Norway Cup | Cover Story | wavemag.com.np

Thirty years ago, in 1972, Bækkelagets Sportsklub and Dagbladet, a Norwegian newspaper, founded Norway Cup. The tournament was off to a successful start with 420 teams participating in the first year. By 1984 Norway Cup had an intake of 1352 teams. For a few years after that participation was limited to 1000 teams to increase playing time and good playing conditions. Norway Cup is open to all clubs whom are affiliate with FIFA through their National Football Associations.

This year marked the 30th Anniversary for the biggest football

tournament in the world with an unprecedented 1387 teams converging into Oslo between July 28th till August 3rd. Nearly 30 teams from developing countries were invited by Norway Cup to participate in the tournament. Save the Children, Red Cross, NORAD, LO and other organisations help bring these teams to Norway. Football becomes the common ground for young people from different backgrounds to interact with each other on a very real level.

In her welcome letter, Chairperson of tha Norway Cup Board of Directors, Marianne Ogaard Bergh, said the defined targets for the tournament was to promote positive attitudes and increase awareness of environmental issues, drugs, violence and racism. Racism is one of the driving forces behind the campaign of Colourful Unity, a cause close to Norway Cup. It began in 1979 with Pequeninos do Jockey, a team made up of street children from the slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Today that same team has the record for the most wins in this tournament. In the 80s the Norwegian Football Association and Norway Cup started the first sports project for disabled persons in Tanzania. That was followed by Mathare Youth Sport Association from Kenya in 1989 which grew from 20 to a 15,000 strong membership. The youths are instrumental in raising HIV/ AIDS awareness through campaigns involving football like Kicking Aids Out. In 1995 Norway Cup hosted a historical moment when an Israeli team played against a Palestinian team on a football pitch at Ekeberg.

Kashish Das Shrestha

Norwegian Gospel Voices performing at Norway Cup 2002 opening ceremony.
Norway Cup has played host to a number of worldclass footballers. This year was a treat for Manchester United fans who not only saw their favourites beat Norwegian club Vålerenga 2-1 but also met Forlan, Giggs and Solskjær. In the past, greats like George Best (1984) and Pelé (1989) also visited Norway Cup.

It is a source of great pride for Norway Cup that many notable football stars played there before they hit the bigtime. Ze Robero of the Brazilian national team used to play for Pequeininos do Jockey. Norwegian footballers like Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Manchester United), Steffen Iversen (Tottenham), Erik Mykland (1860 München), Øyvind Leonhardsen (Tottenham), Henning Berg (Blackburn) and Kjetil Rekdal (Vålerenga Fotball) all participated in Norway Cup as young players.

This tournament was never a "Boys Only" affair. From the year of its inception girls have been strongly represented. This was somewhat unique even in Norway, especially considering the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) included woman soccer officially as late as 1976. The main attraction at the opening show in Norway Cup 2000 was the game between the Women's National teams from USA and Norway. Both teams met again at the Sydney Olympics where Norway won 3-2.

Kashish Das Shrestha

Under 19 UEFA Championship final at the opening ceremony
To sheer magnitude of Norway Cup 2002, can be seen in the these numbers - 59 football grounds, 3,500 matches, 270 referees, 30 observers, 560 national and international media representatives, 29 schools and 7 hotels for accomodation, 10,000 meals for every lunch and dinner, 27,000 participants between 10-19 years old, 40 countries and 1387 teams.

Teams were divided into groups according to age groups. Each team is guaranteed a minimum of three matches. Based on their performances in that round they proceed to the play-offs. Elimination of losers finally resulted in a final between the remaining teams. Duration of matches was determined by class. This was the first year Nepal took part in Norway Cup. We were represented by our Under 16 girls team, Everest 11. Unfortunately they lost all three matches. The winners in their class was Skovlunde (Denmark).

Prizes and medals are awarded to players who reach the finals and semifinals. Norway Cup's Viking Ship trophy is awarded to the winning team in each class in the final play offs. The best team in each group in the preliminary games is awarded a plaque. The best player of each final match from each class is also awarded a prize.

Teams could opt to stay either at a local school or a participating hotel. A team leader was required to live with the players if at the school. Breakfast was served there in the mornings, lunch and dinner was at the main dining hall at Ekeberg. A snackbar at each school sold mineral water, cold drinks and snacks. Each player was given an identity card which made them eligible for stay at schools, three meals a day, free transportation within the Oslo Transportation System, free entrance to museums, a Norway Cup shirt, free entrance to outdoor swimming pools in Oslo, teamphoto/ diploma of participation, filmshow at schools, free entrance to the Norway Cup disco and Norway Cups multilanguage guides.

Nepali players at Kicking AIDS Out, a NORAD workshop.
Norway Cup is not just about football, or winning and losing. Many other activities made the tournament a special experience for our players. Everest 11 was warmly welcomed by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) who partially sponsored their visit. Our girls played an active part at Kicking Aids Out, a wokshop that focussed on how sports can be used to educate communities about HIV/ AIDS.

Different countries performed short cultural programmes. Our team won hearts with their charming dances. The Chinese troupe had awe-inspiring martial arts demonstrations with real weapons. The Zimbabwian dance became so popular that even the crowd joined in! Ekeberg, the Norway Cup headquarters, also played host to a magnificent motorbike stunt show. Stunts like the Superman, double heeled click and no footers made the crowd roar with appreciation. Local radio stations flooded the area with music, even sponsoring live acts like the Peaches, a preteen Norwegian duo. Big names like Coke and IBM made their presence felt with lots of activities and even a free cyber café. A large temporary hangar was the onsite shopping arcade housing brand names like Nike, Adidas, Umbro, Miss Sixty and Diesel, all at deliciously discounted prices.

The Volunteers

Freestyling motorbike stunt at Ekeberg.
Taking all this into account, it shouldn't comes as a surprise that Norway Cup is the biggest football tournament in the world. With only six full-time employees the backbone of this show are the volunteers, all 1500 of them, paid and unpaid.

Ingunn Stuksrud, 36, has volunteered for 10 years at Norway Cup. "This is my vacation," she said. "It's fun though sometimes it gets stressful." The tournament gave her a chance to represent young people, something her job as an assistance nurse lacks. Ingunn was invaluable at the media centre. She organised schedules, helped media personnel get to the right place for the right matches and co-ordinated press releases. For a lady on vacation, she put in 14 hour workdays. She confessed to never playing football but she loves Norway Cup anyway because "it is about kids having fun, playing football and meeting new friends."

This was the first time that 12-year-old Zahidullah volunteered for Norway Cup. He was elbow deep in soap suds, scrubbing meal trays. His elder brother plays for a Norwegian teams so he and his mother decided to volunteer. His major motivation was the money. Young volunteers are paid 50 Norwegian Kroners for each four hour shift. Zahidullah told us he plans to spend his earnings on games. He hadn't seen our team play but commented, "They look small!"

Eli Engan
We met Eli Engan, 47, the first evening we arrived at Nordseter Skole where Everest 11 would be staying. She has 13 years experience as part of the food and accomodation team for Norway Cup. Eli was present in the school from 6:00 am till midnight everyday, catering to the needs of 439 people most of whom were hormonal teens. Despite the obvious pressure of her job she always had a kind word and a smile for everyone. One evening she surprised the Nepali team with a very needed chicken and rice dinner. Fun and meeting new and familiar faces inspires this young grandmother to sign up as a volunteer year after year.

Hem Gurung, the local volunteer guide for Everest 11, is a prime example of a cross-cultural ambassador. Although this was his first year at Norway Cup, in the past Hem has done a lot to foster good relations between Norway and Nepal. He is a founding member of Norge-Nepal Foreningen (Norway-Nepal Association). Hem has always been interested in the Philosophy of Intermediary which promotes people focused activities without formalities. To him the Norway Cup is one such activitity where "through the medium of sport people, especially of the younger generation have the opportunity to meet, learn about each other's culture and traditions and of course, have fun." He was invaluable, from guiding the team around Oslo to teaching them important Norwegian phrases.

Kashish Das Shrestha
For a tournament that contributes so much to the global community, it's only befitting that Norway Cup has been honoured in return. The Association of Norwegian Sports Journalists created a special prize to be awarded to the arrangement that gave the best working conditions for the journalists. The first prize 1990 was awarded to Norway Cup. In 1992 Norway Cup was honored with "The Youth Peaceprize" by the UNICEF for its work for Colorful Unity.

Witnessing such a wonderful tournament, with participants and volunteers working towards making everyone feel welcome, made me wonder if our country could ever host an event like this- Nepal Cup anyone?