Beach handball is not as popular in the United States as it is in Europe. A Scandinavian country does not agree to impose a certain dress code on its female players.
The Norwegian national women’s handball team did not particularly appreciate the dress code that their team had to comply with in the recent European Beach Handball Championships. They did not agree to wear bikini bottoms, but wore something similar to motorcycle shorts.
Subsequently, these players were punished and fined.
The championship was held in Varna, Bulgaria on the west bank of the Black Sea. Norway will face Hungary in a match.
The International Handball Federation stipulates that women participating in beach games must wear tight bikini bottoms.
“Women should wear bikinis, tops should be tight sports bras, with deep openings on the arms. The sides of the bottom should not exceed ten centimeters.”
Photo courtesy of Ilnar Tukhbatov/Epsilon/Getty Images
The Norwegian team wants to wear thigh-high shorts that make them feel “unnecessarily sexy and uncomfortable.” So they wore tight blue shorts to participate in the competition.
“Norwegian beach volleyball girls want to wear these shorts instead of bikini bottoms. They find that the bikini bottoms are too revealing, but if they wear anything that covers the hips more than 10 cm, they will be fined by the EU Championship organizers,” The photo on Twitter reads.
Norwegian beach volleyball girls want to wear these shorts instead of bikini bottoms. They feel that the bikini bottoms are too revealing, but they are threatened by the EC Championship organizers. If they wear anything over 10 cm of hips, they will be fined pic.twitter.com/LHSxXz91CM
-Tradition (@amalieskram) July 15, 2021
The Euro 2021 website stated that all players who wear such shorts instead of bikini bottoms will be fined during the game. In any case, the Norwegian wore shorts in the bronze medal match against Spain, and Spain won the match.
“The European Beach Handball Disciplinary Committee handled a case of improper dressing in 2021. In the bronze medal match against Spain on Sunday, the Norwegian team’s match shorts did not comply with the IHF beach handball player uniform regulations,” the association said on its website Said.
Although the Norwegian players knew that they would face fines for violating the dress code, they still opposed it.
This is what they must wear. They say that these bottoms make them feel unnecessarily sexy + uncomfortable during menstruation and the like. However, as long as CEV mandates them, they will participate. pic.twitter.com/OYmmS5PyGi
-Tradition (@amalieskram) July 15, 2021
The European Handball Federation (EHF) said it would review its rulebook, but before Norwegian women sparked international controversy over dress.
Norwegian commentator Leif Welhaven called it the “underpants crisis,” while women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova shared a tweet stating that the dress code was “absolutely absurd.”
The game was finally won by the German team, which defeated the Danish team to win the championship.
