Iggy and Quinn at the soccer with Matt, he lives in Oslo.
Vålerenga Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Oslo, founded in 1913, named after the nearby neighbourhood of Vålerenga. They finished 7th in the 2007 Norwegian Premier League.
Vålerenga's home ground, as of October 2005, is Ullevaal Stadion, the stadium for the Norway national football team. The previous stadium was Bislett stadion, which hosted speed skating and track and field events in addition to football, and hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics.
The history of Vålerenga goes back to Fotballpartiet Spark which was founded in 1898, which became Idrettslaget Spring on July 29, 1913. Later the club changed its name to Vaalerengens Idrættsforening. Vålerengen won the Oslo Championships four times before a national league (Norgesserien) was established in 1937. In the 1948/49 season Vålerengen finished second.1960s–1980s In 1965 Vålerengen won the 1st division (now Tippeligaen) for the first time, and in the 80s they won 3 league championships and 1 cup championship. During that decade they also were twice cup runners-up and placed 3rd in the league in 1985.
1990s In 1990 Vålerenga were relegated after 14 seasons in the top division. Vålerenga was close to further relegation in the 1992 season, but managed to remain in the second highest division thanks to a last round 3-0 win against Eik-Tønsberg. In 1994, Vålerenga returned to the top division, but were relegated again in 1996. In 1997 Vålerenga won the cup and the 1st division and were again promoted to Tippeligaen. As earlier in the 90s, the stay in the top division lasted only a few years.
2000–2004 In the 2000 season Vålerenga lost the play-off matches against Sogndal and was relegated to the 1st division. Vålerenga returned to Tippeligaen in 2002.
The 2003 season was poor for Vålerenga and they wound up third last in the league sending them into playoffs against Sandefjord to avoid relegation. The result was a 0-0 draw in Sandefjord and a 5-3 victory in Oslo and so Vålerenga retained the position in the top league and avoided relegation.
Vålerenga rebounded nicely in the 2004 season and proved a serious challenge to the dominant Rosenborg team in the bid for the league's gold medal. After a franctic final round where Vålerenga beat Stabæk 3-0, they missed out on the league title since Rosenborg beat Lyn, Vålerenga's city rivals 4-1. Vålerenga won the silver medal, finishing 2nd to Rosenborg equal on points and goal difference, but Vålerenga had scored one fewer goal than Rosenborg during the entire league campaign, leaving Rosenborg as league champions.
Champions 2005 At the start of the 2005 season it was apparent that Rosenborg was in bad shape and it seemed like Vålerenga's season to go all the way. After a strong season opening, the club sensation Start - newly promoted to the Premier League - looked to give Vålerenga a fight to the finish, and the two clubs basically alternated on leading the series to the very last round. On October 29 it looked to be a thrilling last round reminiscent of the previous year, as both Start and Vålerenga had the exact same amount of points, but Start with a slightly better goal difference. Start met Fredrikstad at home, while Vålerenga met Odd Grenland away. As the opening whistle blew the scene was set for some nail-biting football minutes around Norway. Eventually Fredrikstad, who faced relegation if they lost, beat Start 3-1 while at the same time Vålerenga managed a 2-2 draw against Odd Grenland. Vålerenga stepped one up from the previous year, and won the title with a one point margin. History was made on several levels that night as it marked the first time in 21 years that Vålerenga won the league, and most notably it put an end to the 13 year long reign of Rosenborg.
2006 onwards The follow-up season of 2006 didn't start out as well for the reigning champions, and a poor start left them at the very end of the table after seven rounds, having gained only 5 points. A steady rise in form though still brought the team to 6th place by the time the season was half-through. Late July brought a string of bad results, including embarrassing losses to main rival Lyn, and the exit from the UEFA Champions League qualifier after losing 5-3 on aggregate to Czech club Mladá Boleslav in the 2nd qualifying round. Vålerenga had aimed to qualify for the tournament after missing out the previous year by being defeated by Belgian side Club Brugge on a penalty shoot-out. After losing five out of seven games between July 22 and August 19 head-coach Kjetil Rekdal decided enough is enough, and announced his resignation. Assisting coach Petter Myhre took over, and as a consequence the club regained their form and scored 25 out of the last 30 possible points, bringing the club to yet another medal in the league, the third consecutive, as well as a qualification spot for the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup. Vålerenga has also qualified for play in the 2006-2007 Scandinavian Royal League after finishing among the top four teams in Norway.
Colours Up to 1913, Vålerenga's kit was moss green. In 1914, the Norwegian State Railways had a set of blue and red kits left over, which Vålerenga bought cheaply, so their official colours became blue and red. The 2006 season away kit was white with a touch of moss green.
Stadium Ullevaal stadion is the current home ground, but it is owned jointly by the Norwegian Football Association and Vålerenga's main rival Lyn. From the 60s till the 80s and a short period in the end of the 90s Bislett stadion was Vålerenga's home ground. Poor conditions and maintenance of Bislett forced Vålerenga to move to Ullevaal and a groundshare with Lyn. After Vålerenga moved from Bislett stadion plans for building their own ground were conceived, but poor results on the field combined with financial problems kept those plans at bay for a few years. After the 2nd place in 2004 and the league title in 2005 as well as business man John Fredriksen's deletion of the club's debt in 2003, the talks of building a ground for Vålerenga have resurfaced. The original plans were to build a ground in Bjørvika, right next to the future opera house in the centre of Oslo. Vålerenga has won little political support in Oslo city council for this proposal. There have been several proposals for other sites where a ground can be built, but there are two sites that recurr as the most likely: Ensjø east in Oslo close to Vålerenga's training facilities at Valle-Hovin and to build the ground over the railway tracks at Oslo Central Station. Following an announcement made on May 15, 2008, it appears that Vålerenga will be moving "home" to Valle Hovin as they purchased the area of the proposed stadium for the sum of 1 Norwegian Krone. The development mainly includes a 22,000 seater stadium. Supporters
It has been calculated that around1850, there were 4000 - 5000 bears in Scandinavia, and two-third of these are thought to have been in Norway. The population density was highest in Telemark, Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Møre og Romsdal. As a result of severe hunting pressure in both Norway and Sweden, bears were in practice extinct in much of the region by the early 20th century. However, protection in Sweden enabled bears to survive in four small areas, and the relict populations began to grow again. In recent years the Swedish bear population has grown by an average of 5.5 per cent per year.
Bounties meant bears were ruthlessly hunted, and 200-300 bears were shot every year between 1850 and 1860. The bounty scheme lasted until 1932, when bears became protected while in their winter lairs. In 1973, bears were totally protected in Norway. The species had then been virtually extinct since before 1945.
Analyses of DNA from bear faeces found in the Sør-Trøndelag county and in the northern counties of Norway in 2006 indicated 71 individual bears in this part of Norway. It's better than none. We were actually lucky not to see a bear, they are dangerous.
This is me on the way to the winter cabin in Norway.
This is fun; this is a part from a snow-blower.
