Norway embraces ‘Viking blood’ in storming World Cup campaign

{"text":[[{"start":7.9,"text":"On Friday evening, in the middle of Times Square in New York City, hundreds of Norwegian football supporters sat down on the pavement and began rowing in unison. "}],[{"start":20.9,"text":"The gesture, meant to evoke a Viking longship, has become the defining ritual of Norway’s storming start to their first men’s World Cup since 1998. The team, which faces France on Friday, has won both its matches and is guaranteed to progress to the next round."}],[{"start":40.65,"text":"For Ole Frøystad, a 39-year-old primary school teacher from a tiny island on Norway’s west coast, it was the moment he realised the “row, row, row” chant he created had gone viral. "}],[{"start":53.45,"text":"“I was speechless,” Frøystad, a member of the Norwegian national team’s fan club “Oil Mountain”, told the FT. “Hearing the echo in Times Square because all the Norwegians were standing there roaring . . . it was one of the craziest things I have experienced in my whole life.” "}],[{"start":68.7,"text":"Supporters, led by Frøystad, began making the gesture during a World Cup warm-up match against Sweden on June 1."}],[{"start":76.4,"text":"Collective rowing on command has rapidly filtered from fans, often wearing Viking-style helmets, to the upper echelons of Norwegian society. MPs have rowed in parliament, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has joined in; even members of the royal family have followed suit. "}],[{"start":92.25,"text":"The move has acquired its own soundtrack, called “Viking blood”, which has climbed to first place on Norway’s Spotify chart. "}],[{"start":100.65,"text":"The lyrics declare, “first we took Europe and now we take the USA”, before claiming that “Odin knows we were here first”. They also promise to turn America “into the battle of Stiklestad”, the 1030 conflict in which former Viking raider King Olav Haraldsson was killed by a peasant army. "}],[{"start":117.9,"text":"The trend has split opinion among some of the country’s officials. The rowing in parliament was “extremely embarrassing”, said one, while another said it was “putting Norway on the map”."}],[{"start":128.9,"text":"For Norway, a wealthy oil nation of about 5.7mn people, the tournament has become a rare moment of global football visibility, boosted by Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard, two of the Premier League’s biggest names."}],[{"start":143.55,"text":"Haaland has scored four times, enhancing his reputation as one of the world’s most lethal attacking players, as Norway beat Iraq 4-1 and Senegal 3-2. "}],[{"start":154.45000000000002,"text":"After the Senegal victory, which sealed their advance to the round of 32, the team sat on the grass in the stadium and performed the row, in time with captain Ødegaard beating a drum. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":165.65,"text":"“We knew this whole thing could become big for Norway because we have Haaland,” said Ragnhild Ask Connell, director of communications at the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF). "}],[{"start":175.9,"text":"“In the US, Norwegians become Vikings, whether we want to or not. So we thought: ‘We are a small country but this is an opportunity to show to the US who we are,’” she said. "}],[{"start":187,"text":"Yet the more the rowing spreads across Norway’s often conformist society, the more pressure there is to join in."}],[{"start":194.5,"text":"Emil Anners Lappen, a 24-year-old forestry manager, became briefly famous during Norway’s win over Senegal after television cameras caught him sitting still while Norwegian supporters around him rowed."}],[{"start":208.45,"text":"“I did not think at the time that I would get so much attention for sitting still,” he told the FT. “It is very Norwegian to do what everyone else is doing and stand out as little as possible. When someone stands out even a little, everyone goes completely crazy.” "}],[{"start":225.04999999999998,"text":"Lappen, who lives in Bergegarda, a town in eastern Norway, said he was not opposed to the Viking theme itself. “I can appreciate a good Viking,” he said. “I just cannot handle that damned rowing.”"}],[{"start":236.99999999999997,"text":"The reaction could be seen as a classic example of Janteloven, the Scandinavian code that polices those who stand apart from the group, said Janne Stigen Drangsholt, a Norwegian academic and cultural commentator."}],[{"start":250.39999999999998,"text":"“We trust the state. We do what we are told. If you are told to row, then you row,” she said. "}],[{"start":257.25,"text":"Although the public response to the trend has largely been enthusiastic, some critics say it also reveals an uncomfortable side of Norwegian identity. "}],[{"start":265.8,"text":"One European diplomat said Norway had so far been lucky that few people had connected the Viking imagery with the Nazi appropriation of Norse mythology. “If someone does that, they can forget the [Viking] hats for a while,” they said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":279.3,"text":"The Viking imagery is also freighted with a “problematic” history of plunder, violence and rape, alien to the country’s values today, said Drangsholt."}],[{"start":288.90000000000003,"text":"“Modern Norway is more likely to present itself abroad through peace mediation, the opposite of what the Vikings were doing,” she said. "}],[{"start":296.40000000000003,"text":"But for Frøystad, whose handle on Instagram is @mr.rowrow, the Viking image is not about plunder but exploration. Norse seafarers, he noted, reached North America long before Columbus."}],[{"start":309.85,"text":"“We are a small country, so we don’t always get that much attention,” he said. “So now we have to roar our hearts out because this is so much fun.”"}],[{"start":318.5,"text":"Additional reporting by Sam Agini in London"}],[{"start":328.5,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782485923_3880.mp3"}