In the LSK hall in Lillestrøm, training is done with high intensity. The top league team, which is in third place, is preparing for the next match. We meet Cecilie Fiskerstrand (27) and Tonje Pedersen (28) when they are ready for a lunch at the barracks. Both have a long career in football. When they look back, there are many examples of behavior from coaches and others that they think was not right. – In retrospect, people have thought: “Hmm, maybe that wasn’t quite right”. It has taken time to realize that it wasn’t actually completely inside, says Pedersen Lagvenninne and national team goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand has the same experience. – In my professional career, I have experienced very little, but gradually when you get a little older and look back on things, you think like this: “It wasn’t quite right, maybe”. And then I see and hear things around me regularly. EXPERIENCED: Cecilie Fiskerstrand has guarded the cage for Fortuna Ålesund, Stabæk, Brighton, LSK Kvinner and almost ten years for the national team. Photo: Erlend Havsgård Martinsen / news “I see what you have done this summer” news has conducted a survey among the players in the women’s top league. 17 percent, or approximately one in six players, respond that they have experienced inappropriate behavior in a football context. Inappropriate behavior is defined as everything from gray areas to sexual harassment and abuse. Half say it happened during the last year. 12 players answer that they have experienced unwanted physical contact (eg pinching, hugging, kissing) against their will. 15 players say they have received sexual allusions (such as snide remarks, messages, jokes, teasing) about their body, appearance, sexual orientation or the like. Illustration: Tord Torpe Fiskerstrand believes this figure is lower than in reality. – Where is the line between what is okay and what is not okay? asks Fiskerstrand. – I think unfortunately many women and girls, both in football and outside, have experienced one form or another of it. Almost everyone states that it is the coach or others in the support system who are responsible for the inappropriate behaviour. Facts about the news survey The survey has been sent out to 219 players in the Toppserien (all ten teams). 117 players in the Toppserien have responded. There is a response rate of 54. The survey is anonymous. In the survey, the terms were defined as follows: Inappropriate behaviour: everything from gray areas to sexual harassment and abuse. Gray areas: inappropriate behavior and communication of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment: unwanted sexual attention. Assault: being forced into sexual acts against your will. One of the questions: As a football player, have you experienced inappropriate behavior from one or more people in a football context? Yes: 17.3 percent. Not sure: 8.5 percent. No: 76.1 percent. news has spoken to several players who have experienced receiving inappropriate comments from male coaches and others in the club. None of them want to talk openly about what they have experienced because it will be too uncomfortable, and they do not want attention around them. But the players have given us permission to reproduce comments and statements. These are experiences they have had in recent years, and not necessarily at their current club in the Toppserien. One tells of an episode where the players had their first resilience training after the holidays. They jumped over hurdles and had to stretch their legs. The coach is said to have said: “Yes, I see what you have done this summer”. Illustration: Tord Torpe On several occasions, players have received questions about or comments on their sex lives. One player writes in the survey: “I have not experienced anything related to sexual abuse/grey areas, but have had uncomfortable “conversations” about privacy and love life and know of many others who have too. Examples of this could be that the trainer knows more about my new partner and love life before I have told my friends and family. Or that the coach asks about sex and what it’s like to be two girls in a relationship, etc.” The coach has the power Nina Sølvberg works at the Norwegian Sports Academy in Oslo. She is in the midst of a PhD on sexual harassment among students at top sports gymnasiums and upper secondary schools. She thinks it is sad that one in six top league players has experienced sexual harassment, but she is not surprised by the number. The power relationship between coach and athlete is a risk factor, Sølvberg points out. Researcher Nina Sølvberg is writing her PhD on sexual harassment. Photo: Roy Kenneth Sydness Jacobsen / news – We see that the hierarchical system, or a power relationship between, for example, a coach and athlete, is a risk situation. Being alone with a trainer can also have an increased risk. In a sports context, it is often the case that an athlete is very dedicated and wants to get better at their sport, wants to perform and likes to look up to their coach. The athlete wants to do everything the coach says, and then possibly also be able to accept going beyond their limits, says Sølvberg. The researcher is clear that it is the subjective experience of receiving unwanted attention that is the definition of sexual harassment. – So it doesn’t really matter what the intention of a perpetrator is, as long as the victim experiences it as unpleasant and unwanted, says Sølvberg. – Disturbing We are taking the results of the survey to Røabanen in Oslo. Julie Klæboe and Marie Aspenes think the numbers are high, but they also believe that many are silent. – I haven’t experienced anything myself, but I hear about it. When you say that the number is so high, it can probably also testify that there are many people who experience something, but perhaps don’t talk about it. But you often excuse it and think: “Yes, it wasn’t meant that way”, and “Yes, it was a bit uncomfortable, but it probably wasn’t meant that way”, says Klæboe. Julie Klæboe. Photo: Anne Rognerud Aspenes believes it is relevant to compare with working life. – This is our workplace, after all, if such numbers had been in an office, much greater measures would probably have been taken to get something done about it than what is done in women’s football. And I find that disturbing, says Aspenes Marie Aspenes. Photo: Anne Rognerud – Haven’t we learned yet? Hege Jørgensen is the general manager of Topfotball Kvinner, the interest organization for the clubs in the two top divisions. She is absolutely clear that there must be zero tolerance for unwanted sexual attention in football. – Haven’t we learned yet? she asks rhetorically when she hears about the figures from the survey. – Compliments from the sender may be well-intentioned, but perceived as offensive. Girls want to be, and be perceived as, athletes. They don’t want to focus on appearance, says Jørgensen. Hege Jørgensen. Photo: Anne Rognerud / news – What can you do to prevent it? – It is important that club managers have it on the agenda in the recruitment process, says Jørgensen. – The topic should be part of a recruitment interview. It is not dangerous to talk about it, it is not the same as making someone suspicious, she continues. Jørgensen believes it is important to put sexual harassment on the agenda. – We have found ourselves in too much for far too long. Although it has been unpleasant, we have swept it away. It is important that we no longer do that, says Jørgensen.
ttn-69
– You didn’t get any peace last night, did you? – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
