Norwegian football has been engulfed by a spectacular sex scandal that has dominated the front pages of the nation's newspapers for two months and horrified fans of one of the country's biggest clubs.
Twelve players from SK Brann, the team from the Scandinavian country's second city, Bergen, have been caught out after a team bonding session turned into a booze-fuelled party at the club's own stadium, leading to allegations of rape and assault in which a footballer was accused of biting a young woman.
England's Premier League has witnessed its fair share of bad behaviour among privileged players, including during the Covid lockdown when some footballers chose to break the rules and party on.
However, the usually sleepy Eliteserien, Norway's top flight, has taken pandemic rule-breaking to another level, with almost half of the Brann squad bursting their Covid bubble in an after-party with seven women that lasted until dawn.
SK Brann initially tried to deal with the matter internally, but protests made that impossible and the Scandinavian outfit have become the latest tone-deaf football club to feel the full force of fan power.
In scenes reminiscent of fan reactions to European Super League, supporters demanded action. The resulting inquiries following the incident, which took place in mid August, have only just concluded more than two months on.
A Sportsmail investigation has revealed the ill-fated evening began at an upmarket Italian restaurant in Bergen city centre following a training game, organised to help rectify on-field problems that had left SK Brann, three-time league champions, rooted to the foot of the table.
As in the English top flight, Norwegian players have committed to strict Covid protocols to enable elite football to continue throughout the pandemic.
Even so, the unauthorised social, which included a steady supply of beer and wine, spilt over into a trendy Bergen bar, before escalating dramatically when a group of players and young women headed for the stadium in a fleet of taxis.
SK Brann's stadium, situated against the backdrop of Mount Ulriken in Bergen, played host to the biggest scandal in the history of Norwegian football back in mid-August
The canny players apparently thought they had outfoxed club management by switching off their mobiles phones before letting themselves into the ground, which they believed would render their revelry undetectable.
However, the footballers overlooked the extensive CCTV surveillance system in use at the stadium, which is in the shadow of the impressive Mount Ulriken in Western Norway, and their escapade was recorded and making lurid, splash headlines across the country within 24 hours.
Bergeners follow SK Brann with a passion, which verges on religious.
The club helps shape the city's unique identity within Norway and its distinctiveness from the capital, Oslo.
Fans were furious by the behaviour of 12 players, who hosted a late-night party at the stadium
Brann are one of the biggest clubs in Norway but their form had them bottom of the table
The mayor of Bergen, Rune Bakervik, told Sportsmail the club is how 'we define ourselves'.
As a result, the response to the scandal in a tight-knit city of just over 250,000 people, has been ferocious, with a banner reading, 'Scum', awaiting the players for their first home game after news of the debacle broke.
The fall-out from from the incident has seen one of the most popular players sacked, others have terminated their contracts, with one fearing violence from irate supporters.
‘We were at the very bottom of the table and we were desperate already and then this story of the party came out,' Erlend Vagane, head of the Brann supporters' club, the Battalion told Sportsmail. 'How deep can we fall? That's how it felt. It felt like a slap in the face.'
Two police investigations have followed and fans have come together for an extraordinary silent protest at the club's 18,000-capacity stadium, in which they even ignored their own team scoring a crucial goal in a relegation six-pointer.
Unluckily for the club, the whole sorry saga could have been avoided if hard-working manager Eirik Horneland had added another 15 minutes to his long day.
The diligent coach, who was working late to solve the tactical challenges of Brann's disappointing season while his players got the beers in, left at 12.30am, just a quarter of an hour before many of the squad and their acquaintances arrived.
The club initially tried to contain the fall-out of the scandal, insisting it would be dealt with internally. But public outrage and police involvement ensured that would not be possible.
Norwegians have been quick to adopt a popular idiom to explain what happened next: 'Når katten er borte, danser musene på bordet,' which literally translates as 'when the cat is away, the mice dance on the table'.
And now, depleted, Brann are fighting for their survival in the Norwegian top tier with just five games left in a season that ends this month.
This is the story of one of the darkest nights in Norwegian football history.
THE NIGHT OUT
Having comfortably beaten fourth division team Fana IL 3-0 in the Norwegian Cup on August 1, Brann, then finding themselves bottom of the top division with just seven points from 14 matches, arranged a training game to iron out problems.
It was a chance for players to keep sharp during a 14-day break until their next league match.
On Monday, August 9, a select Brann XI won 3-1 behind-closed-doors against FK Fyllingsdalen, a fourth division side, and it was decided among the squad that they would leave the stadium and head into Bergen for a team-bonding dinner.
Strict Covid-19 protocol was in place for players and contracts were signed by each of them to allow the Norwegian league to commence despite the pandemic.
There was to be no social interaction with individuals outside Brann's designated bubble and there would need to be the social distancing at any meal or gathering, although it is understood the meal that kickstarted the evening was not run by club management.
A table for more than 20 was booked at Boccone, a newly opened Italian restaurant in Bergen and a spot that some of the players have frequented before, for around 8pm.
Manager Eirik Horneland was seen on the phone during crisis meetings around the scandal
'It was a simple dinner they had with us and they had a couple of drinks,' Boccone owner Jaspreet Singh Kahlon told Sportsmail.
It is understood players had around four to five units of alcohol, both wine and beer being served to the table, during their visit to the restaurant, which, in the eyes of some supporters, was a transgression in itself with the team in a desperate moment and bottom of the table.
While some players elected to call time on their evening before midnight, others were just getting started as they walked across Torgallmenningen, the main square in the centre of Bergen, to a bar called 'No Stress', situated on Hollendergaten, one of the city's busiest streets.
No Stress, crowned bar of the year in Norway back in 2015, is a hotspot for the young people of Bergen and the notoriety of the 12 players saw them attract plenty of attention, even when sat in their own section.
Introductions were made to seven young women, at this moment a clear breach of both Brann's internal Covid-19 regulations and those signed by players with the league and the Norwegian FA had been made.
The decision was made to hold a nachspiel, common parlance in Norway to refer to an 'afterparty', and it was determined that Brann's stadium, situated three miles south of No Stress, would be the venue.
What followed later was a series of unfortunate events that built up to the biggest scandal in Norwegian football history.
Brann's manager Eirik Horneland had chosen to stay late at the stadium to work on turning the fortunes of the side around. He eventually called time on his day at 12.30am, only to later learn players arrived in taxis within 15 minutes of his departure.
It is reported in Norwegian media that Horneland did not reset the stadium alarm and so the dozen arriving players were able to use keycard entry without having to turn off the system. Phones had been switched off in the belief it would help them get away with the party if there was no record of it happening.
Downstairs at the stadium is a common room where the party was held with some staying as late as 5am. What nobody ever seemed to realise was that surveillance cameras at the stadium caught them out - leading to the expose.
On the Tuesday morning, an emergency meeting was held among club officials as they learned about the party, but less than 24 hours after it occurred it was splashed as the top story for newspaper Bergens Tidende.
A drinking scandal amid the pandemic was one thing but what followed was a national scandal unlike anything they had ever seen.
THE FALL-OUT
The moment prominent local newspaper Bergens Tidende splashed the story across their front page in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Brann found themselves overwhelmed.
Mads Bøyen, a reporter at BT, was closely involved in the story and the wave of interest came crashing down hard on the club.
'It was a major news story, not just locally but nationally,' he told Sportsmail.
'It was all over the front pages, the biggest news websites and Norwegian broadcasting had it running for more than one or two days.'
'The whole city (was talking about it) and it became subject to jokes,' added BT's chief sports writer Anders Pamer.
'Norwegian entertainment shows (focused on it) and also on the radio with podcasts... for a week or two Brann were really on everyone's conscience in Norway.'
Brann's first move was to put out that players had not been given a green light to host a party inside the stadium after hours.
Bergen newspaper Bergens Tidende was the first to go public with the 12-player party
From there the dominos fell so fast it was hard for the club, the reporters and the fans to keep up.
Kristoffer Barmen was first to stand in the firing line as he became the first player to reveal to the Bergensavisen newspaper that he was at the party.
'I understand that people in Bergen are disappointed in us, so am I. I hope we can stand together and in the long run maybe be forgiven,' he said.
'We managed to dig a damn big hole. It's incredibly disappointing. It is difficult for me to stand here.'
Barmen was a cult hero at Brann having been at the club since the age of 10. His dad Rolf was formerly the chairman of the club and is now the CEO of Fjordkraft, one of their main sponsors.
Barmen's involvement was staggering.
While Barmen's transgression - although it was clear he did not act alone - was being digested the club fired out a press release to reveal Vegard Forren, once on the books at Southampton and among the 12 at the party, had agreed to terminate his contract.
Sources close to Brann said this was not in light of his involvement in the party and was a decision that was weeks in the making but it has been met with a great level of scepticism among fans.
'It was an evening that went too far and we should have gone to bed,' Forren later said.
'I think it was a very bad decision of all the players and it is clear this is unfortunate.'
Drinking and sex formed party of the evening, following on from a team-bonding dinner
More salacious detail appeared in online newspaper Dagbladet. It became the first publication to confirm the presence of the seven women, detailing the clear breach of the Covid regulations at the club, as well as domestically with the league's binding Covid contracts.
Again Brann found themselves under a tidal wave of pressure. The media presence at the training ground had increased ten-fold and in a bid to get to grips with the escalating situation there was a vow to move on.
'They have broken internal rules, they have apologised and understood the seriousness, and now it is a matter we are moving on from,' General Manager Vibeke Johanessen told BT.
It came across publicly as a 'case closed' approach which drew waves of criticism from those who wanted to see significant punishment levelled out.
Then came the bombshell that ensured the case would remain top of the news agenda for the weeks to come.
On the Friday morning, news arrived from the west district police department that one unnamed player was to be investigated on allegations of rape.
The alleged breach in question, which has since been dropped by authorities, focused on section 291 of the Norwegian Penal Code which, to boil it down, deals with sexual intercourse with violence or threatening behaviour.
Immediately Brann entered into crisis meetings and staff members such as Johanessen were interviewed for witness statements by police. Club officials were locked in meetings at the stadium until 11pm,
A Saturday press conference saw Johanessen joined by other members of the club's management where it was revealed that both Barmen and goalkeeper Mikkel Anderson had been excused and would not play in Sunday's match.
It was categorically denied that either player was a suspect in the police investigation but the two were said to be 'mentally tired' amid the backlash.
Rumours were rife in the community as to what exactly happened behind closed doors at the party.
The suggestion that stadium CCTV captured something akin to an orgy has been disputed and is said to be false, according to Brann, but the speculation around which players were involved, who had sex, who was drinking and were drugs involved continued unabated.
Players strenuously denied allegations of drug use but the club persisted to push for voluntary urine drug tests.
'Based on the rumours that narcotic drugs have been involved, we are now working on how we can practically carry out tests of both people and areas at the Stadium,' said Johannesen.
Those urine tests later came back negative, the club confirmed, and the players' consistent denials of all drug use was vindicated.
FANS HAVE THEIR SAY (BY SAYING NOTHING!)Erlend Vagane lives and breathes Brann and heads up the
