Tuva Hansen sees the pass from the left back and jumps into the air. So does a player on the Austrian team. There are European Championship qualifiers in Poland, and Tuva Hansen is 16 years old. When she bets against the ball, she has no idea that ten years later she will become Brann’s first female captain. She does not know that the view on women’s football is about to change, that there will be a record attendance at Brann Stadion. Stickers with her face on them. Fight songs with her name resounding from the Fire fans in the Battalion. The winger does not know that she will become a symbol of the turning point in Norwegian top football when her head is millimeters away from the ball on the pitch in Poland. The Austrian player is heading in the same direction. Then it bangs. It is not the ball that is hit. It’s Tuva. The impact is so powerful that she somersaults and hits the ground neck first. Then everything goes black. ADMITTED: Tuva Hansen was rushed to hospital after the dramatic collision on the football pitch in Poland when she was 16. Today, she still struggles with her memory. Photo: Private Something bigger than football Ten years later, 26-year-old Tuva sits at Brann Stadium. The hooded jacket matches the red bench rows and the logo adorns the black training jacket. She remembers little of the powerful bang, as she calls it. But the injuries she sustained will always be with her. – I’ve been told that if I get hit as hard again, my career is over. The collision has taken away large parts of her memories from her childhood and given her an increased risk on the pitch. That has not, however, stopped her from going head-to-head in the duels in all the years since. Now the Brann captain is on the national team. This year, she is the league champion and nominated for player of the year. – You are going to war. – You don’t think about the risk. The adrenaline is pumping and you go straight for the tackles. If you don’t do it, you will in any case get hurt, says Tuva. WANT TO INSPIRE YOUNG PEOPLE: Fire captain Tuva Hansen is very keen to inspire the next generation of footballers. She likes the idea of being a role model, but maybe not a celebrity. Photo: Linnea Skare Oskarsen / news The first season of Brann is over. For Tuva, it seems like a different world than the former Sandviken team played in. Where the pictures of the gold ladies in the locker room at Stemmemyren were taken down by the men’s team in the fourth division. Tuva’s eyes are fixed straight ahead. – I notice it at the matches, there is something bigger now than just football. – What do you think about that? – I think it is absolutely fantastic. It’s incredibly fun to play football now. DECORATING THE CITY: Stickers by Tuva Hansen have been affixed all around Bergen. Photo: ALRIK VELSVIK A new world A lot has happened to the view of women’s football in recent years. The audience has tripled. Now Tuva feels she is being taken more seriously as a professional footballer in the top tier. – We are used to going to work or school in addition. There are still some who do it in the Toppserien, but now most of us are actually starting to come over to professional contracts. Number of spectators Toppserien Average number of spectators in Toppserien, 2012-2022: 2012: 1942013: 1982014: 2232015: 2252016: 1902017: 2382018: 2542019: 2742020: 1352021: 238202220: 583 for the base game only. Source: fotball.no In recent years, things have gone quickly. The player notices this on audience records both here in Norway and abroad. – It shows that we are doing something right, then. LIFTS THE SERIES CROP: Brann took home the gold after this year’s Toppserie. Here, captain Tuva Hansen lifts the trophy. Photo: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / news When the first women’s match for a club team in history was played at Brann Stadion this summer, the new team smashed the audience record in the Toppserien. Over 10,000 spectators saw Brann beat Vålrenga. Younger footballers emphasized that they were good role models. Experts called it “the start of something”. The work Brann and other women’s football teams are putting in now is very important. It is so important to honor those who have stood before, the player believes. – I am very grateful that I was born when I am. After all, I have a sister who is seven years older and who didn’t get to experience this, at the top. I am very happy for the effort she put in. RIGHT PERSON AT THE RIGHT TIME: Tuva Hansen now gets to experience what her older sister couldn’t. She honors those who have gone before and made it possible for her to take the fight on. Photo: PRIVAT – What about the next generation then – how will it be? – They get on so well, says Tuva and smiles. – We say that to someone on the team who is 16 years old. She doesn’t know how good she is. Because we really didn’t have it the way we do now when we were younger. It is important not to rest, but to keep fighting, she says. – I think that it helps a lot that people come to matches and see the way we play, that we really want to win and do it for each other and really have that environment and morale in the team that makes us actually win. – The supporters have also shown a side that I have never seen before. It is absolutely extreme how they support us. We hope that more clubs get that commitment around them. STRONG SUPPORT: Brann’s supporters’ club, Bataljonen, has given Hansen and the other ladies a heightened joy of playing during the matches. – It has been absolutely extreme, says the captain. Photo: Even Norheim Johansen The responsibility for the next The defender is a spearhead of the movement that seems to only continue to grow. It has given her a large following. – I think it’s very cool, but it’s also strange to think that it means so much to them to meet individuals, such as me. Because I may not see myself the way they see me. Football is about emotions, and Tuva does not hide how she feels on the pitch. It spills over to the supporters and younger budding footballers. Many see her as a role model. JOY: – The most important thing is to have fun on the pitch. If one day I wake up and no longer think so, I end the day, says Tuva Hansen. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – It seems that they see me as a professional, someone they look up to. I feel we are more down-to-earth as footballers because as women we have combined playing with regular jobs or school. – We really do not take for granted that they will come and cheer us on. That’s why we spend extra time with them after matches. – Do you recognize a responsibility? – Yes, I feel a responsibility that you mean something to more people. Everything you do has consequences. It’s very important to be yourself, but if you do something glaringly wrong, it’s not positive for people’s younger daughters. – So, it’s out of the question with the nachspiel at the stadium? – Absolutely. AUTOGRAPHS: After the match against Vålerenga, a sea of people gathered outside. Many of them young players with big dreams who wanted to meet and get the autographs of their role models. Photo: Marit Hommedal/NTB Looking ahead In another world, before women’s football really took off. Tuva lies unconscious on a football field in Poland. The body shakes and the team flocks around her. They do not get in touch with her and the panic spreads. – The first memory I have is an image of paramedics standing over me and putting a neck collar on me. Otherwise I don’t remember anything. MEGAPHONE: After the cup match against Kolbotn, Tuva Hansen received the megaphone from the visiting Brann supporters. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Tuva still struggles with her memory, but she feels lucky. She managed to train as an occupational therapist, although she now doesn’t remember much of the study. – After a match, I can see situations on the field that I have forgotten, but I also take it somewhat positively. If we lose, for example, I manage to suppress a lot of it. – In any case, I think that the most important thing is in front of me, not behind.
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Tuva Hansen is the captain of something bigger than football – news Vestland
