In 2021, Norwegian football was embroiled in a shocking sex scandal that dominated the front pages of the country's newspapers for two months and left fans of one of the country's biggest clubs horrified.
Twelve players from SK Brann, a team from Norway's second-largest city, Bergen, were found guilty after a team meeting turned into a drunken party at the club's stadium, leading to allegations of rape and sexual assault, with one footballer accused of biting a young girl.
England's Premier League has also seen its fair share of bad behaviour from privileged players, including during the Covid lockdown when some footballers broke rules and partied.
However, Norway's usually more peaceful top-tier Eliteserien took pandemic rule-breaking to a new level, with nearly half of Brann's squad breaking their Covid-protection "bubble" at a post-match party with seven girls that lasted until the morning.
SK Brann initially tried to deal with the issue internally, but protests made that impossible and the Scandinavian side became the latest football club to fail to recognise the power of its fans.
In scenes reminiscent of fan reactions to the European Super League, supporters demanded action. Investigations into the incident, which took place in mid-August that year, took just over two months to complete.
A Sportsmail investigation has revealed that the ill-fated evening began at a high-end Italian restaurant in Bergen city centre after a training match, organised to fix on-field problems that have left three-time league champions SK Brann bottom of the table.
Like in England's top flight, Norway's players have pledged to adhere to strict Covid regulations to allow top-flight football to continue throughout the pandemic.
However, the illegal party, which included a constant supply of beer and wine, spilled into a trendy bar in Bergen, before escalating dramatically as a group of players and young women made their way to the stadium by taxi.
The cunning players apparently thought they had outwitted club management by turning off their mobile phones before allowing themselves onto the pitch, which they believed would keep their fun from being discovered.
However, the players ignored the extensive CCTV surveillance system in use at the stadium, which sits in the shadow of the majestic Ulriken mountain in western Norway, and their adventure was captured on film, creating sensational, nationwide headlines within 24 hours.
The people of Bergen follow SK Brann with an almost religious passion. The club helps shape the city's unique identity in the Norwegian context and how it differs from the capital Oslo. Bergen's mayor, Rune Bakervik, told Sportsmail that the club is how 'we define ourselves'.
The reaction to the scandal in a tight-knit city of just over 250,000 people has therefore been fierce, with a banner reading 'Vile' awaiting the players at their first home game after news of the incident broke.
The fallout from the incident has led to one of the most popular players being sacked, others having their contracts terminated, with one fearing violence from angry fans.
'We were rock bottom and we were desperate, and then this party story came out,' Erlend Vagane, head of Brann supporters club Battalion, told Sportsmail. 'How low can we go? That's how I felt. It was like a slap in the face.'
Two police investigations were launched and fans staged a special silent protest at the club's 18,000-capacity stadium, in which they even ignored their team scoring in a crucial relegation battle.
Unfortunately for the club, this whole sad saga could have been avoided if manager Eirik Horneland had added another 15 minutes to his long working day.
The dedicated coach, who had been working late to address the tactical challenges of Brann's disappointing season while his players drank beer, left at 12.30am, just 15 minutes before many of the squad and their acquaintances arrived.
The club initially tried to contain the fallout from the scandal, insisting it would be dealt with internally. But public outrage and police involvement ensured that was not possible.
Norwegian fans were quick to adopt a famous saying to explain what happened next: 'Når katten er borte, danser musene på bordet', which literally means 'when the cat is absent, the mice dance on the table'.
With a weakened squad, Brann were fighting for survival in Norway's top flight with just five games remaining in a season that ends this month. This is the story of one of the darkest nights in Norwegian football history.
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