to savings measures already, Baumann said. Including dropping a strategy seminar. Supply and training But it is, with all due respect, difficult to call this anything other than diversion. For the ski association’s own control committee had already strongly criticized the openness of the ski board in its annual report. All of the meeting minutes are withheld from publication for an excessively long time, for no other reason than that the board felt that the content of the minutes had to be discussed. “And so if there is someone who has criticized us for publishing the protocol a bit too late, then it is about the fact that there is no agreement on it,” said ski president Tove Moe Dyrhaug. TALKED ABOUT OPENNESS: Ski president Tove Moe Dyrhaug. Photo: NTB Which is precisely the reason why such supplies come. One does not and will not agree. That is why this must also be included in the protocols. And shared with the public. Up to five months to reach an agreement on wording of protocol additions appears, with all due respect, only as an attempt at pure extraction. Either to hide opposition within the board or to extinguish it. This also gives time and opportunity for precisely leaks. Or reactions from the control committee. But even this was not enough to wake up the matter. Despite an obvious but low-key concern in the circles for the future of the project with ski club developers, which many believe is absolutely essential for recruitment to the sport in the future. Trust in Trondheim And no one reacted particularly when the Oslo ski circuit wanted a risk assessment of the confederation’s prestigious event, the WC in Trondheim 2025. They would rather talk about how to share the profit. In a common conviction that the budgeted 220,000 tickets will be sold anyway. The accounts were approved. With more than 10 million in deficit. And an equity far below the adopted minimum. But the forecasts looked better after all. Everyone in the room nodded in understanding. Also when Baumann emphasized that “resource allocation is a discussion that will follow us into the future”. The ski board and the federation management probably breathed a sigh of relief. The economy was expected to create debate, but in reality it did not. Now it was ready for the festive dinner. But also midnight sun. The big Sunday shift Two people were to be central this Sunday in Bodø. Hege Mortensen, as outgoing head of the ethics committee, and Karianne Løken from the Oslo ski district. Both finally spoke, where others had been silent for far too long. But it started with something else and actually quite startling. Ski board member Anne Cathrine Enstad took to the podium and withdrew the board’s bill to remove “openness” as one of the association’s core values. TRAKK BILL: Anne Cathrine Enstad, ski board member. Photo: NTB Such a change, albeit cosmetic, would have had great symbolic value. And created reactions you didn’t want. The bright night had obviously created new clarity, also in the board, which never shares its minutes. But the decision produced far from the conciliatory effect one might have thought. Instead, there was a change in mood that no one had predicted. Suddenly the delegates were queuing up to make critical statements from the podium. Dissatisfaction with the election committee Not least with the election committee’s work. Much focus had initially been on the fact that the obvious resource Vegard Ulvang had not gained trust as the new leader of the cross-country committee. Torbjørn Skogstad, was preferred instead, even though he has already been in office for 10 years. Although obviously competent, he is also perceived as one of the ski president’s closest associates in the system. RE-ELECTED: Torbjørn Skogstad, who has been chairman of the cross-country committee since 2012, was re-elected for a new term. Photo: NTB But there were other settings that were fundamentally much more problematic. Two of the outgoing board members were proposed as new leaders of the ethics committee and the law committee (LPU), respectively, or “the parliament’s eyes and ears to what is happening in the Ski Board”, as was so precisely presented from the rostrum. In other words, the two most important bodies when it comes to checking that the board’s decisions meet the association’s ethical and statutory requirements. While the selection committee is of course free to nominate whoever they think is best suited to the various positions, here all the warning lights flashed fiery red. Even members of the legislative committee, LPU, made statements where they asked that the incumbent leader, Andreas Ekker, whom the election committee wanted to replace in favor of Erik Bruun, be allowed to continue. This is startling. But there was also the obvious desire to replace a board-critical committee leader against his will. Ekker was put forward as an opposing candidate in the bench proposal. And won the vote against outgoing board member Bruun with a crushing 71–17. Suddenly, the selection committee’s recommendation for chairman of the ethics committee was also downvoted in favor of the aforementioned Karianne Løken, who had already given an engaging presentation calling for transparency about the association’s real financial situation and the board’s work to solve the challenges. “I am ashamed that we have not had the difficult discussions before,” said Karianne Løken. The road south It all ended, ironically enough, in the selection committee’s chairman being replaced – after yet another bench proposal. The midnight sun’s rays had obviously awakened a justice-seeking spirit that many have long missed in the Ski Association. And which one now hopes can inspire change in the future. Secretary General Baumann had otherwise started the Saturday by paying tribute to the inspiring surroundings in Molde. The Skiting therefore took place in Bodø. Baumann quickly apologized – to laughter from the audience. He didn’t need that. If you are responsible for the future of the Norwegian Ski Association, you are actually allowed to dream away – to the city where everything, regardless of condition, appears rosy. Skiinget 2024 then also ended with the re-elected ski president Dyrhaug asking the parliament for authorization to decide the host city for the next thing. She got that. The only thing we can be sure of is that we are going south. As far away from the midnight sun as possible. Published 10.06.2024, at 12.17
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