After our exploits at Frigg earlier on that day, it wasn't long before we found ourselves at Majorstuen station and heading over via train to Stabæk, and most specifically, their Nadderud Stadion home. It was to be the first of two matches we witnessed that weekend in the top tier of Norwegian football (the Tippeligaen) and so I was naturally excited at the prospect of watching some of the best players Norwegian football can boast.
We departed the train at a station I have completely forgotten the name of, and headed towards the ground, taking in what we assumed was a club bar on the short walk over. With half a litre of the disgusting Ringnes 'enjoyed', alongside genuinely enjoying the day's earlier kick off on the TV, we continued our traipse over to the Stadion to buy our tickets, and eventually find our seats.
Reading this, it may seem that I've jumped straight into it, and not gone into the usual crap of how many steps I took before I saw my first tree on the way to the ground, but nothing particularly exciting happened at all between the two grounds, so I won't waste anymore of your time with stuff that really doesn't matter. As a footnote, I don't like trees anyway, and there's a lot of them in Norway.
We departed the train at a station I have completely forgotten the name of, and headed towards the ground, taking in what we assumed was a club bar on the short walk over. With half a litre of the disgusting Ringnes 'enjoyed', alongside genuinely enjoying the day's earlier kick off on the TV, we continued our traipse over to the Stadion to buy our tickets, and eventually find our seats.
Reading this, it may seem that I've jumped straight into it, and not gone into the usual crap of how many steps I took before I saw my first tree on the way to the ground, but nothing particularly exciting happened at all between the two grounds, so I won't waste anymore of your time with stuff that really doesn't matter. As a footnote, I don't like trees anyway, and there's a lot of them in Norway.
I don't tend to do a great deal of research on grounds before I visit, as generally I like to be surprised and make a judgement on the place when I actually get there. Having bought our tickets for 230Kr a piece, we went hunting for our spots and did a bit of exploring on the way round the ground (primarily because we headed in the wrong direction and only found our turnstile once we'd walked the perimeter of the place). My lack of research had caused me some surprise on arrival, but I wasn't complaining, having immediately commented my love for the place. Seemingly, I didn't have any problems with the three grounds we had now visited on our European adventure.
We took our seats, or at the very least stood leaning against the wall at the back, and prepared for the 90 minutes of football ahead of us. The teams finished their warm ups, and entered the field of play, before the club song was played over the tannoy following an announcement of the teamsheet. For whatever reason, completely unbeknownst to the three ignorant English travellers in attendance, the club anthem was 'Hope of Land and Glory'. No, I don't know why either. Enjoy it anyway.
I definitely didn't see it coming, but that's what we got. No complaints from me.
Stabæk's ground consists of two main stands on either touchline, with a running track running the perimeter. It's an open ground, and I can only imagine you leave with frostbite on a windy day. Maybe even a touch of hypothermia if you're lucky when it rains. Thankfully, we enjoyed a game on a beautiful day, and were able to enjoy the ground in its glory basking in the summer sunshine.
Stabæk's ground consists of two main stands on either touchline, with a running track running the perimeter. It's an open ground, and I can only imagine you leave with frostbite on a windy day. Maybe even a touch of hypothermia if you're lucky when it rains. Thankfully, we enjoyed a game on a beautiful day, and were able to enjoy the ground in its glory basking in the summer sunshine.
We were treated to a brilliant game of football, as the hosts continued their push for a European spot with a 3-2 victory against mid-table side Strømsgodset. Stabæk took a 2-0 lead into the break, which included a stunning finish from Ernest Asante to double the lead (completely worth watching if you can find the highlights anywhere), before throwing that lead away in the opening 5 minutes of the second half (including the worst goalkeeping gaff I've seen for a very long time to allow the away side to reduce the defecit originally). Stabæk restored their lead however just before the hour mark, and managed to hold their lead for all three points against a tough tackling Strømsgodset side, who ultimately finished with ten men.
Heading out of the ground, we were treated to some free Pølse (yes please, thank you very much) and headed back towards the station, contently enjoying what would go on to become a running joke throughout the rest of the weekend. The Nadderud Stadion had been a pleasant surprise, and I took one last look at the place before nodding and moving on. We still had two more grounds to visit the next day. Oh, and a night out in Oslo to enjoy. If only I was 21, maybe then I would have been allowed into most of the bars...