“And then we have today’s number of spectators: 0”. Lerkendal speaker Philip Aastum brought out the smiles among the few officials and press people present at Lerkendal on Wednesday when, by going through his regular program items, he effectively ironized the whole situation. Everyone knows the framework conditions now – the first series match in Norway since the pandemic played in front of empty stands. This time because of something many football supporters see as much more harmful than Covid, namely VAR. The fishcakes that were thrown onto the pitch gave Norwegian football long-awaited international attention. Albeit on the wrong basis. In addition, it rained tennis balls and other objects. FISH CAKES: The guards had to go out to pick fish cakes and several other items out on the Lerkendal grass in June. Photo: Ole Martin Wold / NTB The excessive protests during the match between Rosenborg and Lillestrøm at the same arena on 21 July made referee Rohit Saggi follow the instructions he had been given and stop the match for good this summer evening in Trondheim. Because the grip had been tightened. From Ullevaal, where Norwegian football is governed, via the referees to the stands. Before the Norwegian Football Association made the elegant move that the top players in Norwegian sports like to make when things become unmanageable – they set up a committee. Whether it concerns racism, diversity, human rights or as here WAS. A selection so enormously broad and apparently social democratic that no one can complain. Ten guys about Qatar They have done the same with success in recent times with the so-called Qatar committee, led by the talented Sven Mollekleiv, who was supposed to make recommendations regarding a possible boycott decision of the World Cup in Qatar on an extraordinary football thing, forced by the so-called grassroots in Norwegian football. Not unexpectedly, the report’s 26 measures received an overwhelming majority at the aforementioned parliament in June 2021. And the management of the Norwegian Football Association breathed a sigh of relief. The consequences of a no were unfathomable to them. The committee had done its job, and the rebellion was effectively over. None of the 26 measures have so far produced any real effect internationally. But that was not necessarily what one primarily wanted to get out of setting up the committee either. COMMITTEE CHAIR: Sven Mollekleiv chaired the so-called Qatar committee. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Don’t touch the cup The strategy was used again when last year they wanted to change the calendar for Norwegian top football. The so-called Hangeland committee was then established, consisting of 11 members, naturally enough, including one woman. The eleven came from the management of the NFF, Norwegian Top Football (NTF), the so-called Europa Toppen and five of the clubs. The work ended in a report which, among other things, concluded with what the clients, the boards of NFF and NTF, had probably hoped for, namely that the cup should be moved, so the finals were held in the spring, not at the end of the year as now. Everything to strengthen the competitiveness of Norwegian teams and national teams internationally, it was said. But it wasn’t as easy as the aforementioned managers probably imagined. In March, Norwegian football’s highest body, the confederation, adopted a bench proposal from Lillestrøm’s chairman Morten Kokkim, stating that the changes could not be adopted by the confederation’s board, but had to be considered at the confederation in 2025. There will be a long list of speakers. A desired interruption Because, in addition to this, the whole VAR issue must have some preliminary conclusion there. Dissatisfaction with the whole process when VAR was introduced in Norway is the most important reason why the protests have reached the extent they have. Ahead of the fact that it culminated for the time being in Rosenborg-Lillestrøm being canceled in July, the management in Norwegian football also realized that they could not just continue to ignore the discussion and hope that it would pass by itself. Therefore, there was a tightening of the instructions to the referees to follow a Uefa regulation that was necessarily only used as a guideline until then. All common sense thrives best with local adaptation. But at Lerkendal in the middle of the week there was a time difference. MADE THE DECISION: Referee Rohit Saggi sent the teams to the dressing room and suspended the match after the VAR demonstrations in June. Photo: Ole Martin Wold / NTB Judge Saggi did what no one thought he would. And as it turns out, many people have thought that he shouldn’t either. Because it all seemed unnecessarily confrontational. Bordering on striking. You wanted a reaction – and you got it. Maybe it was time. But it is far from certain. Raymond has the power The Federal Board, which itself adopted VAR, believed at the back end of the game that the decision to remove the entire scheme should be postponed to next year’s Federal Parliament. And then it happened like that. Before one night during the Olympics they set up a new selection. Or “working group”, as it is called this time. Broadly composed. And with apparent credentials in most camps in Norwegian football. Raymond Johansen was appointed leader, qualified by “over 40 years at the top level in politics”, as football president Lise Klaveness introduced him. LEADER: Raymond Johansen will manage the VAR working group. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB Some would perhaps think that this might seem more disqualifying than anything else. “Facts have power”, was the former politician, now working group leader, Johansen’s own slogan when he took office. In a discussion that has mostly revolved around emotions. The working group is now in the process of going through all sides of the problem and coming up with a recommendation in mid-November, before the football parliament at the beginning of March, which is scheduled to decide the future of VAR in Norway. What the group concludes will necessarily be decisive for the outcome of this debate. And it is easy to think that to a much greater extent this should have been a case complex that top football itself and not all the broadside clubs in Norway should have decided. But it is never easy to argue against Great Democracy. In any case, they got the effect they wanted most of all – the protests stopped. At least in the more aggressive form that was seen developing through the start of the summer. And of course it couldn’t continue to escalate much longer either. VAR PRESS: Football president Lise Klaveness is experiencing a major supporter revolt against VAR in the Eliteserien. Photo: Paul S. Amundsen / NTB The sound of emptiness “We are not adding this to the matter to obfuscate”, emphasized the football president. And there is no reason not to believe her. But that does not mean that it cannot be the result. The match in front of the empty stands at Lerkendal was a reminder of exactly this. Even without spectators inside the gates, the match was interrupted by smoke from flares, after a number of supporters lined up outside the fences at one turn. The greatest irony would be if they chose to punish the Rosenborg fans again for the temporary smoking. Because the noise and the protests do not disappear by punishing the clubs to an unnecessarily large extent as yesterday. This could have been solved in many other and more constructive ways than the empty stands at Lerkendal. CELEBRATE WITH THE SUPPORTERS: Even though the match went to empty stands, you could still both see and hear the supporters. Photo: Ole Martin Wold / NTB It is therefore easy to write about the old term “empty barrels rumble the most” in the headline. Because here the question is whether it is the protesting spectators or a confederation management in need of calm around its most attractive product that represents the barrels in this context. In any case, Lerkendal speaker Philip Aastum got the last word in this chapter of the VAR conflict in Norwegian football when he just as sourly elegantly rounded off the rematch in front of empty stands this Wednesday: “And then we hope all of you who were in the stadium will return to next home game”. Published 23.08.2024, at 17.35
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