“Farmers didn’t play football,” says the lifelong supporter Geir Magnus Sandve of the fact that his beloved Bryne FK were not founded until 1926. These are momentous times for the Norwegian football club in the agricultural south-western region of Jæren. Last season they were promoted back to the Eliteserien, the top division, for the first time in 22 years in front of a capacity crowd of 5,000 and excitement is building before the start of the season at the end of March. Fans hope they can return to heights not seen since they won the cup in Oslo in 1987 – which would have been considered the club’s crowning achievement were it not for the rise of Erling Haaland.
In the brittle, banter-fuelled world of English football, it might feel as if Haaland’s star is waning this season. It is easy to forget he is second only to Mohamed Salah in the Premier League Golden Boot after winning it in the previous two seasons. At the age of 24 he is the all-time Norwegian national team top scorer (38 in 39 matches), and a Champions League, Premier League and Austrian league winner. The school playground of my six-year-old son, Ernest, is no longer consumed by the great Messi-Ronaldo debate but instead is alive to the shouts of “HAAAAARRR-LAND”.
