OSLO – In a repressive and sexist move in the northern European country, the Norwegian women’s handball team has been fined for rejecting bikini bottoms, which many find revealing and uncomfortable, at the European Beach Handball Championships.
Reports in International media quoting Norwegian officials said Norway’s beach handball players were each fined 1500 Euros for choosing shorts rather than the bikini bottoms during a bronze medal match against Spain in Varna, Bulgaria – a move that officials termed as ‘a case of improper clothing’.
The athletes were reportedly ‘threatened with stern sanctions’ as the rules stated that no more than 10 cm of a female bottom can be covered.
The Norwegian beach volleyball girls wanted to play in these shorts instead of in bikini bottoms which they found too revealing but were threatened by the EC tournament organizer with fines if they wore anything covering more than 10cm of their butts pic.twitter.com/LHSxXz91CM
— Tradia (@amalieskram) July 15, 2021
“In the bronze medal game against Spain on Sunday the team of Norway played with shorts that are not according to the Athlete Uniform Regulations defined in the IHF Beach Handball Rules of the Game,” a statement issued from the European Handball Federation cited.
Soon after the public outcry on social media, Norway’s Handball Federation announced to pay the fine for their players. The Norwegian federation also mentioned that it was proud of the women for standing up and saying enough was enough.
“We are the Norwegian Handball Federation and we stand behind you and support you. We will continue to fight to change the international regulations for attire so that players can play in the clothing they are comfortable with”, the statement of Norway’s Handball Federation further reads.
Norway’s Minister for Sports, Abid Raja, called the development ‘completely ridiculous’. A change of attitude is needed in the macho and conservative international world of sport, he wrote on the official handle while the President of the Norwegian Volleyball Federation said it shouldn’t even be an issue in 2021.
As per Beach Handball’s rules, female athletes must wear tops and bikini bottoms while men wear tank tops and shorts. The uniform regulations of the European Handball Federation read that “Athletes’ uniforms and accessories contribute to helping athletes increase their performance as well as remain coherent with the sportive and attractive image of the sport”.
A Norwegian handball player Katinka Haltvik while speaking with a national broadcaster said “So then we are forced to play with panties. It is so embarrassing. First, we were told about a fine of €50 ($58) per person per match, something that would have landed us a fine of about €4,850 ($5,700). We accepted that.”
The distressed girl further added that “We were told that we will be disqualified just before the match [against Hungary] if we play like that. So we had to go with the bikini bottoms. We have tried to ignore everything that has to do with the suits after we received the message from day one”.
She went on to say that “Many [people] have sent us tips about body painting and other things we could do to demonstrate, and we had really thought about doing it, but we have felt threatened by the regulations.”
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