Entertainment
Pink offers to pay Norwegian women’s beach handball team fine as she brands bikini uniform ruling ‘very sexist’
Pink has been impressed by the team’s stance (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)
Pink has thrown her support behind the Norwegian women’s beach handball team after they were fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms, offering to pick up their bill from the European Beach Handball Championships.
The team received a 1,500 euro (£1,295) fine from the European Handball Federation (EHF) after wearing shorts, deemed ‘inappropriate clothing’, during their bronze medal match against Spain last Sunday, because shorts are ‘not according to the athlete uniform regulations defined in the IHF [International Handball Federation] beach handball rules of the game.’
A request was made by the Norwegian Handball Federation (NHF) before the tournament started for their players to wear shorts rather than the ’embarrassing’ bikini bottoms that are regulated, according to Inside the Games, but they were told that they would be fined for ignoring rules which state bikini bottoms must be ‘not more than 10 centimetres on the sides’.
Now, the 41-year-old global popstar has shown herself to be a big fan of the team’s decision to wear what they felt comfortable in and face the fine.
Taking to Twitter, the Cover Me in Sunshine songstress wrote: ‘I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR “uniform”.
‘The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM.
‘Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up.’
The rules state that the men’s handball teams are permitted to wear shorts that are ‘not too baggy’ and ‘10 centimeters above the kneecap’.
This is not the first time Pink has voiced her support for female athletes, after she tweeted praise for tennis player Naomi Osaka after she withdrew from the French Open citing mental health reasons and faced backlash, including from former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan.
In a thread, Pink said she was ‘proud’ of Naomi and called her ‘an example I would show my children’, as well as singling out Venus Williams as ‘a goddess’ for the way she answered to media scrutiny.
Following the criticism of their decision to fine the Norwegian female team, the EHF has issued a statement that promises ‘all efforts will be taken in order to further promote the sport’.
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It continued: ‘This includes the ideal presentation of the sport and, by that, includes the outfit of the players.’
However, the EHF also said that the reaction had been ‘based on disinformation on the procedure’ as the IHF must sign off on changes.
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