Wags are new attraction to the football. Banning them is a real joke.
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Football and civilised behaviour are not always the most natural
of bedfellows. For starters, any Swiss finishing school would
definitely have an issue with the volume and velocity of spit that gets
produced on the pitch. Kicking, swearing and running around with one's
shirt pulled over one's head are some of the other signs of
sportsmanship that might get you kicked out of Glyndebourne.
I'm
no etiquette expert, but I would suggest that uninviting someone to a
party is the height of bad manners, and England manager Roy Hodgson has
done just that. The wives and girlfriends who were originally invited to
accompany their playing partners on the World Cup tour have had their
invitations formally rescinded. If they wish to attend the warm-up games
in Miami they are permitted to "make their own arrangements".
If, like me, you were hoping for a recreation of the Baden-Baden trip,
complete with a series of glossy photographs of glossy hair and
glossier bags, you will be gutted. After past performances, one wonders
whether the Wag ban, which is effectively a sex ban,
will make much of a difference to the players anyway. Especially after
the levels of sexual activity that are said to have taken place during
the last set of Olympic Games, which showed it's possible to display
athletic prowess while breaking Grindr.
To
some, the poor Wags (wives and girlfriends, as if you needed me to tell
you) are a national joke. While their husbands and boyfriends get on
with their serious, ball-based business, the Wags are getting bouffed
and beautified. Their partners might play for England but, as lower-case
wags are quick to point out, the women can shop for it. Feminists,
educators and right-thinking people are horrified that Wagdom has become
an ambition in itself. Football was once the route of escape for young
men who dreamed of wealth and professional opportunity. Their path is
now littered with young women, in nightclubs up and down the country,
elbowing their way into questionable VIP areas in a peplum dress, on a
promise. We think of it as a "career path" for the beautiful and brainless.
However,
there is nothing smart about saying Wags are dumb, and nothing clever
about banning them from supporting their partners in Brazil. These are
the faces that launched a thousand shipments of magazines, false
eyelashes, tickets, trainers and more. Women such as Coleen Rooney,
Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham have brought business acumen to their
relationships as well as bringing a whole new audience to the football
field. You might want to dismiss the Wag fashion and beauty industry as
being a bit fluffy, and nowhere near as serious or important as
football, but you can't dismiss the staggering value it has to the economy. The season might only last for nine months, but thanks to the Wags, it's in the spotlight and making money all year round.
We
accuse Wags of vanity when they capitalise on the fact that they're in
the public eye, but most footballers' wives want to work. Many meet
their partners because they're already enjoying a high-profile career –
step forward Cole and Beckham. Others are presented with opportunities
that allow them to develop their own careers and capitalise on this,
which is an extremely savvy move. Footballers have a relatively short
shelf-life, and while some of them successfully parlay their time on the
pitch into presenting or punditry, others struggle. A working Wag is a
woman who is realistic about her partner's career and prepared to
support herself and her family in the future.
Ultimately, Wags
might wear fabulous dresses and have make careers out of having their
picture taken, but most support their partners practically and
emotionally, as that's the duty of anyone in a long-term relationship
and it's vital to the team's success. If my partner were selected to
take part in a prestigious international competition, I'd be desperate
to go and cheer him on. It seems cruel to deny anyone the opportunity to
support their spouse, and even more cruel to deprive someone of their
partner's support when they're far from home and under pressure.
Everyone should agree that they are the great women behind the great footballers.
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