Mackerel Football
Where does the term "mackerel football" come from? We wondered and asked in the early 2000s
Finishing 3rd place in 1991 exceeded the predictions made before the season began. With players like Strandli, Dahlum, Mykland, Svindal Larsen, and Pettersen, Start played “Makrellfotball”, as one Oslo newspaper described it after big wins over Rosenborg (5–0) and Viking (4–1).
The exact origin of the term “Makrellfotball” is somewhat uncertain:
Journalist Lars Helge Rasch recalls:
"This was many years ago, while I was commentating on Start’s matches for the radio. I think it was during the spring season of 1991. On one occasion, all of Start’s players chased the ball—every formation broke down, and they behaved like a school of mackerel. I said something like, 'this is pure mackerel football,' implying everyone moving in one direction without any overarching strategy. The term was repeated by Kjell Kristian Rike during the TV summary that same evening—he said, 'some even call it mackerel football'—and that’s probably when the term really caught on.
The funny thing is that what started as a negative comment from me has since turned into a positive description of lively, entertaining, and good football… So that’s how it is."
Player Svein Mathisen adds:
"I seem to remember that Dagbladet joined us on a mackerel trip in my boat with Karsten and a couple of others. We were fishing, and Dagbladet interviewed us and took pictures. Karsten explained that we were supposed to attack like mackerel—in a schoal.
Didn’t ‘Makrellfotball’ come from that?"
