The 2021 European Beach Handball Championships made international headlines this year: the European Handball Federation fined the Norwegian women’s beach handball team €1,500 (about $1,772), or €150 (about $177) per player, for “improper clothing” because they wore shorts instead of the customary bikini bottoms.
The situation drew comments from folks all over the world, including Pink, who called the rules “sexist” and offered to pay the team’s fines. She tweeted over the weekend, “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.”
Ahead of Pink’s show of support, the Norwegian Handball Association shared a photo of the team in their non-bikini uniforms and tweeted a message that translates to (via Google Translate), “We are very proud of these girls who during the European Championships raised their voices and announced that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! We at NHF stand behind you and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the rules for clothing, so that players can play in the clothes they are comfortable with!”
Vi er kjempestolte over disse jentene som under EM hevet stemmen og ga beskjed om at NOK ER NOK! Vi i NHF står bak dere og støtter dere. Sammen skal vi fortsette å kjempe for å endre regelverket for bekledning, slik at spillerne får spille i det tøyet de er komfortable med! pic.twitter.com/MmfiMtVz2Q
— Norges Håndballforbund (@NORhandball) July 20, 2021
Speaking of supporting women, Pink recently spoke about being labeled as a sort of “anti-Britney Spears” early in her career, saying, “I love Britney — she used to carry around my album. I was like, ‘Dude, I’m a street punk, I just skateboard. That doesn’t have to be the anti-Britney. I don’t want to fight anybody.’ One of the best things that L.A. Reid ever told me was that this music business is big enough for everybody to win at the same time. There’s no such thing as competition. I think we navigated through it as good as a 20-year-old girl can. Now I think it’s totally different. Girls supporting girls is rad — I love to watch it.”
