Home matches at the Aspmyra stadium have become something special for football supporters in recent years. Most of the people in the stands are dressed in yellow, equipped with scarves. Before the matches there are fireworks, AC/DC… The comedian from Bodø, with a heart for Glimt, has in recent years played the role of warm-up for the home crowd. But now the show is over. In a post on Facebook, Osnes writes that he is resigning as a heater with immediate effect. The reason, according to Osnes, is persistent incitement from Glimt’s own supporters. – It’s mostly because I’m an idiot, that I’m not a real supporter and that I should stay away, claims Osnes to news. – And that doesn’t just apply when I’m out on the pitch before a match. It’s in social media and when I’m in the city center to eat a hamburger, for example. Osnes writes this on Facebook Thank you guys. Last night I saw a match at Aspmyra between Bodø Glimt and Strømsgodset, last night wasn’t the first time I had been provoked from the J-field in the stands, but it was the first time I feared that my 10-year-old daughter would get it. What most people don’t know is that you hear most of it when you’re out there on the turf before a game, surprisingly well actually. But let me start at the right end, I started as a crowd-warmer in the 2020 season, before that time I had done several things together with FK Bodø Glimt but never out on the grass before a match. As many remember, the world was affected by corona at the time, the idea was that I should try to help the few who got to see the match get started with cheers, songs and shows before the match. I mean to remember that it was about 200 people, Aspmyra is not the biggest arena but it felt very empty there with 200 in the seats. In any case, we went on with fresh courage, it must be said that it was difficult to begin with, but gradually the atmosphere at the match got better and better. When the restrictions were lifted and Aspmyra could finally be filled with people, we agreed to just continue with me as the heater, which I happily agreed to. Since the 2020 season and until today, about 3 years plus or minus, I have been able to do this. Being allowed to shout and scream on the turf before a game and hear the roar of the crowd has been lovely. I would say that we have managed to create a really nice culture at Myra at this time, the people sing along and dress in yellow. However, we have not succeeded in getting everyone involved. I have repeatedly tried to collaborate with the J-field, which also wants to create life on Myra, unfortunately it has not been possible. We have occasionally succeeded and created a huge atmosphere together, but then there have also been times where we have been three groupings before a match that have tried to create an atmosphere. The opposition’s supporters, the J field and me with a microphone and the rest of Aspmyra. Quite stupid really, because apart from the opponents’ supporters, the rest of us want the same. Namely to support the club in our heart. Basically no crisis, not optimal but no crisis. But over time, it has started to peak for me. Ugly messages on social media, ugly looks and rudeness on patios in Bodø and incitement and shouting from the stands. All this from people who do not hide that they belong to the J field and do not want to see me before the game because it is not inside if you are a real supporter. I think that you can disagree on how you want it to be before a match, but that kind of behavior is unacceptable. I have spoken to key people in the J field but I am not getting any clear answers, I have asked for meetings to reach some kind of agreement but no one wants to meet me. I have asked questions about why I am so disliked but no one can answer. I don’t know why it is so difficult to cooperate for about five minutes before each match, I also don’t know why it has to end in violence. The only answer I have received is that these are individuals and not J-field’s attitude. For my part, that does not hold, then this situation that has arisen cannot be fixed. I would go so far as to say that if you just stand and look at incitement and inappropriate behaviour, I think you have a responsibility. A responsibility to take action, if you don’t take that responsibility then you are indirectly complicit in my opinion. And I would have thought that a grouping as large as the J-field, which subsequently received an award for its supporters’ positive behaviour, would advocate a clearer and better view of values. I can’t see what else I can do, I think maybe I’ve done what I can and maybe it’s best to retire. Maybe someone new needs to come in and maybe it will be just fine without me before the match. It must be said that if you live and work in the public eye, you become stubborn, but there comes a point where it says stop. And just now it stopped for me, I can’t take it anymore. I didn’t imagine it would end like this, but I want to be able to go to Myra and enjoy a match without having to explain to my daughter why some people dislike me so much that they shout ugly things at me. Honestly, I don’t know why they do it. Many thanks to Glimt for allowing me to do this, many thanks to those who helped lift the atmosphere to “goosebumps” level, especially the memories from the European matches I will never forget. Thank you to all the nice people who call for the times I haven’t been on the turf before the game, and thank you so much for the nice messages. And finally, once again, thank you very much for me. Hey Glimpse!! We’ll see you at the match, but for me it will be from the stands. Erlend – What do you think the reason is? – I think it’s about a collision between cultures. There are some who have strict rules for what it means to be a true supporter. In the eyes of some, this means that you should not take part in organized tributes by the team. It all came to a head before Sunday’s match against Strømsgodset. Osnes brought his 10-year-old daughter with him. – I had some kind of agreement with the J field, but when I asked if they were ready over the microphone, I only got ugly messages back. The whole thing was quite embarrassing, says Osnes. – I was afraid that my daughter would get it, which luckily she didn’t. Because I don’t have a good explanation for why someone reacts that way. EXPECTING HITS: Osnes says that he expects excitement from the away supporters who come to Bodø, but not from Glimt’s own fans. Photo: Mats Torbergsen / NTB The Glimt supporters won an award for inclusion In 2022, Bodø/Glimt’s supporters were named Northern Citizen of the Year by Avisa Nordland and news, among other things for having created a safe and inclusive community. Osnes claims that he has tried to enter into a dialogue with the J field to find solutions for what they can do to create the best possible atmosphere before and during the games, and to find out what is causing the excitement. – I have not received any good answers. They blame individuals. There is no one who can or will meet me. It gets a bit awkward and stupid really, says Osnes. – It’s all a bit annoying and bitter, because we all want the same thing, to create a good atmosphere at Aspmyra. But after three years of this, I can’t take it anymore. Now I’d rather watch the games from the stands and enjoy it. The general manager of Bodø/Glimt, Frode Thomassen, takes the news seriously. GRATEFUL: – We feel that we have an audience where everyone takes on the role of a supporter and that the songs go around the entire stadium. Erlend has done a fantastic job there, and that he should then be subjected to harassment is both incomprehensible and very sad. Frode Thomassen (in the middle), here photographed together with coach Kjetil Knutsen. Photo: Mats Torbergsen / NTB Thomassen: – We don’t want that at Aspmyra – First of all, I realize that it is extremely sad. I’m just sad on behalf of the club and Aspmyra. Hets is completely incompatible with what we want Aspmyra to be. It is particularly sad that it concerns Erlend, who has done a fantastic job for the club and who has the club in his heart, says Thomassen. Thomassen also believes it is about a culture crash among supporters. – I don’t think it’s about Erlend as a person, but it is that there is someone other than the core who starts the songs. There is probably a small grouping in the supporter environment with strong voices, who have an agenda where they want to be lead singers at Aspmyra, says Thomassen, who repeats his gratitude to Osnes. – Erlend has done a fantastic job and it has helped to ensure that we have a stadium where everyone is really a supporter. Thomassen emphasizes that the majority of those standing on the J field are supporters cheering for Glimt. He hopes that people will now strongly distance themselves from what Osnes has experienced. – We don’t want that at Aspmyra. Here, the J-field must clean up its own ranks. news has tried to get a comment from both the manager and members of the board for the Bodø/Glimt supporters in the J field without success. To Avisa Nordland, Christoffer Simonsen Klette, events manager in the J-field, says that it is regrettable if Osnes has experienced harassment directed at him, but that he personally has not received anything like that from the stands. – But of course that shouldn’t happen. What he receives on social media or out on the town is not something we get with us. Klette adds that the J-field has told Glimt several times that when they already have “good press” there is no need for Osnes as an audience warm-up. – We have experienced that when we have good pressure and he comes in, it gets a bit killed. But I also know there are people who are very much in favor of his show. Personally, I don’t think it is necessary, but if he has experienced incitement, it is very regrettable, says Klette. GOOD ATMOSPHERE: The J-field has had a lot to cheer about in recent years. Photo: Mats Torbergsen / NTB8 Many good memories Erlend Osnes emphasizes that his love for Bodø/Glimt has not been destroyed. And he has many good memories to look back on. – For example, the first time the audience shouted “This is Aspmyra!” on my own initiative, something I started with after watching the film “300” where they shout “This is Sparta!”, he says. – And before the first Roma match, when Mourinho, Smalling, Mkhitarian and all the stars were suddenly in Bodø. And then I stand, an uneducated jåsspeis, on the same path as them. I live well with those memories, so we’ll see what happens at Aspmyra in the future.
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Erlend Osnes gives himself up as a warm-up at Aspmyra after incitement from Bodø/Glimt’s supporters on the J field – news Nordland
