Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike over.
It is an industrial dispute that will be remembered as the shoe-strike, with the most eye-catching and media friendly discussion point being players’ right to choose their own work outfit, more specifically which brand of boots to use.
In Norway, the team’s kit sponsor is expected to be the provider of all equipment, including that most sensitive tool for a footballer. In a survey done earlier this year, only 14% of Tippeligaen players said they were allowed to choose their own brand of boots, while 95% said that having a personal choice over which footwear to use was a very important issue.
Even in the social-democratic bastion of Norway there were some grumblings over the justification of a player strike organised by NISO (Association for Professional Athletes). The Sport Division of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), representing the clubs in the negotiations, pointed out that equipment deals were a cornerstone of securing a financially stable future for clubs and that the deal should include all players and all equipment, including boots. Apparently the consequences of given players a free choice of boots would be both ‘wide-reaching and complex’.
Followers of Italian and English football would nod in acknowledgment to that, recognising the complete financial chaos caused in those leagues by evil and cynical players being free to choose their own boots.
The usual pundit-suspects jumped out of their murky shadows complaining about young, uneducated footballers earning too much – actually, that’s the view of Sarpsborg 08’s general manager, showing that people management doesn’t play a large part in his leadership skill-set – and who’s thinking about the poor supportersP following their team ‘through thick and thin’?!
However, the strike was about much more than just boots. NISO wanted improvements to the standard employee contract and a fairer classification of work in team sports, a greater focus on clubs accommodating employees wanting to do academic studies on the side, a set amount of holiday days within a season and, of course, one standard match-ball in football and handball (unfortunately, they didn’t want to use the same ball for both sports).
In the end, the only casualty was the round 9 matches scheduled to have taken place last weekend, with the parties coming to agreement after less than three days on strike. As for the boots issue, no clear decision was made in the end, only agreements including such inspiring words as ‘reviews’, ‘committees’, ‘mapping’, ‘consultation’ and ‘individual suitability’.
NISO have previously been trying to slow down the unilateral introduction of artificial pitches throughout most of top-flight football in Norway, based on the uncertainly around the long-term health impact for player. Once again they came out of a tricky situation with a lot of credit, and justified their role as a relevant and reasonable representative for Norwegian athletes in all wage brackets. And good on the players for showing a united front – if you can’t hold a proper strike in Norway, there is no hope for the rest of us.
Whisper it – Molde looks like a contender at last.
The Presumed Top 4™ have been like a frightened and timid animal this season. Any sort of gentle encouragement from the media and fans about them now, maybe, finally, sort of are starting to look like a genuine contender has lead to more collapses than at a drunken Jenga party and a quick retreat into the cave of darkness and broken title dreams.
First up was Vålerenga who after two convincing wins looked to have maintained their impressive form from last season when they claimed 2nd place behind Rosenborg. Impressive is also the correct adjective for their following collapse, taking only two points in the following six league games and then topping it off with an exit to third tier Kjelsås in the second round of the cup. Those famously unbeaten title defenders Rosenborg didn’t even bother to have a good start, securing one point in their first four games. They looked to have turned a corner after beating both Vålerenga and Molde 2-0 in successive games, before somehow contriving to lose at home to Haugesund. In their last match they threw away another two points, conceding an injury time penalty to Start, before a 92nd minute equaliser saved them from an early cup exit (see below)
But if that was bad, Viking’s run of good form lasted for exactly 90 minutes. With one win and six points after more than a quarter of the league already played, Åge Hareide can only dream about peeping out from that metaphorical cave so central to the laboured analogy holding up this paragraph.
But wait! What’s that coming over the hill? No sudden movements, because it could be the first sign of potential being fulfilled amount the top 4. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde started the season poorly with two points in their first three outings, but four wins in the next five have demonstrated the attacking flair inherent in the team, with a strong squad more than capable of lasting a full season. In fourth place – only two off leaders Tromsø – they should now be in a perfect position to challenge for the title. Their next game away to a very unpredictable Haugesund side on a terrible pitch will give anothe good indication of whether Solskjær’s team can keep their consistent run of form going and not buckle under the pressure, as their presumed title rivals have done so spectacularly already?
Presumed Top 4 Watch ™:
Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga and Viking now 4th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Sogndal is definitely going down
Ah yes, the season’s first iron cast prediction from this blog has been blown out of the water already. It the last post we confidently predicted that Sogndal – the poor little things – would most certainly finish bottom of the league. While a very unpredictable season could throw up any kind of ranking among the fifteen other teams, Sogndal’s fate was as sealed as the date of the next Armageddon.
Enter Mats Solheim and a miracle of shot. 37 minutes into their away game inside Stabæk’s Telenor Arena (that’s right music lovers, home of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest), a free-kick about 25 yards out was tapped into Solheim’s path and he blasted the ball straight into the top right corner for a classic goal.
Somehow Stabæk wasted a handful of great chances in the second half, with Sogndal holding on to record a crucial victory. And they followed that impressive away win with their first home victory of the season only four days later, beating Lillestrøm 2-0. Even Hovland, who is a great prospect at centre-half, scored one of the scrappiest goals you’ll see all year six minutes from time, before Ole Jørgen Halvorsen ran 75 yards with the ball and hammered in one of the best goals of the season a minute later.
It was a week that made all the difference for Sogndal. Six points, two spectacular goals and two more cleans sheets from a defence that had been their only saving grace so far. Can it actually turn out well for Sogndal after all? Probably – and unfortunately - not, but you won’t be seeing this blog making any more bold predictions for a while.
A classic in need of an update
Time flies when you’re having fun but we’ve also managed to complete the third round of the Norwegian Cup. It’s the last round where the fixtures are set up by the Norwegian F.A. based on ‘sporting and geographical considerations’, with still no top-flight teams facing each other.
It didn’t do much good for Stabæk who became only the second Tippeligaen team to get knocked out, losing 3-1 to Hønefoss. Rosenborg almost followed them, but 18 year old striker Mushaga Bakenga saved them from a humiliating defeat to Byåsen, getting an injury time equaliser to make it 2-2 and send the game to extra-time. Within eight minutes of the re-start, Rosenborg was out of sight with three quick goals, Bakenga eventually getting four goals in the 6-3 win.
The only top-flight team to get a home tie didn’t make very good use of it, Lillestrøm scraping past Sandefjord 5-4 on penalties. Odd Grenland and Aalesund also needed extra-time to go through, and luckily there weren’t too many of the embarrassing big defeats that has plagued the earlier rounds. With the exception of Molde that is, who can now add a 7-1 win over Tiller to their 11-0 rout over Eidsvåg, a pathetic 2-0 win over Træff in the second round ruining their sequence of rugby scores.
The Norwegian Cup is a genuine classic competition, but it is surely ready for a few tweaks. The fixtures of first few rounds can still be kept between geographically close teams, but there are no reason not to draw the teams in a normal fashion, while still giving away ties to top teams, saving small provincial clubs the travel cost.
Apparently denying players to choose their own boots is a higher priority at the moment.
Week 7 results
Rosenborg 0-1 Haugesund
Sørum 53
Attn: 20 710
Brann 2-1 Start
Ojo 49 Årst 71 (pen)
Austin 86 (pen)
Attn: 17 237
Lillestrøm 0-3 Molde
Hoset 38 (pen)
Kippe 54 (o.g.)
Moström 70
Attn: 8 852
Stabæk 0-1 Sogndal
Solheim 37
Attn: 6 662
Aalesund 2-1 Strømsgodset
Post 35 Nordkvelle 5
Ulvestad 69
Attn: 10 012
Tromsø 2-2 Sarpsborg
Abdellaoue 37 Hoås 21
Nystrøm 90 Røn 90
Attn: 6 290
Viking 1-1 Odd Grenland
Berisha 79 Johnson 28
Attn: 11 204
Fredrikstad 3-1 Vålerenga
Thomassen 2 Muri 71
Elyounoussi 19
Ruud Tveter 89
Attn: 12 565
Player of the week: Tarik Elyounoussi, Fredrikstad
Week 8 results
Strømsgodset 1-0 Brann
Andersen 87
Attn: 6 012
Haugesund 1-1 Vålerenga
Nordberg 20 Strandberg 6
Attn: 4 844
Molde 2-1 Fredrikstad
Holm 9 Elyounoussi 55
Chukwu 16
Attn: 8 158
Sarpsborg 08 2-0 Aalesund
Hoås 79
Breive 86
Attn: 3 724
Tromsø 3-1 Viking
Kara Mbodij 42, 45 Nevland 80
Björck 74
Attn: 4 137
Odd Grenland 2-3 Stabæk
Johnsen 16 Gunnarsson 78 (pen),
Andersson 43 Hammer 86
Pálmason 89
Attn: 5 087
Sogndal 2-0 Lillestrøm
Hovland 84
Halvorsen 85
Attn: 2 186
Start 1-1 Rosenborg
Årst 90 (pen) Lustig 65
Attn: 7 721
Player of the week: Tom Erik Breive, Sarpsborg 08
Top Scorers:
8 goals:
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm
6 goals:
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Ole Martin Årst, Start
Kim Ojo, Brann
5 goals:
Øyvind Hoås, Sarpsborg 08
Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland
Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm
It is an industrial dispute that will be remembered as the shoe-strike, with the most eye-catching and media friendly discussion point being players’ right to choose their own work outfit, more specifically which brand of boots to use.
In Norway, the team’s kit sponsor is expected to be the provider of all equipment, including that most sensitive tool for a footballer. In a survey done earlier this year, only 14% of Tippeligaen players said they were allowed to choose their own brand of boots, while 95% said that having a personal choice over which footwear to use was a very important issue.
Even in the social-democratic bastion of Norway there were some grumblings over the justification of a player strike organised by NISO (Association for Professional Athletes). The Sport Division of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), representing the clubs in the negotiations, pointed out that equipment deals were a cornerstone of securing a financially stable future for clubs and that the deal should include all players and all equipment, including boots. Apparently the consequences of given players a free choice of boots would be both ‘wide-reaching and complex’.
Followers of Italian and English football would nod in acknowledgment to that, recognising the complete financial chaos caused in those leagues by evil and cynical players being free to choose their own boots.
The usual pundit-suspects jumped out of their murky shadows complaining about young, uneducated footballers earning too much – actually, that’s the view of Sarpsborg 08’s general manager, showing that people management doesn’t play a large part in his leadership skill-set – and who’s thinking about the poor supportersP following their team ‘through thick and thin’?!
However, the strike was about much more than just boots. NISO wanted improvements to the standard employee contract and a fairer classification of work in team sports, a greater focus on clubs accommodating employees wanting to do academic studies on the side, a set amount of holiday days within a season and, of course, one standard match-ball in football and handball (unfortunately, they didn’t want to use the same ball for both sports).
In the end, the only casualty was the round 9 matches scheduled to have taken place last weekend, with the parties coming to agreement after less than three days on strike. As for the boots issue, no clear decision was made in the end, only agreements including such inspiring words as ‘reviews’, ‘committees’, ‘mapping’, ‘consultation’ and ‘individual suitability’.
NISO have previously been trying to slow down the unilateral introduction of artificial pitches throughout most of top-flight football in Norway, based on the uncertainly around the long-term health impact for player. Once again they came out of a tricky situation with a lot of credit, and justified their role as a relevant and reasonable representative for Norwegian athletes in all wage brackets. And good on the players for showing a united front – if you can’t hold a proper strike in Norway, there is no hope for the rest of us.
Whisper it – Molde looks like a contender at last.
The Presumed Top 4™ have been like a frightened and timid animal this season. Any sort of gentle encouragement from the media and fans about them now, maybe, finally, sort of are starting to look like a genuine contender has lead to more collapses than at a drunken Jenga party and a quick retreat into the cave of darkness and broken title dreams.
First up was Vålerenga who after two convincing wins looked to have maintained their impressive form from last season when they claimed 2nd place behind Rosenborg. Impressive is also the correct adjective for their following collapse, taking only two points in the following six league games and then topping it off with an exit to third tier Kjelsås in the second round of the cup. Those famously unbeaten title defenders Rosenborg didn’t even bother to have a good start, securing one point in their first four games. They looked to have turned a corner after beating both Vålerenga and Molde 2-0 in successive games, before somehow contriving to lose at home to Haugesund. In their last match they threw away another two points, conceding an injury time penalty to Start, before a 92nd minute equaliser saved them from an early cup exit (see below)
But if that was bad, Viking’s run of good form lasted for exactly 90 minutes. With one win and six points after more than a quarter of the league already played, Åge Hareide can only dream about peeping out from that metaphorical cave so central to the laboured analogy holding up this paragraph.
But wait! What’s that coming over the hill? No sudden movements, because it could be the first sign of potential being fulfilled amount the top 4. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde started the season poorly with two points in their first three outings, but four wins in the next five have demonstrated the attacking flair inherent in the team, with a strong squad more than capable of lasting a full season. In fourth place – only two off leaders Tromsø – they should now be in a perfect position to challenge for the title. Their next game away to a very unpredictable Haugesund side on a terrible pitch will give anothe good indication of whether Solskjær’s team can keep their consistent run of form going and not buckle under the pressure, as their presumed title rivals have done so spectacularly already?
Presumed Top 4 Watch ™:
Molde, Rosenborg, Vålerenga and Viking now 4th, 11th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Sogndal is definitely going down
Ah yes, the season’s first iron cast prediction from this blog has been blown out of the water already. It the last post we confidently predicted that Sogndal – the poor little things – would most certainly finish bottom of the league. While a very unpredictable season could throw up any kind of ranking among the fifteen other teams, Sogndal’s fate was as sealed as the date of the next Armageddon.
Enter Mats Solheim and a miracle of shot. 37 minutes into their away game inside Stabæk’s Telenor Arena (that’s right music lovers, home of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest), a free-kick about 25 yards out was tapped into Solheim’s path and he blasted the ball straight into the top right corner for a classic goal.
Somehow Stabæk wasted a handful of great chances in the second half, with Sogndal holding on to record a crucial victory. And they followed that impressive away win with their first home victory of the season only four days later, beating Lillestrøm 2-0. Even Hovland, who is a great prospect at centre-half, scored one of the scrappiest goals you’ll see all year six minutes from time, before Ole Jørgen Halvorsen ran 75 yards with the ball and hammered in one of the best goals of the season a minute later.
It was a week that made all the difference for Sogndal. Six points, two spectacular goals and two more cleans sheets from a defence that had been their only saving grace so far. Can it actually turn out well for Sogndal after all? Probably – and unfortunately - not, but you won’t be seeing this blog making any more bold predictions for a while.
A classic in need of an update
Time flies when you’re having fun but we’ve also managed to complete the third round of the Norwegian Cup. It’s the last round where the fixtures are set up by the Norwegian F.A. based on ‘sporting and geographical considerations’, with still no top-flight teams facing each other.
It didn’t do much good for Stabæk who became only the second Tippeligaen team to get knocked out, losing 3-1 to Hønefoss. Rosenborg almost followed them, but 18 year old striker Mushaga Bakenga saved them from a humiliating defeat to Byåsen, getting an injury time equaliser to make it 2-2 and send the game to extra-time. Within eight minutes of the re-start, Rosenborg was out of sight with three quick goals, Bakenga eventually getting four goals in the 6-3 win.
The only top-flight team to get a home tie didn’t make very good use of it, Lillestrøm scraping past Sandefjord 5-4 on penalties. Odd Grenland and Aalesund also needed extra-time to go through, and luckily there weren’t too many of the embarrassing big defeats that has plagued the earlier rounds. With the exception of Molde that is, who can now add a 7-1 win over Tiller to their 11-0 rout over Eidsvåg, a pathetic 2-0 win over Træff in the second round ruining their sequence of rugby scores.
The Norwegian Cup is a genuine classic competition, but it is surely ready for a few tweaks. The fixtures of first few rounds can still be kept between geographically close teams, but there are no reason not to draw the teams in a normal fashion, while still giving away ties to top teams, saving small provincial clubs the travel cost.
Apparently denying players to choose their own boots is a higher priority at the moment.
Week 7 results
Rosenborg 0-1 Haugesund
Sørum 53
Attn: 20 710
Brann 2-1 Start
Ojo 49 Årst 71 (pen)
Austin 86 (pen)
Attn: 17 237
Lillestrøm 0-3 Molde
Hoset 38 (pen)
Kippe 54 (o.g.)
Moström 70
Attn: 8 852
Stabæk 0-1 Sogndal
Solheim 37
Attn: 6 662
Aalesund 2-1 Strømsgodset
Post 35 Nordkvelle 5
Ulvestad 69
Attn: 10 012
Tromsø 2-2 Sarpsborg
Abdellaoue 37 Hoås 21
Nystrøm 90 Røn 90
Attn: 6 290
Viking 1-1 Odd Grenland
Berisha 79 Johnson 28
Attn: 11 204
Fredrikstad 3-1 Vålerenga
Thomassen 2 Muri 71
Elyounoussi 19
Ruud Tveter 89
Attn: 12 565
Player of the week: Tarik Elyounoussi, Fredrikstad
Week 8 results
Strømsgodset 1-0 Brann
Andersen 87
Attn: 6 012
Haugesund 1-1 Vålerenga
Nordberg 20 Strandberg 6
Attn: 4 844
Molde 2-1 Fredrikstad
Holm 9 Elyounoussi 55
Chukwu 16
Attn: 8 158
Sarpsborg 08 2-0 Aalesund
Hoås 79
Breive 86
Attn: 3 724
Tromsø 3-1 Viking
Kara Mbodij 42, 45 Nevland 80
Björck 74
Attn: 4 137
Odd Grenland 2-3 Stabæk
Johnsen 16 Gunnarsson 78 (pen),
Andersson 43 Hammer 86
Pálmason 89
Attn: 5 087
Sogndal 2-0 Lillestrøm
Hovland 84
Halvorsen 85
Attn: 2 186
Start 1-1 Rosenborg
Årst 90 (pen) Lustig 65
Attn: 7 721
Player of the week: Tom Erik Breive, Sarpsborg 08
Top Scorers:
8 goals:
Anthony Ujah, Lillestrøm
6 goals:
Veigar Páll Gunnarsson, Stabæk
Rade Prica, Rosenborg
Ole Martin Årst, Start
Kim Ojo, Brann
5 goals:
Øyvind Hoås, Sarpsborg 08
Frode Johnsen, Odd Grenland
Nosa Igiebor, Lillestrøm
