ERIC Vernon may be a small man, but he clearly has a big heart.

The 5ft, 6inch Jamaican player is often the smallest on the field, but his oversized courage and commitment betray his height “disadvantage”.

He’s a bustling, speedy attacking flank player who is an unrelenting tackler when forced into defensive mode.

All those qualities have come to the fore, helping the former Glenmuir High School student earn a loan deal with Norwegian Division One outfit Nybergsund IL-Trysil.

And with seven games and one goal under his belt since joining towards the end of last season from Portmore United, Vernon says he is beginning to settle into “a true professional” environment.

“It has been a wonderful feeling, but at the end of the day it comes down to good preparation, and once you have good preparation, you will do good there, and that is what keeps me going,” he said.

While Vernon has distinguished himself as a skilful, fleet-of-foot wide player, the 22-year-old Reggae Boy has had to adjust to a totally different brand of football in Norway.

“It’s a high intensity game from line to line; it’s not like in some country where there is more ball possession. In Norway, it’s more physical with a lot of running,” he said.

Nybergsund football club may be located in the small town of Trysil with a population 6,900, but the fans there are big on their football and about half of the municipality turns out for matches.

“Everybody comes out to support the team on game days… at every home game we are looking at more 3,000 home fans,” he said.

“When I walk in the mall, people would call me by name and would come up to me for autographs… they love their players,” Vernon told the Observer in a recent interview.

But life in Trysil has not always been a bed of roses.

“At first when we went there they (Norwegian players) resented us and made life difficult for us, but when they realised that we can play and are contributing to the team, they embraced us,” said Vernon.

Another Portmore player, Damion Williams, also plays for Nybergsund.

Vernon told how local players assigned to drive him to training would leave him behind and find flimsy excuses to justify their actions.

“The training ground is a little way from where we live, and I remember this guy was supposed to pick me up, and when I went outside with my training gears, he just looked at me and drove away and I had to chase the car before he stopped and picked me up,” he said laughing.

Other Jamaican players — Demar Phillips and Adrian Reid — who ply their trade in the Scandinavian country, said they, too, met resentment initially.

But Vernon, a member of Jamaica’s silver medal-winning 2007 Pan Am Games team in Brazil, said he has since warmed to the country and its people.

Though he is enjoying the beautiful country, its high standard of living, modern systems of government and his football, Vernon’s mind is on an island south of Norway.

“Eric Vernon would like to see himself playing in England at one of those top clubs, but we have to start somewhere and take it one step at a time,” he said of his professional dream.

Vernon, who played for Jamaica in their last away friendly international against South Africa in November, said he owes a great debt of gratitude to Portmore United for his progress and his preparation as a professional.

“Portmore is a disciplined club; things that you could do at another club and get away with, you can’t do it at Portmore. Portmore has helped me a lot in terms of training and professionalism,” he said.

Looking back on a career that involved club and international football at various levels, Vernon underlined Jamaica’s Pan Am Games victory over powerhouse Argentina as the highlight of his career.

“I would say the Argentina game in the Pan Am Games because it was a difficult game. Argentina fans were like calling us black monkeys and such, and we went out there and showed them that Jamaicans can play football and we won that quarter-final game 2-0 with goals from Keammar Daley,” he recalled.

Vernon also scored a goal in the tournament which was later won by Ecuador, who clipped the Young Boyz 1-0.

Other Jamaicans playing professionally in Norway are Khari Stephenson and Rodolph Austin.