Norwegian football fans who protested video assisted refereeing (VAR) at a top-league match during the weekend (by hurling tennis balls and fishcakes onto the field) got lots of international publicity, but little sympathy at home. They were roundly being blamed for spoiling the match between Rosenborg and Lillestrøm, and leaving children in tears.
Newspaper Oppland Arbeiderblad reported how two local boys had their “summer holiday dream destroyed,” while VG reported on another father who’d spent eight hours driving his young sons to the match in Trondheim, only to see it ruined “by grown-ups who threw fishcakes and tennis balls out on the field because they don’t like VAR in the top league.” The protests, which also included smoke bombs, prompted officials to halt the match and order all spectators to leave the stadium.
While the “so-called football supporters” claimed victory for those opposed to VAR, newspaper Aftenposten editorialized that they could hardly say anything more stupid: “This wasn’t a victory for anything, just an embarrassing defeat for public decency and fan culture.”
Aftenposten conceded that “there are good arguments for dropping VAR,” but that decision must be made in a democratic manner within the football federation. “If a majority of clubs want to end VAR, it will disappear,” wrote Aftenposten, but of the 32 clubs in the top leagues, only 10 want to remove VAR. The other 22 are either neutral or want to retain VAR, reported VG.
The management of both Trondheim-based Rosenborg and Lillestrøm should instead “have a serious discussion” with their fan clubs, advised Aftenposten, while Norway’s football federation “should determine what consequences the protest will have.”
NewsinEnglish.no staff
