Football fun at Ullevaal

Published: 05.11.08

Employee contribution: Torleif Heggebø

– Guys, throw out your worthless HD TV sets and go watch the real thing when you can!

That is what Saulius Bliudzius, one of our Lithuanian colleagues, exclaimed after witnessing a somewhat honourable defeat for the Norwegian national team together with a handful of Omega employees and 24 000 spectators. As was expected by most, Netherlands won the World Cup qualififer in Oslo, by a single goal.

It was a good experience nonetheless. Being at the arena is something entirely different from watching the game on television. Even the not-so-good games are very exciting when you are “ringside”. It is now much easier to grasp the reporter's enthusiastic exclamations when the ball flies just past the post, now that we have seen the situations up close. And the Norwegian goal attempts did indeed fly past the posts; and when they did hit, the veteran goalie van der Sar was in the way. Watching the replays on television later might have revealed that the Norwegian attempts were not as dangerous as we saw them in the stands, but we were doing our best and having fun while trying to cheer the team towards the victory they yearned for.

Norway was the better team

The Norwegian team really were playing just as well as the visitors from the land of the clogs. The Dutch were a disappointment, except for the moves before they scored the deciding goal. Netherlands moved the ball tremendously quick, and the Norwegian defense were put under pressure. The only thing to do was try to clear the ball, which the Norwegian captain Brede Hangeland made an honest attempt to do. The clearance, however, landed right on the left foot of a Dutchman right outside the area, and he struck it towards the opposite post. The ball flew in between all the Norwegian and Dutch feet, and the Norwegian goalie Jon Knudsen had no chance of stopping the ball.

I will spare the InsideOmega readers from more game details, but emphasize the request from Saulius that people get out of the chair and onto the stands where they can experience the games with thousands of other football fanatics. I leave the match report to the Norwegian football celebrity Arild Stavrum, who published the following summary of the game on his blog: “John Arne Riise is wiping the ball off with a towel”. Despite his report, going to see the game in real life is lots of fun. Live is live!

Warming up

Perhaps the good mood could be attributed to our excellent warm-up. As you all know, you are supposed to warm up well before sporting events, and there are no exceptions for stand enthusiasts. Three hours before the match, the Omega team gathered with lots of other teambuilders in Kanonhallen outside Oslo to get ready for the game. We were treated in the best way as far as food and drinks go, and stand-up comedian Terje Sporsem together with the band Hot Stuff made their best efforts to get us in the right mood.

A gentle “Heia Norge” cheer soon turned into the resounding anthem “Vi gir alt, alt for Norge”. All revved up we entered the bus that would take us to Ullevaall, the national arena. We were ready for a fight; ready to win.

Unfortunately, though, the guys on the pitch were not as ready as we were.