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Fish balls, pyros and tennis balls: Spectators in Norway protest against the VAR.
IMAGO/NTB
The VAR is a red rag for some Norwegian football fans. Spectators have been protesting against the video assistant for weeks, and the protests reached their peak last Sunday.
It's the latest trend in the fan scenes: If something doesn't suit you, you just throw things onto the pitch. In the Bundesliga, people used tennis balls to protest against a new investor deal; in the Super League, erasers were thrown en masse because of collective punishment.
In Norway, fans of national football recently came up with another object to throw. Last Sunday, chaotic fans threw fish balls onto the pitch. Later, they set off pyros and threw tennis balls. The communicated goal behind it: To get rid of the VAR. The match between Rosenborg Trondheim and Lilleström SK ultimately had to be abandoned.
"I would say that tonight's game was a victory for the anti-VAR fans," said a spokesperson for a Lilleström fan group to the Norwegian medium "VG" (via "Der Standard"). However, stopping the game was not the aim.
And it was precisely this abandonment that annoyed Rosenborg coach Alfred Johansson. He understands that the fans have an opinion. But they were annoyed that the game could not be played.
Many fans in Norway have been resisting the VAR for some time. In neighboring Sweden, for example, the video assistant was never introduced. The scenes last Sunday were the high point of the protests so far. The association and the clubs will now discuss how to proceed following the abandonment of the match.
