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Pink offers to pay fines for handball team that wouldn't wear bikini bottoms

The pop star applauded Norway's women's beach handball team for refusing to wear the mandated bikini bottoms in the recent Euro 2021 tournament.
/ Source: TODAY

Norway's women's beach handball team doesn't need to worry about paying a fine for refusing to play in bikini bottoms during a recent tournament.

Pink's got them covered.

The pop star said she would be happy to pay the fines herself after the Norwegian team was penalized 1,500 euros ($1,767) for wearing thigh-length shorts during a bronze medal match against Spain last week in protest of the Euro 2021 tournament's regulation bikini bottom uniform design.

"I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR 'uniform,'" Pink tweeted Saturday. "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 team was fined for “improper clothing,” according to a statement from the European Handball Association's Disciplinary Commission.

"It's not (appropriate clothing for) the activity when they are playing in the sand," Norwegian Handball Federation President Kåre Geir Lio told NBC News last week.

Men's beach handball players are allowed to play in tank tops and shorts, while women have to wear bikini bottoms and midriff-baring tops, according to International Handball Federation regulations.

The Norwegian team decided to make a statement by wearing shorts in the bronze medal game after having petitioned for more than a decade for shorts to be allowed to be worn in beach handball.

"It was very spontaneous. We thought, 'Let's just do it now, and then see what happens,'" player Katinka Haltvik told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

The team received an outpouring of support for its stand, including from Norway's Minister of Culture, who tweeted in Norwegian that the rule was "completely ridiculous."