How to Ruin a Religious Celebration, by Espen Nystuen

This is quite the coincidence. Just a few seconds after publishing this post about whether footballers should be allowed to celebrate with relgious gestures, I find this related story on The Spoiler about a religious celebration turned controversy in Norway.

Bosnian attacker Admir Raščić has scored for Sandefjord against Strømsgodset, and was doing the head-bowed-to-the-floor Islamic prayer celebration with teammate Fenan Salčinović (same celebration you may have seen Egyptian players doing at the Confederations Cup recently).

But their Sandefjord teammate (and – believe it or not – captain) Espen Nystuen thought it would be funny to sneak up behind Salčinović mid-celebration and… well, as the Sporten 2 TV website says “The rapid hip movements speak for themselves.”

Neither Raščić nor Salčinović were aware of what had happened at the time (Nystuen wasn’t in a rush to confess) but found out about it later. Raščić wasn’t too worried, but Salčinović is more religious and was apparently more than a little angry. “When I got to see it on the Internet later in the evening, I was upset,” Salčinović said to VG Nett.

Here’s Nystuen’s pretty poor attempt at an apology afterwards:

“I fell for temptation. How wise it was negotiable. This is not something I’ve done before. I want to emphasize that I am heterosexual. I hope that people realize that it was a joke.”

Yes Espen. Because the big issue here is that people might think you’re gay. Do they give captain’s armbands to just anyone in Norway?

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Category: Europe