Follo

Ground: Ski Stadion

Visits: 1

Date: 16th May 2015

Match: Follo - Sandnes Ulf 2-2 (1. divisjon)

Attendance: 612

17 May is Norway´s National Day and 16 May has become the biggest day of the year in Norwegian league football. This year 17 May was on a Sunday and once fixtures were confirmed a friend of mine, Christian, noticed it was possible to do a double (Follo & Sarpsborg) on 16 May. Most matches kick-off at 6pm in Norway but since Sandnes Ulf wanted to be home in time for 17 May the kick-off time for this match was moved to 3pm. That meant we could watch the match at Ski Stadion and then be in Sarpsborg around 20 minutes before kick-off in that match. I was picked up by Magnus at my hotel around 09.30 on Saturday morning and after picking up Christian in Kungälv we headed towards Norway. Sarpsborg is quite close (around 30 km) to the border with Sweden and since we had plenty of time we left the motorway in Sarpsborg and went to Sarpsborg Stadion. Once at the ground we found an open gate and could sneak in to take some pictures of the empty stands. We also tried to figure out where we should park later in the day. The match was officially sold-out and with us arriving very late it could be problems finding somewhere to park. Anyway, after the detour to Sarpsborg Stadion we continued our journey towards Ski and 30 minutes before kick-off Magnus parked the car outside Ski Stadion. I had no idea what the ground looked like and was a bit disappointed, running tracks and only two stands. One of those, in the north side of Ski Stadion, looked temporary but was thankfully covered. This stands had around 1 000 seats. The far side had a few seated rows but with no roof it was not difficult to choose where to sit.

Follo FK was founded in September 2000 as a merger between Ås, Ski, Oppegård, Langhus, Nordby and Vestby. Follo is one of three districts in the county of Akershus in case anyone wonders about the name. In recent years Follo FK has been going up and down between the second and third tier of Norwegian football. Last year the club won 2. divisjon (tier 3) and they are now once again playing in 1. divisjon. In 2010 the club reached the Norwegian cup final, which they lost to Strømsgodset. Both Sandnes Ulf and Follo have started the 2015 season well and the match this afternoon was fourth against third. As we arrived in Norway it started to rain and it rained throughout the 90 minutes at Ski Stadion. With a temperature of around 8 degrees it was a good idea I had brought a warm pullover as well as my rain clothes. Others in the group froze more than I did! The actual match was quite good. Follo had most of the possession but Sandnes Ulf scored the goals, 0-2 at half-time. In the second half Follo kept on attacking and managed to equalize. In the last minute of stoppage time both teams then had a chance to win the match ended 2-2. After the match the three Swedish groundhoppers present ran to the car and we could leave Ski without any problems. We arrived in Sarpsborg in time for the second match of the day, Sarpsborg 08 vs Lillestrøm.

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