HK Melhus

There is no fixed enemy waiting at the other end of the pitch for HK Melhus — the nearest thing to a grudge match is against Orkanger IF, a short drive across the district, and the club treats it the way small clubs treat their neighbours, without needing to name the fixture anything special. What Melhus has instead is a pipeline. The handball side sits inside Melhus Idrettslag, a multi-sport club founded on 28 February 1898, and it has spent recent seasons feeding players toward Byåsen Håndball Elite rather than chasing silverware of its own at senior level.

The one trophy the club can point to came in 2022, when its boys' under-20 side won the Norwegian Junior Cup, beating Charlottenlund 33–31 in the final — the first time any Melhus team had reached an NM final, let alone won one. The senior men followed that summer with promotion to the 1. Division, the country's second tier, a step up built directly on the back of that junior group.

Two of that generation, Tarik Repesa at the line and left wing Simen Martinsen, are now finishing their careers at the club that developed them, while centre back Sturla Saur remains part of the current squad. Matches are played at Melhushallen, where crowds have run to around 550 for the bigger occasions — a good turnout for a hall built to serve a development club rather than a trophy cabinet.

The team plays in white and black, under the shared Melhus IL crest adopted in 2019, and goes into the new season still carrying the tag MIL — trying to hold its place in the 1. Division rather than add to it.