Culturally Enriched Football

Our Norwegian correspondent Zylark has translated an article about a culturally enriched incident involving football (soccer). In an introductory note, Zylark points out that the enriched nature of the incident was downplayed by the Norwegian media as much as possible:

Note how the article starts with the fact that the team is from a county in mid-Norway. A reader who does not read the entire article could be led to believe this was some ordinary youth football club. What the article fails to mention is just who are on the team in question. You guessed it, Muslims.

Apparently it is too much to ask some Enrichers to integrate into existing soccer teams. Integration is best done by forming immigrant-only soccer teams. Go figure.

Though, a few of them did try joining existing teams, but were kicked out shortly afterwards. Wonder why — probably racism *cough*…

Zylark’s translation of an article from Dagbladet, one of Norway’s national newspapers:

Team from Trøndelag [mid Norway county] attacked police and opposition players

The entire team, including coaches, was expelled from Ekebergsletta [the venue of the tournament]. They roamed the area with wooden rods.

The team Sout IL from Trondheim was expelled from Ekebergsletta for 24 hours after behaving in a very threatening manner today. The team was thrown out of the tournament this morning after a protest revealed cheating on their team roster.

“The team then gathered at the field where their opposite team from yesterday’s match was playing. They entered the field [in the middle of a match I might add — translator] and became a nuisance. They behaved very threatening and rudely,” said station chief Gro Smedsrud to Dagbladet.

Seven police officers was dispatched to the scene, as the two officers who arrived first needed backup. No one was hurt in the incident, which was targeted at the Brazilian team Karanba.

“They [Sout IL] were entirely out of control, and threatened the police with wooden rods. Totally unacceptable,” says station chief Gro Smedsrud.

One person has received criminal charges, and the entire team have been expelled from the venue for 24 hours.

“Many more could have been charged, but the scene was very chaotic,” says Smedrud.

According to the Karanba team’s Norwegian coordinator Tommy Nilsen, a premonition of the row was apparent earlier in the morning.

“Three players followed us into the toilet and shouted bad things at us in the mess hall. Two of them apologized later, but when we exited the mess hall there were a lot of people waiting for us,” says Gleyson (16) of Karanba to Dagbladet. He is one of the players who was followed into the toilets.

Nilsen reported this to the police, and asked them to be vigilant for possible trouble later.

“They’ve been after us all day. This is just very sad. These are people who do not respect anything,” says Karanba coordinator Nilsen to Dagbladet.

When the trouble started during the match, Nilsen was with another player to meet Ole Gunnar Solskjær [Norwegian soccer star]. But Nilsen’s buddy, Ronny Pedersen, was an eyewitness to the scene that unfolded.

“They came walking over the field with wooden rods and yelling “F**k Karanba, f**k Brazil!”. It was a confrontational mood, and we knew they were there to make trouble,” says Pedersen to Dagbladet.

“Their team leader walked behind them and encouraged them. Luckily, the police were at the location, and made them leave,” says Pedersen.

Tommy Nilsen applauds how the police and organizers resolved the situation.

“It was a horrible display of bad manners, and entirely unacceptable. But Norway Cup and the police have handled this very well.”

Both Sout IL teams were earlier today disqualified from the tournament after the jury discovered massive cheating on their team roster.

“The opposition team filed a protest. It was suspected that the team used players from other teams. We checked the player validation for all on the team,” says the head of the jury at Norway Cup, Arnor Dingen, to Dagbladet.

“Our boys’ team lost after extra rounds yesterday, but those we played against were men. As such we filed a protest,” says Nilsen

The jury discovered that many of the players on the team did not have their papers in order. Many had player validation for other teams in Trøndelag, but not for the team they were playing for. In total 10 players [out of 40] were not valid, and in addition 2-3 players were to old for the age-bracket.

“The protest was granted, and our verdict resulted in the team not being allowed to play at Norway Cup. But I was not aware of the trouble that ensued,” says Dingen.

- - - - - - - - -

Sout IL Trondheim have two teams in the tournament, G14 and G19 [Boys 14 and Boys 19]. Both teams reached the knock-out phase of the tournament before being disqualified.

Ismail Muhyadin is the idealist behind these two teams, and according to Norway Cup has met many of the boys through his work in Trondheim municipality. Muhyadin earlier received Trondheim municipality’s award for volunteer service for his work with these youth.

He claims that they have done nothing wrong. Muhyadin claims yesterdays match was unfair, and that the umpire failed to halt the game when one Sout player had a nose-bleed.

“That is why the 19-year-olds went to protest today on behalf of their younger comrades on the 14-year-old team. They gathered at the field where Karanba was playing and started some trouble, but when I came and asked them to stop, they stopped at once. They are very nice and good boys who just want to play football and have a good time at Norway Cup, says Muhyadin to Adressa.no [a local newspaper in Trondheim].

Muhyadin was not at the field when the trouble started. He also claims that it was not their fault that the player validation for many of their players was not in order.

“That is such a shame, and I know it sounds as if we’ve done something wrong. But when players, after quitting a club long time ago, are still on their roster, something is wrong. And it is not us that made that mistake. But we are immigrants and maybe have had some problems understanding all the rules, says Muhyadin to the newspaper.

Zylark also notes:

In a follow-up today in Dagbladet, the players of Sout naturally claim to have been harassed and persecuted during the entire tournament. The usual: racist remarks, and that they’ve not been treated with respect. And that of course, they did not start the row.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.