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My Everton #30: On The Royal Blue Norwegian Sea

Everton and technical partner hummel are proud to collaborate to present My Everton, a weekly series of first-hand accounts describing the most-treasured memories of fans, players, and staff both past and present.

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I am from Bleik, a small village of around 450 people on the island of Andoy in northern Norway. 

It lies between the sea and mountains, which makes it a very beautiful and stunning place both in good and stormy weather. 

I have two big passions in life: football and fishing.

I am a professional fisherman and I have my own boat with a crew of six. In the summer, I go on holiday further north to sport-fish salmon. 

After that, when the football season starts, everything is about Everton. 

Sports in general are very popular in Norway, perhaps because I think we are competitive people. During winter, everybody is skiing. After that, it’s football that takes over - and English football is huge throughout Scandinavia. 
 
During my childhood, I watched and played a lot of football, but it was not until the FA Cup final in 1989 between Everton and Liverpool that I became an Evertonian. 

I watched the game on TV at home with my father, who fell asleep in his chair. When Stuart McCall scored to make it 1-1 and take the game into extra-time, I cheered so loudly that I woke my dad and almost gave him a heart attack! He was furious. 

Everton lost the game in extra-time, but that day I knew I was "chosen" and became an Evertonian. 

I know that feeling, that connection is forever.

Everton means everything to me. 

It can be bumpy sometimes. When the Blues play on Saturdays and lose, it ruins my whole weekend, but if they win… Wow. It makes the entire next week immeasurably better.

We watch every Everton match, most often at my house. Me, my wife, grandchildren, brother, his children, and other friends. And my dog, Blue, the best dog in the world.

Being an Evertonian in the 1990s had its logistical challenges, too. I tried to keep updated, using Text-TV and newspapers from Oslo. Thankfully, now we have the internet and much better television so I can subscribe to every football channel and watch us.

I became a member of ESCNB (Everton Supporters' Club Norwegian Branch) in the ‘90s and started receiving a member magazine called The Goodison Roar. There are around 700 members of ESCNB now - and it continues to grow.

I am extremely proud to be part of that group. Once a season, we arrange a trip to Goodison Park to take in a live match and the amazing city of Liverpool.

Back home, we have a local football team called Hoken (“The Hawks”), founded in 1933, that I have been involved with for many years.

Like Everton, it’s a huge part of our local community - it is the pride of the people and a source of lots of excitement.

Our pitch was built by volunteers from Bleik and I genuinely think that almost everyone who lives here helped. 

To fund the team, we paint and sell billboards around the pitch. My brother and I have one with the Everton crest… Naturally, it is the best in the ground!

The rest of my life at home revolves around fishing.

Being a fisherman was something I always wanted to be, so when I finished junior high school in 1990 at the age of 16, I got a job onboard a local boat. 

I have been fishing for 31 years now. 

I bought my current boat from a good friend, who sadly supports the neighbours, which is why it was initially called ‘Red’. 

But, of course, it has since been renamed ‘Royal Blue’.

Up the Toffees.

By Glenn Thomas Madsen, Evertonian and member of ESCNB