Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.06.2018, Blaðsíða 4

What Are Iceland-
ers Talking About?
Football, football, football and backlash
Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Art Bicnick
It used to be that Eurovision was
Iceland’s one and only chance to
shine on the international stage.
But now, with Iceland going to the
World Cup, we have another reason
to celebrate. As with Eurovision,
there are the fans, those who are
maybe a little too excited about the
event, and the buzzkill detractors.
First, there was a promo video
from the Icelandic Football Asso-
ciation (KSÍ), which featured a
hyperbolic Viking-themed illustra-
tion with the hashtag #fyrirísland
(#foriceland). We do a lot of Viking-
themed promotion of Icelandic
football here at the Grapevine, so
it was interesting to see the reac-
tions to this illustration. Namely,
many Icelanders expressed embar-
rassment, with music critic
Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen saying
it had “Aryan undertones”, while
many non-Icelanders thought it
was a great representation of the
national men’s team.
“The apex of
consumption and
wastefulness”
In the same vein, a supergroup of
Icelandic musicians released a song
that was presumably supposed
to pump us up for the upcoming
event. Instead, the vast majority of
Icelanders have reacted much the
same way they do to our Eurovision
entries: pouring scorn and ridicule
on the effort, calling it cheesy and
schmaltzy, and being generally
embarrassed.
But the crowning point in all this
has been recent news that came
out that the Icelandic men’s team
would be bringing 2,900 pairs of
socks with them to Russia. For the
record, washing machines do exist
in Russia, and no one is entirely
sure why a couple dozen players
and staff need so many socks, but
Rakel Garðarsdóttir, the spokes-
person for Vakandi, a group dedi-
cated to more sustainable living,
has criticised it as being “the apex
of consumption and wastefulness”.
Fool shivers
There’s a special word in Icelandic
for the feeling of being embar-
rassed for someone else: kjánah-
röllur, literally “fool shivers”. It’s
a word that’s been popping up a
lot when Icelanders talk about the
news and pep-up events around
the World Cup.
What’s striking is that the more
embarrassed Icelanders are by how
some are choosing to represent the
nation at the World Cup, the more
foreign fans of the Icelandic men’s
team seem to absolutely love these
representations. You could prob-
ably chart a line graph illustrat-
ing this: as Icelandic kjánahröllur
rises, so too does the enthusiasm
of the foreign fanbase.
Icelanders, like people every-
where, are creatures of contra-
diction. They won’t be pushed
around by larger nations, and are
very proud of their language and
culture. But that’s supposed to be
an inside thing. When these atti-
tudes are expressed to the world
at large, they suddenly become
self-deprecating and embarrassed
for themselves. Icelandic national
pride is always going to tread a thin
line between self-satisfaction and
fool shivers..
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2018First
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