After the Norwegian women’s beach handball team refused to wear bikini bottoms while competing, the team was fined a total of €1,500 for wearing “improper clothing” simply for dressing like their male counterparts (by wearing shorts) during the 2021 European Beach Handball Championships.

Luckily, the team has singer Pink in their corner—because she offered to take care of those pesky fines herself.


The Grammy Award-winner told took to Twitter to share her thoughts and her very generous offer: “I’m very proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team for protesting 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,” she continued.

The team shared their response to her offer by sharing her tweet on the team’s Instagram Story. They also shared their gratitude toward everyone who has supported them for simply wearing what they’re most comfortable in.

“Wow! Thank you so much for the support,” they wrote in a caption to a team photo where they’re wearing—you guessed it—the shorts they prefer.

data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version=”4″ style=” background:#FFF; border:0;
border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);
margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px);
width:calc(100% – 2px);”>

CNN reports that the International Handball Federation rules state that female players are required to wear bikini bottoms while their male counterparts must wear shorts that are “not too baggy” and about 10 centimeters above the knee.

Eskil Berg Andreassen, the team’s coach, told CNN last week that the team was fighting for the freedom to choose its own uniforms, adding that IHF’s uniform regulations could discourage women from playing the sport.

Bravo to these women for combatting sexism in their sport, and also to Pink—one our favorite celebrity mamas—for stepping up to support them in the most amazing way!