Skoppum IL have never pretended to be what they are not. The club represent a pretty village an hour’s drive south of Oslo, fielding teams from the under-14 age group down. Their goals are modest but of the kind that nourish an entire sport: to provide a safe and welcoming environment in which the community’s youngsters can play. There are hurdles to overcome, such as a need for up-to-date artificial pitches and the challenge of increasing participation among girls.
On Saturday afternoon, though, Skoppum and Norway’s 1,700 grassroots clubs will be asked to make a decision that could cause shockwaves far beyond their country. They will gather online or at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion for the Norwegian Football Federation’s (NFF) annual general assembly and are entitled to vote on whether video assistant referees are scrapped in the highest division, Eliteserien. It will conclude a saga that has ripped at the domestic game’s fabric. The top two tiers have voted for the technology to be discontinued but, in the final stage of an outwardly democratic process that many believe has been the opposite, the clubs whose lives it barely touches are in effect tasked with the final say.
Related: Norway on verge of abolishing VAR from domestic leagues after club vote
“It surprises us that we’re being dragged into this,” the Skoppum chairman, Kenneth Laumb, says. “It’s something that only affects the top clubs in Norway. We appreciate that there’s a democracy in Norwegian football where clubs, even of our size, can help decide big issues but this isn’t one that we feel we should have been involved in. It feels like we’re being used as pawns in a power game.”
Last month Norway’s top 32 clubs recommended, by a margin of 19 to 13, that VAR be scrapped. Each had held a meeting of its members to decide how to vote. The expectation was that the NFF, which had encouraged a vote after extensive protests inside stadiums and promised to give weight to its outcome, would mirror that recommendation but instead it proposed the technology be retained.
The thoughts of clubs further down the pyramid will decide everything. Such is the level of discontent that, whereas grassroots outfits tend to side with the NFF’s proposals and as few as 10% traditionally turn up to the general assembly, all bets are off this time. Many local sides may mirror the stance of their nearest top-flight club, and Skoppum are far from the only ones disgruntled at being hauled in to the sharp end of an impassioned debate.
“We feel our involvement is pointless,” says Jørgen Grydeland, general manager of the suburban Oslo club Oppsal IF. “It did not require a democratic decision from the grassroots clubs when VAR was introduced. This was decided through a Teams meeting with the top clubs. If VAR had been introduced through a democratic process with grassroots clubs back then, it would have felt more natural to decide VAR’s future fate in 2025.
“This is no longer about VAR itself; it’s about trust in the NFF, how they undermine democratic processes and create a distance between themselves, grassroots clubs and their supporters.”
There is a sense the NFF and its president, Lise Klaveness, widely feted as a progressive figure for much of her tenure, simply refuse to lose the argument. They are hugely reluctant to diverge from a continent in which, with Sweden a notable exception, VAR has become a highly controversial staple. “It feels like the NFF has kept moving the goalposts whenever they see they’re losing the battle over VAR,” Laumb says.
This week a pro-VAR interview with Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the Fifa referees’ committee, appeared on the website of domestic television rights holder TV2. It had been organised by the NFF. In advance of Saturday’s vote, leaders of the federation’s 18 district associations came out in favour of its continuation. They had seemingly been whipped into line.
Related: Protest and resist: fans in Scandinavia lead backlash against VAR
Many feel that the NFF, having invited the VAR debate, has sullied it. “Trust in them is now broken into pieces,” says Ole Kristian Sandvik, spokesperson for the influential Norsk Supporterallianse. “That’s sad because Lise is doing a lot of good things on the international stage, but right now it’s pure chaos on home turf. A lot of supporters believe they were lied to, that this has all been just for show and not a real process, and that everything was decided ahead of it.”
Using the hashtag #BreddenMotVAR [grassroots against VAR], a number of grassroots clubs have been cohering their rebellion online. The hope is that it energises those who would not ordinarily engage with the vote. Skoppum have held a board meeting and confirmed that they want VAR to be discontinued. A similar process has driven Oppsal’s decision. “What I can say is that we will not vote for VAR,” Grydeland says. There are more relevant matters at play for Oppsal, who have more than 100 teams at various levels: they have tabled a proposal that involves removing transfer fees for youth and amateur players.
Laumb and Grydeland fear a majority will land in favour of keeping VAR, although many other voices around Norwegian football believe the issue is delicately poised. Perhaps Norway will break ranks and, to the disquiet of governing bodies elsewhere, stoke appetites for other countries to follow suit.
“Ignoring the majority now risks pushing more people away from the sport,” Laumb says. “We believe football is about joy, community and fairness, not technology that overcomplicates the game and silences the roar of the crowd. Let’s give the sport back to those who live for it.”
The NFF was approached for comment.
