At least now the world now knows who Ada Hegerberg is.
It is, however, a shame that the Norway forward’s name has gone viral because of a bad sexist joke about twerking, rather than because she is the first female winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Hegerberg had stepped up to receive her award in Paris on Monday when she was asked by the on-stage DJ whether she knew how to twerk.
Her response was short and to the point: “No.” And the world cringed.
Context
A little context is necessary here. The DJ, Martin Solveig, had earlier asked Kylian Mbappe on receiving his under-21 award if he knew how to dance.
So he thought he would try the same act with the female winner. All OK, right?
To borrow Hegerberg’s response: no. This is the first time there has been a female Ballon d’Or winner.
And it is therefore possibly the least appropriate occasion to try out a gag about asking a stranger whether she can shake her booty on a stage in front of millions.
Hegerberg said of the award: “It is a fantastic day for women’s football. It is a big step forward.
“It shows the importance of pushing younger girls to pursue their dreams.”
Equal footing
She was right. It was a big step forward, one where women’s football finally is finally given a footing on the same level as the men’s game.
It was most certainly not an occasion to be overshadowed by a boneheaded, misguided gag about a dance move which – let’s be frank here – is highly sexually provocative.
Solveig did say sorry afterwards – albeit in the “if anyone was offended” mode, rather than an out-and-out apology.
Sincere apologies to the one I may have offended. My point was : I don’t invite women to twerk but dance on a Sinatra song. Watch the full sequence People who have followed me for 20 years know how respectful I am especially with women pic.twitter.com/pnZX8qvl4R
— Martin Solveig (@martinsolveig) December 3, 2018
And he only did so once being “a little bit amazed” that the internet had become a raging inferno of incredulity. What did he expect?
There are some who say Solveig should be given the benefit of the doubt – Hegerberg did indeed say later that she “understood it was a joke”.
Why?
But even if we take him at his word that “he didn’t want to offend anyone” then the question remains of why he even thought it was a remotely good idea in the first place.
It bears repeating that despite the fact that women in 176 countries play the game and that international competitions have been taking place since the early 1970s, this is the first time a female award has been handed out.
It was a momentous occasion, one that showed that the gargantuan gulf between the men’s and women’s game is narrowing infinitesimally.
And as such, sensitivities were high. Every word, action, gesture will have been forensically observed.
Gaping mouths
So it followed that Solveig’s gaffe was met with gaping mouths around the world.
Andy Murray, the British former world No 1 tennis player said: “Another example of the ridiculous sexism that still exists in sport.
“To everyone who thinks people are overreacting and it was just a joke… it wasn’t. I’ve been involved in sport my whole life and the level of sexism is unreal.”
It is incidents like this which will perpetuate that sexism of which Murray speaks.
Achievements
Because even if Solveig’s intentions were only to make us laugh (he didn’t) we are talking about his blunder, rather than the achievements of an elite athlete.
Speaking of which, Hegerberg has scored 38 goals for Norway in 66 appearances.
She was part of the Norwegian team that got to the final of the 2013 European Championships.
She was named best young player at the 2015 World Cup.
At club level she has won the Champions League with Lyon three years in a row.
Between 2015 and 2107 she helped her club to the treble, including the league title and domestic cup, with Lyon.
She has won the title every year she has been at Lyon. She has scored over 200 career goals for her clubs at a rate of over one per game.
But can she twerk? Who cares.
The post Ada Hegerberg won the very first female Ballon d’Or. So why even ask her to twerk? appeared first on inews.co.uk.
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