​TONSBERG, Norway, July 10 (Reuters) – As Norway’s “Viking Row” sweeps through the World Cup toward their quarter-final clash with England, fans and organizers alike say the celebration is about rallying the team and winning together in true Norse fashion. Norwegian supporters are counting on chants inspired by their fierce seafaring ancestors to lift the squad to victory in what could be the nation’s most historic game in Miami on Saturday. The celebration of Norway’s fairy-tale run has seen Viking Row chants echoed from Times Square in New York to stadiums across Europe, and outside the capital city of Oslo, where fans have gathered to show their support.
“I really like the Viking Row. It’s a really good chant. It fires people up, it gets people moving,” said Knut Roger Brekke, event and volunteer manager at the Oseberg Viking Heritage Foundation in Tonsberg, located south of Oslo. The Foundation has constructed a full-scale replica of the Oseberg ship, a 21.5-meter Viking vessel discovered near Tonsberg in 1903, which has given Brekke ample opportunity to practice his rowing skills. He notes that while fans’ encouragement would have been familiar to their seafaring ancestors, the actual rowing technique would have quickly left them exhausted.
“If you’re going to row one of these things out at sea, you’d have to endure for hours and hours and hours. So you need to pace yourself. You need to rest,” he explained. The original Oseberg ship was built around 820 but was later hauled ashore and repurposed as a burial vessel for two influential women. The replica, named the Saga Oseberg, was completed in 2012 and is now used for tours.
A victory on Saturday against England would set up a potentially epic showdown with either Argentina—three-time World Cup champions—or Switzerland, taking Norway into uncharted waters. The national team has never advanced beyond the last 16 in World Cup history, and fans at home are hoping that Norway’s ongoing World Cup journey will give Viking culture a much-needed boost.
“The Viking spirit is about wanting to win and doing it together,” said Ole Harald Flaten, project leader at the Heritage Foundation. “Hopefully, there will be lots and lots of people who want to row a Viking ship after Norway has won the World Cup.”
The World Cup match in Miami Stadium is scheduled to kick off at 2100 GMT on Saturday. (Reporting by Tom Little, editing by Ilze Filks; editing by Toby Chopra)