Norwegian sports bureaucrats claimed they were shocked on Sunday when the head of Norway’s national football federation (NFF) failed to win a set on the country’s national athletics board (Norges idrettsforfund, NIF), which also encompasses the country’s Olympic committee. Yngve Hallén is widely believed to have been dumped because of his initially weak reaction to the scandal at the international football association FIFA.
Hallén and other top football officials caught criticism for not being tough enough against FIFA’s embattled president or challenging the powerful organization. They later joined the chorus of critics against FIFA, but not quickly enough to satisfy those disgusted by the charges of corruption against top FIFA officials.
Hallén has also been criticized over how he handled the use of the gay rainbow flag at a club match in Bergen, for a leadership style that resulted in some women leaving NFF’s board, and for how former national coach Egil “Drillo” Olsen was relieved of his responsibilities. It remained “incredible” in the words of some that now Norway’s largest single sports organization, NFF, won’t be represented on the national athletics sports board.
The weekend’s annual meeting instead elected an extra official from Central Norway, leaving Jorodd Asphjell, a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party from Orkdal, with one vote more than Hallén. Tom Tvedt, also a Labour Party politician, was, as predicted, elected president of the new board, called idrettsstyret.
newsinenglish.no staff
