– They don’t get that Stian, but they got to make a proper party, then, says mother Heidi Høydalsvik Hauge. The small stand at Blindheim Stadium is completely packed. On and next to the fence around the entire track, there are children, old and grown-ups. Far more than would normally be at a G19 match where one team is a hobby team. The man behind Blindheim IL’s hobby team is Stian Hauge. He was 17 years old, and today’s match was a party to remember him who lost his life to cancer. And not least collecting money for those who are going through the same thing as he did. – This was just the way Stian had liked it. No minute’s silence or mourning band or anything like that. Full of music and a focus on friendship and joy, says Hauge. – What you see in the picture is exactly who he is, says mum Hauge. She says that the Stian his friends on the team have portrayed to her is exactly the same as she knows herself – a smiling boy who always wants everyone to join in. Photo: Private – A solid coach poses in a suit, says mother Hauge about the picture of Stian when the team was about to play its first match. Photo: Private No mourning band. Full goof. Captain Lukas Blindheim is not wearing a black captain’s armband today. The cloakroom, which is now so full that not everyone gets to sit on the benches while they change, is all but quiet for the dead comrade. The team’s own song blasts deafeningly from a large speaker in the corner while feet are taped and sweaty shin guards are brought out. The volume is turned up even more when Sykkylven’s players come to the dressing room next door. They are of course hoping for victory, but today’s match is actually about something completely different than points and table position. Captain Lukas Blindheim does not play today’s match with a mourning band. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news Strategy will be essential. The opponents are at the top of the table and train far more often than the Hobby team. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news A good coach, like Fillip Leine, does not go out of his way to help players like Mats Myrvoll to prevent injuries before a match. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news According to Stian Hauge, the coaches on the touchline must always be in suits. That has not changed, even though he is no longer there. But Casper Digernes needs some help with the tie from Andreas Hageselle. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news Dressers and suits are on and the plan is ready. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news Finding football joy Mamma Hauge says that her son has always been a very good and dedicated football player, right up until he got sick. Then he got a prosthesis in one knee, and it was difficult to run on the track himself. – But he didn’t lie down, says Hauge. The teenager brought friends with him who had played football in the past, but had dropped out for various reasons. According to the mother, today’s team consists of those who have hardly been in a game of football before and those who found football to be fun and invest fully. – He has brought the gneiss back to many. One of them was Petter Velle, who is now referred to as a star striker by his teammates. – I had quit. He, like so many others in Hauge’s gang, loves football. But the demand was simply so high that the fun of playing disappeared. – I didn’t think it was funny anymore. It was too serious and too much, says Velle. While Hauge was admitted to the hospital, he stood and called around. In the spring of 2022, he had put together his own hobby team, despite the fact that he himself could not play there. “Suddenly one day he got to talk to the club and various people, so we got court time and were up and running,” says Velle. Both the away and home teams warm up in the same booth before the match. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Seldom has a hobby team match at Blindheim had so many supporters. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Trainers carry on what Stian Hauge started – one shows up in a suit at a match. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news The uproar when the players came onto the pitch was something completely different from usual in a normal match for G19 in the 3rd division. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Blindheim Hobby team will face a stronger team, but are confident of victory. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news Sofa, PlayStation and pizza Today’s match was both to remember Stian Hauge and to have the party he wanted. In addition, money was collected. When Hauge was being treated at Radiumhospitalet, they had their own area for young people, created with money from voluntary organisations. TV, video games and full fridges for those who couldn’t go out on the football field themselves. When the teenager returned home to Ålesund for treatment there, he missed such a place to be. – The goal was to buy a sofa, a PlayStation and a TV, but now we suddenly have a little more to go on, says Hauge and laughs a little. When the match was over, over NOK 300,000 had been collected, both from donations, money from the savings bank and a goal bonus from AaFK. Mother Heidi Høydalsvik Hauge followed her son’s team’s match from the top of the stands. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news In addition to the fundraising the team had started themselves, NOK 75,000 came from the savings bank and NOK 60,500 from AaFK’s scoring bonus. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Meininga with today’s match was both a party to remember Stian Hauge and to collect money for the Cancer Association’s Vardesenter in Ålesund. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news 0–5, but still no loss After 90 tiring minutes, it’s over. The home team, despite several hundred cheering supporters and a Russian bus playing the team song at full blast, lost. Sykkylven’s G19 team went home with a 5-0 win and three points, but the Hobby team still went out on the pitch smiling and hugging after the match. – Stian wanted us to focus on having a good time then, and on what is nice, says Casper Digernes. The memory match is over, and others must seriously take over the place in the suit on the sidelines. – It will never be the same without Stian, then. Especially not with the hobby team as it was his idea. He would very much like it to amount to something and talk about it for a long time. And then it’s not him who will manage it anymore, then it will never be the same. But we will do the best we can, says Kasper Aarset Pettersen. On the sidelines, the coaches get to witness a team-mate score, despite the fact that the opponents have a clear lead. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news The goal was cancelled, and the match still 0-5. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Nevertheless, the team went on the track applauding after it was all over. The most important thing was the commemoration of the comrade. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Stian Hauge’s team, Blindheim Hobbylag, will not be the same without the founder and coach. Nevertheless, they persevere. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news Blindheim Hobby team was just one big group of friends brought together by Stian, the teammates say. The coaching team will now take over the baton from the zone of Heidi Høydalsvik Hauge. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news
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Memorial campaign for Stian (17) collected hundreds of thousands for the cancer cause
