But once they get going, everyone has a topic that they particularly enjoy talking about.
Erling Haaland began his football career with Bryne
Haaland spent the majority of his childhood in the Norwegian town
Haaland is most comfortable in his hometown
Manchester City’s new £51.4m superstar, Erling Braut Haaland, looms large over this small corner of southwest Norway.
Visitors exiting the train station are dwarfed by a massive mural of the Norway striker from his time at Borussia Dortmund, which is painted on the side of an old dairy.
In his hometown, Haaland is impossible to escape.
Erling was born in Leeds in 2000 when his father Alf-Inge had just finished his playing career at Elland Road, but the family moved back to Bryne when he was three years old.
A quote from the striker sums up Bryne’s attitude and upbringing better than anyone else can.
“I was given advice by a farmer a few years back: Let your feet do the talking and everything else will be fine,” he once tweeted.
That farmer was his maternal great-uncle, Gabriel Hoyland, whose pig and potato farm the 6ft 5in hitman assists with when he returns home.
Hoyland and Alfie are both Bryne FK legends, with Hoyland dubbed Mr. Bryne and Alfie still regular at-home games.
Haaland joined his local team when he was five years old and made his debut a decade later. He was gone by the age of 16, signing for Molde in the top flight, but he had made an impression.
Haaland made his debut in 2016 as a substitute for Robert Undheim, a winger still playing in Norway’s second division.
“Everyone knew he was a childhood star,” he told SunSport.
“When I first saw him, he was just a little kid, but he had this quickness and you could tell there was something special about him.” He possessed everything.”
“I knew that he was always with the age group above him so that alone makes him stand out,” said Sondre Norheim, a defender at Bryne who was a few years above Haaland in the local school.
“He was training alongside mature adults.” He was 15, so he was always physically lacking, as anyone would be.
“However, his play showed that he made up for it with his positioning and ability in front of goal.”
Erling Haaland pays frequent visits to Bryne
Haaland continues to visit his favorite Chinese restaurant, Wen Hua House, and has promised the owner a signed Manchester City shirt
‘THE FRIDGE’
Despite his father’s success as a player, Haaland grew up in Bryne like any other aspiring footballer.
He would train with the club and then spend every spare hour with friends playing football on the artificial pitch beneath the dome next to the stadium.
Bryne children are free to play whenever they want in the dome, which protects you from the relentless wind in this coastal town but does not necessarily keep you warm.
“Erling and his friends called it ‘The Fridge,’ because it was colder inside than out,” said Bryne CEO Hans-Oyvind Sagen.
“It protects you from the wind, but perhaps that’s why Haaland is so powerful — he always had to run into it!”
Those at the club, as well as Haaland himself, credit “The Fridge” with helping him develop. It was an opportunity to improve as a player while also having fun.
“To think that he started in the same area where hundreds of kids go every day,” Norheim said.
“It just demonstrates the potential.” You can get very far if you do the right things every day and work hard.”
Haaland was clearly gifted from a young age, but hard work quickly comes up in any discussion of him.
Norheim has seen it firsthand. “A few weeks before his debut, we had a light workout and then a few guys stayed behind,” he recalled.
Erling approached me and asked if I could give him some passes so he could practice finishing. ‘We’re good now, right?’ I said after about 20 or 30 minutes.
“‘No, no,’ he said. Let’s do some from this angle now and get some different crosses in’. He just wanted to keep practicing everything from every angle.”
Norheim spent another hour whipping balls in and watching in awe as Haaland effortlessly dispatched them.
TESTED LOYALTIES
The streets are always quiet here, but they will be especially so on Saturday when everyone gathers to watch Haaland make his debut in English football against Liverpool in the Community Shield.
Premier League clashes are huge in this city, but many will have their allegiances tested.
Undheim stated, “You see in pubs, Liverpool fans cheer if Erling scores.”
“They say they support Liverpool and Erling — but no matter which team he supports, everyone cheers for him.”
Haaland’s next step is the most important of his career.
His path to the top has been well-planned, but his roots will always be here, and each return home serves as a reminder of that.
It’s fitting that the only league in which he hasn’t scored a single goal in his home league’s second division.
That memory, and Bryne, will always keep him on his feet.
He made his debut for his local club when he was 15 years old
Despite his success, the superstar has remained grounded