TONSBERG, Norway, July 10 (Reuters) – As Norway’s “Viking Row” sweeps through the World Cup ahead of their quarter-final against England, Viking enthusiasts say the celebration is about firing up the team and winning together in old Norse style.
Norwegian fans are hoping the chants — inspired by their fierce, seafaring Viking ancestors — will inspire their side to victory in the biggest match in the nation’s history in Miami on Saturday.
Celebrating their team’s fairytale run, supporters have performed the Viking Row in New York’s Times Square, outside stadiums ahead of matches and in the capital Oslo.
“I really like the Viking row. It’s really good as a chant. It gets people fired up, it gets people going,” event and volunteer manager Knut Roger Brekke, at the Oseberg Viking Heritage Foundation in Tonsberg, south of Oslo, said.
The Foundation has built a full-scale replica of the Oseberg ship, a 21.5-metre Viking ship that was discovered at a site outside Tonsberg in 1903, giving Brekke plenty of chances to practice his rowing skills.
He says while fans’ encouragement would have been well understood by their seafaring ancestors, their rowing technique would have quickly left them exhausted.
“If you’re actually going to row one of these things out at sea, you need to go for hours and hours and hours and hours. So you need to take it slow. You need to do a little rest,” he said.
The original ship was built around 820 but was later hauled ashore and used as a burial vessel for two powerful women. The replica, the Saga Oseberg, was completed in 2012 and is used for tours.
Victory in Saturday’s match against England would set up a clash with either Argentina — three-time World Cup winners — or Switzerland and take Norway into uncharted waters.
The team has never progressed beyond the last 16 teams before and enthusiasts at home are hoping Norway’s World Cup adventures will give Viking culture a boost.
“The Viking spirit is wanting to win and to do it together,” Ole Harald Flaten, Project Leader at the Heritage Foundation, said.
“Hopefully, there will be lots and lots of people who want to row a Viking ship after Norway has won the World Cup.”
The match at Miami Stadium kicks off at 2100 GMT on Saturday.
(Reporting by Tom Little, writing by Ilze Filks; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Comments