– It doesn’t look pretty, says former national team player and bandy veteran Helle Berntsen-Lillejord. She reacts to the fact that the Norwegian Bandy Federation (NBF) decided that the Norwegian women’s national team will not participate in an extraordinary bandy WC in Sweden. In 2023, for the first time, the women’s and men’s World Bandy Championships will take place at the same time, in the same arena. The men’s WC is an ordinary championship, while the WC for women is an extraordinary WC that Sweden has initiated with the support of the International Bandy Federation (FIB). – I am so happy that we are creating something new in international bandy, Sweden will be the first to organize both the women’s and men’s WC at the same time, said Gisela Stockhaus, president of the Swedish Bandy Association to the International Bandy Association at the time. At the same time, NBF has decided not to send the Norwegian women’s national team there. To the Swedish website Bandypuls, the general secretary of the NBF, Tomas Jonsson, said that the association does not see any sporting value in the world championship. – Strikes down a good initiative National team player Laura Andresen Follesø does not understand the rationale for the union: – That joint ice time and championship experience have no sporting value is quite incomprehensible. MEDAL: Laura Andersen Follesø has played for Norway in the Bandy World Cup in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Here with the bronze medal from Oslo in 2020. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB – The Swedish Bandy Federation is taking a good initiative and organizing the Women’s World Cup as well. It’s great for sports. “I don’t understand how we don’t work to facilitate and thus be able to contribute to the further development of the sport, but rather crack down on such a good initiative,” says Follesø to news. She hopes that an extraordinary annual meeting will take place and that the women will still be able to participate in Sweden. – I think it’s sad not to send the women’s national team to a World Cup that is so close. It sends a strange signal, says former national team player Helle Berntsen-Lillejord to news. IN ACTION: Helle Berntsen-Lillejord played for the Norwegian national team between 2006 and 2022. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – How much can it cost to send 20 ladies away on a bus? If that’s the money it says, I think Bandy-Noreg will put up a show. It is bad that the ladies are not also allowed to take part when Sweden bids for an extraordinary WC, says the player who ended his 16-year national team career with silver last year. Don’t think it’s about money It was just before Christmas that the news came that the extraordinary women’s championship was to be held, just under four months before the players were to be ready on the ice. National team captain Charlotte Marie Selbekk believes that the late message may have led to the association’s decision to keep them at home. – I’m a little surprised that it came so late, at the same time I’m surprised that we said no. A few things have happened over the years and then you get a little confused about this election. It’s about equality, we’ve worked for many years so that people can see us, Selbekk believes. NO CHEERING IN 2023: In 2022 and 2020, the Norwegian women’s national bandy team cheered for silver and bronze respectively. Now they have to wait until 2024 to fight for a medal again. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB news has been in contact with the general secretary of the Norwegian Bandy Association, Tomas Jonsson. He also refers to development manager Tor Audun Sørensen. – In the plans that were democratically adopted at the annual meeting in June, there was no Women’s WC in the season we are in now. That and getting the invitation to an extraordinary WC at three months’ notice when it has been just over nine months since the last WC was played, it is not good planning, says Sørensen to news. – If there is something we have been preoccupied with at NBF, it is promoting equality. We took part in the WC nine months ago. We played an international match against Sweden ladies in December. We ourselves organized the WC in 2020 and 2010. – To put it all in perspective, we have not organized the WC for men for 30 years. The reality is that this has nothing to do with discrimination. It is a question of respect for a democratic decision that has been made jointly with the clubs, he says. Wants an extraordinary annual meeting The development manager believes that it is mainly not about the money. – We cannot break trust in the club by walking away from a democratic annual meeting decision. This is about much more than an international tournament. It is about wholeness and long-term planning. – For the long-planned and regular Women’s World Cup in 2024, we will put in extra resources. This is so that after this season, you will be able to have training camps, carry out good tests, have follow-up of the training program as well, that is the overall picture, says Sørensen. But the NBF’s decision is also met with opposition at club level. Christian Førde, who is a member of the Norwegian bandy board, has been asked by his main board in Snarøya SK to create the atmosphere for an extraordinary annual meeting in order to have the matter dealt with there. – Snarøya will support a proposal to send a Norwegian team to the women’s WC and is also prepared to make a large contribution to make it happen financially, writes Førde in the Facebook group Norsk Bandy.
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