"Lost" football washed up 1,000 miles away put on display in Norway

A football which travelled more than 1,000 miles to a Norwegian island after being kicked over a fence during a game in Scotland now takes pride of place on display in the local shop.

Nils-Hugo Andersen discovered the ball on a rocky beach in front of his home on Vanna after it was used in a game by Banks O' Dee Football Club in Aberdeen.

The under-19s side thought the ball was lost after it disappeared over a fence at the ground.

Managers from the amateur team were astonished when they received an email from Norway saying it had been washed up on the island.

The ball is thought to have floated down the nearby River Dee into the North Sea, before travelling north and being found on the beach in front of Mr Andersen's front door earlier this month.

Mr Andersen said: “It's come over the North Sea and was looking like a new ball after such a long time in the water. It has travelled 1,800km, it's quite amazing.

“This is a very small place, so the ball is being kept at the local shop. We get a lot of things washed up on the beach, but the ball has come all the way from Aberdeen and nothing like that ever happens here.”

Tom Ewan, secretary at Banks O' Dee, said he received the email saying the ball had been found in Norway.

He said: “It's quite a regular occurrence for us losing balls over the fence, but we have no idea which game it was that this happened or who kicked the ball.

“It could even have happened at a training game, we lose about three or four balls a month.

“We are literally on the banks of the Dee and at one time you could retrieve balls which were caught in the trees before they went into the river.

“I only knew about this ball because I got an email from Norway saying it had travelled 1,800km, it's quite a distance.”