Tag: cardiff

Norway's football team dressed as Vikings lined up in front of a longship in a Norwegian fjord

The Vikings are coming! How to watch the battle

by Kevin Burden, posted in News

The national teams of Wales and Norway square up to meet in Cardiff on Thursday 1 October in their first matches in Group D of the group stages of the Nations League. It has the potential to be an interesting game, with Norway experiencing a slightly stronger run of form.

Join fellow fans for the build-up: The Norwegian FA is hosting a fan event at Depot Cardiff leading up to the match, with room for 1,500 fans. It promises to be a fantastic opportunity to meet fellow Norwegians and soak up some of the Norwegian football fever. Food will be available. There’ll be sing-alongs and competitions with national team jerseys as prizes. Fans of all ages are welcome. Doors open at 12:30 and close at 18:00, making this a great way to gear up whether you’re heading to Cardiff City Stadium or watching the game at a pub. Tickets cost 250 NOK (around £20) each and include a drink voucher.

Buy tickets direct from NFF, the Norwegian FA, at: https://billett.fotball.no/selection/event/date?productId=10229835544358&advantageId=10229944444975

Watch the match in person at Cardiff City Stadium: tickets are now on open sale, meaning you don’t have to belong to a national supporters’ club to buy them. Seats are available for as little as £35 each. Buy here: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/fawtickets-english/EDP/Event/Index/588

Watch on TV: The BBC haven’t confirmed whether they’ll be showing the game live on BBC One or Two, but will broadcast it live on the iPlayer and via the BBC Sport website. S4C will show the game with Welsh commentary, and you can also access this through S4C Clic and the iPlayer.

Listen in: BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru will carry live commentary on air and on BBC Sounds.

The return fixture will be played in Oslo on Saturday 14 November.

Norway's football manager Egil Olsen - aka Drillo - celebrates victory at the 1994 World Cup

A figure of fun – or a man who changed a nation’s feeling about itself? A film about Norway’s most successful football manager screens in Cardiff

by Kevin Burden, posted in News

Gŵyl Wal Goch is the leading festival of football culture and is held in Wrexham, the spiritual home of Welsh football. On the eve of the Nations League clash between the Cymru and Norway in Cardiff, the group has arranged a screening of the film Alt For Norge in Cardiff in the company of Welsh and Norwegian fans and delegates from the Welsh and Icelandic football associations. Gŵyl Wal Goch founder Russell Todd explains more:

There is a train of thought that when Cymru broke its 58 year qualifying duck at Euro 2016 in France, it changed not just Welsh football but the whole nation. But looking back, we were not alone. A football film being screened in Cardiff suggests Norway went on a similar football-influenced journey a couple of decades earlier than Wales when the unexpected success of national team coach Egil ‘Drillo’ Olsen in the 1990s had a huge influence on Norwegian national identity.

Taking inspiration from Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia’s sports documentaries Senna and Diego Maradona, filmmaker duo Jo Vemund Svendsen and Daniel Høglund let the story  from the 1990s speak for itself in their captivating film Alt for Norge.

Egil 'Drillo' Olsen, as featured in Alt for Norge

Co-director Daniel Høglund said: “We are thrilled to be bringing Alt For Norge to Cardiff to warm up for the match between our nations. For many years Norwegian football was better known for a commentator’s unbridled on-air joy at Norway beating England than for any success on the pitch.”

The memorable quote was screamed over the radio, ‘Lord Nelson! Winston Churchill! Maggie Thatcher! Lady Diana! Your boys took one hell of a beating tonight.’ 

But Høglund says after that victory they were minnows no more.

“It all changed in the 1990s under Egil Olsen but his impact stretched beyond the pitch. It really did change our small nation and our self-confidence forever.”

Gŵyl Wal Goch’s Russell Todd said: “To many who remember football in the 1990s, Egil Olsen in his wellies is an indelible image. His idiosyncrasies may have made him a figure of fun but they hid an astute brain, both for football and politics. Alt For Norge is a fascinating portrayal of how football can change a small nation for the better, something we in Cymru know all too well after that wonderful summer in France a decade ago. So why not come and join us for a great night out before the big match?”

Mark Hinge from the Welsh Norwegian Society said, “How fitting that on the eve of a sporting-clash of two small nations – both equally, with big hearts – that this film will be screened in Wales as an example of Welsh ‘Hiraeth’ and Norwegian ‘Begjær’.  It will be wonderful to watch the historic rise of Norway as a sporting nation and for all of Wales to share in that rise of success and their joy.”

Alt for Norge! shows at The Canopi on Tudor Street on Wednesday 30 September Tickets are available from the Gŵyl Wal Goch website: https://www.footballfansfestival.com/the-silver-screen-loyw

Norway’s National Day celebrated in Cardiff

by Kevin Burden, posted in News

We hope you had a wonderful day if you were celebrating Norway’s National Day. Thanks to everyone who joined us in Cardiff. We think there were more than 100 in the procession from the Wales Millennium Centre to the Norwegian Church. Here’s a flavour. Thanks again to the Salvation Army Band for providing music, including ‘Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått’ – Norway in red, white and blue, as seen here today!

The procession was joined by a flag-waving Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Cllr Bablin Molik, who welcomed everyone to the church and to Cardiff. She extended a special welcome to visitors from Norway, including students from Åsane High School from Cardiff’s twin region of Vestland. They had come to Wales especially to set up an exhibition on tourism to the region in the upstairs gallery of the church.

Åsmund Berthelson of Vestland Council remembered the long ties between the two regions. The trade in pit props from Norway and coal from Wales had long been superseded, he said, but trade and educational ties remained, and the bonds between the two countries remained strong.

Tony Olavesen, one of the Welsh Norwegian Society’s new honorary members, recalled the wartime collaboration between the UK and Norway. He laid a wreath to recall those who lost their lives fighting to preserve freedom.

Music was provided indoors by young vocalist Freya, who sang a modern Norwegian tune, ‘Stardust’, and pianist Janet Neilson.

The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Cllr Bablik Molik, visits the exhibition on tourism to Norway put on by students from Vestland

17th May celebrations confirmed for Cardiff

by Kevin Burden, posted in News

The Welsh Norwegian Society and the Norwegian Church Cardiff Bay have confirmed plans to again mark Norway’s Constitution Day in Cardiff on Friday, 17th May.

The celebrations in Cardiff will begin at 4:45pm with a colourful flag-waving procession from the Wales Millennium Centre to the iconic Norwegian church.

There, the Norwegian flag will be raised and the national anthem sung. Everyone will then be invited inside the church to enjoy music and speeches from representatives from Norway and Wales. 

Norway’s constitution was a declaration of independence signed in 1814 after four centuries of rule by Denmark. At first it was unsuccessful, and Norway fell under Swedish rule. Norway finally won its freedom as a nation in 1905, but in 1940 was invaded and occupied by the Nazis, who banned all displays of national pride, including the 17th May celebrations. Understandably, Norwegians today are fiercely proud of their hard-won independence.

“The 17th May is a day of celebration in Norway with the festivities usually starting with champagne breakfasts and lasting until late into the evening,” explains Bethan Winter of the Welsh Norwegian Society. “The streets are lined with crowds eagerly waving flags and proudly dressed in their colourful and unique national costume, the ‘bunad’. The event is a highlight of the Welsh-Norwegian society’s calendar and we want to bring a flavour of the celebratory mood to Cardiff Bay.” 

Norwegian-style refreshments including waffles and traditional cakes will be on sale at the arts centre café which will be open until the evening.

This year there will also be a small programme of free events at the church on Saturday, 18th May.

  • At 1pm the church historian, Thomas Alexander Husøy-Ciaccia, will give a talk on the history of the Norwegian seamen who travelled to south Wales and the church mission which was set up to support them, resulting in the building of churches in Cardiff, Barry and Swansea.
  • Between 2.30 and 4pm there will be Norwegian-themed arts and crafts activities available for children.
  • Upstairs in the gallery there will also be an exhibition on Vestland county, Cardiff’s twin region in west Norway, curated by Norwegian high school students. 

The Norwegian community in Wales extends a warm velkommen to all.   

New exhibition tells the story of Norwegians in south Wales

by Kevin Burden, posted in News

A new exhibition in Cardiff is telling the story of the Norwegians who came to south Wales in the mid 1800s as seamen and merchants servicing the coal trade. It opened on Norwegian National Day, 17th May, and will run until the end of June 2023. For opening hours, please check the website of the Norwegian Church Arts Centre at https://www.norwegianchurchcardiff.com/

The new exhibition upstairs at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff

At one point there were so many Norwegians in South Wales that the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission established four churches – in Cardiff, Swansea, Barry and Newport – to serve not only as places of worship, but also as community centres, libraries, and providers of welfare and communication for people far from home. 

As the coal trade declined, and congregations became more integrated into Welsh society, the churches closed. However, the buildings in Cardiff and Swansea were preserved, albeit on new sites, and now the Cardiff church is the home of a thriving arts and cultural centre and café. 

Thanks to a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant and with the support of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission in Bergen, heritage officer Thomas Alexander Husøy-Ciaccia has been tracing the story of the churches in south Wales and their communities, and has curated the new exhibition at the Norwegian church in Cardiff Bay. 

In a new video Thomas tells Kevin Burden of the Welsh Norwegian Society about the churches’ place in the rapid changes in Wales in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Heritage Officer Thomas Husøy-Ciaccia explains the story of Norwegians in south Wales