People will go to great lengths to support their favorite sports team. When the team then makes it to a semifinal game, it can be a race to secure a ticket to see the game up close and personal. But when the tickets sell out quickly, it’s time to get creative. That is just what one man in Norway did.
When the Bodø/Glimt football club advanced to the semifinals for a match against the Tottenham Hotspur out of England, tickets became a hot commodity in the small Artic town. With less than 500 tickets available, Glimt’s loyal fans – over 50,000 strong – were all hoping to secure a spot at the game. Having nothing to lose, one Norwegian fan decided to see if anyone would barter with him for a ticket. What he had to offer was a Norwegian delicacy, boknafisk. The sun-dried cod specialty is produced at the fish farm where Torbjørn Eide works as a manager in Senja, Norway. Knowing that the fish delicacy was not readily available in Bodø, Torbjørn was optimistic that someone would take him up on this offer. In exchange for about 11 pounds of boknafisk, worth about 2,500 KR ($243), he heard from Øystein Aanes, who had an extra ticket to give. Nils Erik Oskal, another superfan inspired by the bartering strategy, successfully offered up reindeer meat in order to watch his favorite team play.
The passionate Bodø/Glimt fans, dressed in their yellow glimt or “flash,” packed into the Bodø Aspmyra Stadium and cheered for the home team against the North London opponent. Being that the stadium is above the Arctic Circle with artificial turf and hostile winds and weather, the team and its fans felt they had a hometown advantage. Unfortunately, despite all that and the passion that the fans brought to the game, they lost to their opponent 0-2 and did not get to advance further in the semifinals.
It remains to be seen if others will be inspired to trade for tickets if the team makes it this far again next year. What is sure is that the Glimt fans will continue to support their four-time Norwegian League champions as they try to repeat this year’s record.
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