Vikings on the way to the Americas

David Yarrow's Viking reimagining of Norway's World Cup squad is gloriously, unapologetically laddish. Having the likes of Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland-who hardly needed any makeover-ready for a raid on Northumbria is serious fun and genius. The photos are a riot of horned helmets, fur pelts, and testosterone turned into theatre. And yet, the woke chorus insists this cosplay is 'toxic and boyish'. Toxic? Please. If footballers dressing as Vikings is cultural appropriation, then every comicon is a war crime. Yarrow has captured the squad as modern warriors channelling their historic past, not as frat boys raiding a keg.

Toxic is dumping oil in fjords or match-fixing. This is just men being men-posing with axes instead of Adidas tracksuits. And laddishness is the lifeblood of football. Strip away that and you're left with a yoga retreat in cleats. And if Vikings are off-limits for having been supposedly appropriated by Kash Patel and neo-Nazis, what next? Ban football in stadia because Romans once staged bloody gladiatorial tournaments there?

Yarrow's photos are no regression, but a celebration. They remind us that sport is theatre, that players are warriors, and that history is a costume worth wearing. If that offends delicate sensibilities, then critics should stick to chess, where the only cosplay is pretending to be a bishop.