Arne O. Holm says Bodø/Glimt's Success Fulfills 20 Years of High North Ambitions

Les på norsk.

We felt it in every fibre on Tuesday night, we who gathered around the pitch at Aspmyra Station in Bodø, Northern Norway. It was surprisingly mild for a fall night in a city north of the Arctic Circle.

The Northern Norwegian hymn "Å eg veit meg eit land' roared from the bleachers and out on the arena, which, when it opened in 1966, had anything but European top football in mind.

The top floor of football

But on Tuesday evening, that is precisely what happened.

As has often been the case with this Arctic football team, Tuesday was also a night on which history was written. When the English top football team Tottenham Hotspur came to visit, the team, city, and the county took their first steps into international football's top floor, the UEFA Champions League.

On their home field.

North of the Arctic Circle.

I remember another historic feat back in 1975. Dressed to the nines in Glimt colors, we traveled the long way from the North to the capital and were part of the game in which a Northern Norwegian team first became Norwegian champions. That was even more outlandish than now, when the team faces the best in European football.

A very good experience

It had been in the cards for some time.

It was outlandish because Northern Norwegian football teams were banned from the top national league until the 70s.

Therefore, it was probably not a coincidence that Glimt's coach, Kjetil Knutsen, reminisced back to 1975 when he was asked to explain the sensational journey toward European top football ahead of Tuesday's match. He was just seven years old when the sensational event took place.

I often participate in press conferences, but they are rarely or never about football. In the world of politics, press conferences are usually about criticizing opponents. It proved to be quite different when the press meetings took place in a football arena. Here, the coaches, Kjetil Knutsen and Tottenham's Danish coach Thomas Frank, spent almost all their time praising each other's teams.

Some tactics, of course, but concurrently a real respect for the opponent's years-long effort. And far removed from daily news broadcasts about a US president saying how deeply and strongly he hates his opponents.

It was, all in all, a very good experience.

During the game, I sat close to where I used to sit when Glimt took its first baby steps toward the journey toward the next month's opponents: Manchester City, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Monaco, and Galatasaray. On this night, they occasionally played havoc with Tottenham.

Those who played the most havoc

Those who ravaged most have played football in Bodø since before they could tie their own shoes.

Their opponent, Tottenham, barely has any English players on their team.

On the day before the match, English newspapers speculated about a possible acquisition. A loaded investor is said to have offered £4.5bn for Tottenham. That is enough money to solve many of the challenges we struggle with in the North, but not enough, obviously, to buy a club that was ravaged north of the Arctic Circle.

And thus, we are back where I started this tribute.

For 20 years, High North initiatives have aimed to stop migration, increase the will to stay and live here, and strengthen culture and the Northern Norwegian identity. In addition to creating profitable business projects, increase the number of local experiences, strengthen innovation and international cooperation.

All of which are quoted from the Norwegian government's latest High North Strategy.

The football club Bodø/Glimt fulfills it all and more.

Now, football can in no way unite a whole region. Football is just as much hate as it is love.

But everyone, in business, politics, and other football clubs can appreciate that Bodø has showcased what is possible in the North, if there is will and hunger.

The game ended with a tie, 2-2, a result that shows that football does not fulfill all aims. 

Justice is one of them.