This website has been online since the last week in december 1997, and is therefore the longest running website covering Billericay Town FC. The first couple of years we was on the now defunkt webservice Geocities, then we got our own domain at billericay.org before we got a norwegian adress some years ago here at btfc.no.
The norwegian website has been made both in norwegian and english from the start, but later we mainly focused on the norwegian part of the website. Some stuff, however, will be made in both english and norwegian.
Well, the interest in Billericay Town FC all started back in december 1997, when three norwegians supporting the norwegian football club Vålerenga, visited New Lodge for the first time, watching Billericay and Leatherhead play a draw, 1-1, and losing our heart to the club at the same time.
But the question still is: Why Billericay Town FC???
Good question! Why does some norwegians support Billericay. And why do we make this homepage? Lars William (one of the founders and first visitors in 1997) has described this way back in 1998:
It all started back in 1997, trying to make a long story (not very) short….all the norwegians here support the same team in Norway, Vaalerenga (cupwinners here last year btw…). fans on the internet have their own mailinglist for our club (like this one), and we had a debate on finding some english low-division team to «adopt». Preferably they should have the same coulours and kits as our team. But it seems like royal blue with red adidas stripes on the shoulders is exclusive. We couldnt find any,seaching the net. But we dropped by the homepage of Billericay. Just the name makes it worth supporting, I just love the sound of it..
So, in december a bunch went over to see english football, but we couldnt get the tickets we wanted. I was planning to see Chelsea-Leeds, but could only get tickets for the family stand, so I decided to go and see Billericay instead. And some other norwegians went along, 3 in all. And we had a great time!! Shouting for the blues, drinking at the New Lodge, meeting the chairman and getting our picture taken with Leon Gutzmore, it was fabolous. So, we’re planning another trip in march, hoping to see the blues for two matches. We are also starting a norwegian supporterclub, but unfortunately noone from the official supporterclub seems to be on the net, so we’re working on how to formalize our position.
And why do we keep coming back?
Well, that’s your fault! All the people of Billericay, and everyone involved in the club, officials and supporters, have always made us feel very velcome. If it is the famous english hospitality, or if it’s because you think we are crazy and have to be treated good… I don’t know!
I’ve had my ex here, my ex-mother-in-law, my kids (several times), a couple of friends, a couple of new girlfriends through the years, and of course, the norwegian choir «Sangvinerne», 32 guys who sung both during the match and in the clubhouse afterwards i 2002…
I can only speak for myself, but I know that I have fallen in love both with Billericay Town FC and the town of Billericay! I always enjoy myself when visiting, have bought a book about Billericays history, and will keep coming back 1-2-3-times every year as long as I live.
In december 2022 it will actually be 25 years since our first visit, and in april 2023 the norwegian supporters club will celebrate it’s 25th year!
The norwegian supporters club’s award
For a few years the norwegian supporters club actually handed out our own Player of the year-award.
The first award was a golden boot, but since the second time around it has been the norwegian «troll» to the left, with a football as a belly.
A nice mix of football and norwegian folklore which has been well received by the players who have been given this award.
AWARD WINNERS:
1998/1999: Martin St. Hilaire (voted on the website. No physical award given.)
2001/2002: Lee Williams
2002/2003: Jerome John
2003/2004: Danny Hockton
2005/2006: Nathan Elder (left the club before the award was made, so he never got one…
2007/2008: Dave McSweeney
The norwegian supporter club actually made some fanzines too (Blues Review), four of them in all, which also was sold in the club shop! The fanzine got a award in 2002 from the norwegian «Supporterunionen for Britisk Fotball» – an union of almost all the norwegian supporter clubs for clubs in the UK.
In 2008 we celebrated our 10 years anniversary makin a pin/badge in only 100 copies. Half of them was sold from the club shop.
A couple of years later we discovered that a chinese firm had made pirate copies of the pin!
In the picture to the left you’ll se the original norwegian pin, and on the picture to the right are the pirated chinese pins!
If you own any of these to the right, we would like to buy them!!!
How anyone could think of making illegal copies of this pin beats me, but it’s kind of fun!
In the early days of Geocities, our website also got a award from the now defuct website Non-League on the net.
You can actually access an archived version of the old Geocites site here!
