Monday, 9 June 2025

Høybråten og Stovner IL - Høybråten Kunstgress


Høybråten og Stovner IL
Høybråten Kunstgress
Idrettsveien 1
1087 Oslo
Norway










Ground Number: 1438
Sunday 8th June 2025
HSIL 1-4 Union Karl Berner
OBOS Cup






HØYBRÅTEN OG STOVNER IDRETTSLAG - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1916. Like most in Norway, many sports were played, and the football section was established in 1928. This remains the largest section of the club with almost 400 players across 57 teams. The men have six teams with the women having one. I was unable to find out very much about their history, football-wise. They last played in the 3. Divisijon in 1996. They now play in the 4. Divisijon, which sits at the fifth tier of Norwegian Football. The club also has sections for team handball, track and field, orienteering, skiing, gymnastics and floorball.

The club is based in Stovner (traditionally pronounced Stomner), a borough located to the far north east of the city of Oslo. Historically, Stovner was the name of a farm in the municipal borough "Østre Aker". Today's Stovner borough is constructed atop the home fields of the Stovner farm, the first record of which dates back to the 14th century, as well as on the fields of several other farms that were situated in the area covered by the borough. The bulk of the modern high-rise structures were built by Selvaag and completed in the first half of the 1970s, together with several schools, a subway line into central Oslo, and an administrative centre for the borough.


MY VISIT

For my third game of the day, it was a 45-minute walk to Hoybraten. It was a mixture of rural areas and busy roads, but as I was nearing the ground, I started to get peckish. Luckily, there was a pizza machine at the club and I duly ordered a Diavola Hot Pizza for £10.93 in English. I presume these are delivered already made and reheated but they were great. One of the better pizzas I've tried, though not up there with the best. It only took a few minutes and was available 24/7. It's price was very competitive compared to the other pizzas I've seen. It was good to see both sets of players as when I'd arrived, kids were using the pitch. There were also the usual water bottle filling facilities, ideal on a Sunday with a lot of places closed. I still had around 20 minutes to wait for the game to start.
HSIL 2 were 2nd in the 9th Division (tenth tier) and had 14 points from 7 games. In their last game, they had beaten Haugerud 2 7-0. Union Carl Berner were far higher in the 4th Division (5th Tier). They'd won all nine of their games so far and sat top of the league. In their last game, they won 3-1 at Grorud 2. The game started with the visitors on top but not creating many chances. HSIL then have a good spell, but again the finishing is not there. Union Carl Berner opened the scoring on 38 minutes when the ball was sidefooted home from close range. Two minutes before halftime, the ball was cleared off the line as HSIL tried to equalise. The lead was doubled in first half injury time, a finish from a few yards out at the front post. On 55 minutes, the game was sealed, a low shot from just inside the area made it 3-0. Around 70 minutes, HSIL were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area following a trip. They made the visitors pay with a well-taken effort to reduce the arrears. The three-goal lead was restored on 80 minutes, the keeper was rounded, and despite a valiant attempt by the defender to stop it going over the line, it was 4-1 UCB.
That was how it stayed, and that was the end of my football in Oslo. This game was one of five games that weren't a brilliant advert for football, the exception being Saturday Afternoon between BI Athletics and Dynamo Mjosa. With my 24 hour bus ticket expired, I go for the easy option and get a single train back towards my hotel. It's around 15 minutes walk to Haugenstua and 20 minutes wait for the train. I buy the ticket online for £3.23, a very decent price. I do some calculations to kill the time and work out that I've spent £442 on travel and hotels for this trip. Over six games, that works at around £74 each. Tickets-wise, only two games charged, with me spending £14. In terms of food and drink, my football costs have had £27, although I have spent way more than that but I put that down to my hobbies of trying new foods and ciders. It's been a good weekend and I've enjoyed visiting new places, but I'm not sure if I'll return to Oslo for football. There's a whole wide world out there to explore after all.

 

My train arrived on time, and I was back at my local station by 9.20. It takes longer than expected to walk to the hotel so I set my alarm for tomorrow and consider taking a different route to the station in the morning. I get a couple of blogs done, but save the third for the next day. I'm asleep before midnight and wake a couple of times in the night but am up before my alarm. After having a shower and getting ready, I get all of my stuff together and leave at 6.50. Google Maps advises the same station as yesterday, so I go with that and it's a far more pleasant walk this time. I get the 7.21 train and am at the airport by 8. Security is a bit of a faff with you having to remove electricals and liquids from your bag due to the old-fashioned machines. It is, however, friendly and swift. Passport control is equally efficient. I have a nice Norwegian-style salami and cheese sandwich, which is very nice, for £7.99. After filling up my water bottle, I go to the gate and use the airport WiFi to upload this blog, or at least add the finishing touches.


THE GROUND

HOYBRATEN KUNSTGRESS is a fairly basic setup in terms of grounds, although it's well-kept. The only stand is a wooden set of stepped seating or terracing which is uncovered. It does look nice, though and makes a change. Only one side is open to spectators. Outside is a kiosk selling merch and snacks, although this was closed upon my visit. Rather uniquely, a 24/7 pizza machine is in the car park and this sells decent pizza at reasonable prices, especially for Norway. 

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