The article provides a unique perspective on the WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) phenomenon that emerged during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Baden-Baden, Germany. It challenges the conventional narrative of WAGs as champagne-and-shopping lifestyle seekers and instead portrays them as straightforward, down-to-earth women enjoying their holiday and supporting their partners.
The sound of a piano drifts from the open French doors of the Brenners Park Hotel as old ladies clutching parasols tiptoe around its exquisite gardens.
The air is mild and refreshing and it’s gloriously sunny. Life moves slowly here in Baden-Baden, the historic spa town on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany, and as I relax after the day’s labours with a book, alone by the swimming pool, I reflect that a more restfully innocent scene would be difficult to conceive. What else can be heard? Only afternoon tea being poured nearby by white-gloved waiters.
It is June 9, 2006 and I’m here covering the World Cup. David Beckham and the rest of the boys are staying half an hour away in a castle up a mountain preparing for their first match. Suddenly the peace is disturbed. An overlapping chorus of shrill greetings… the advance party of the England squad’s wives and girlfriends has arrived.
I can see them gathering on the hotel terrace overlooking Lichtentaler Allee, the elegant promenade where Queen Victoria once strolled in the days when Baden-Baden was the summer capital of Europe. There’s Wayne Rooney’s girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin, who has not long turned 20, and Gary Neville’s 23-year-old fiancée Emma Hadfield and Alex Curran, 23, engaged to Steven Gerrard. (Alex, incidentally, is a grandmother now. ) Others arrive to more shrieks.
After drinks and snacks they are soon pool-bound. There is much excited chatter. The noise gets nearer, building rapidly like the rush of a 747 engine before take-off. Suddenly I am surrounded by WAGs.
Victoria Beckham with a posse of WAGs in 2006. Suddenly the peace is disturbed. An overlapping chorus of shrill greetings… the advance party of the England squad’s wives and girlfriends has arrived, writes Ian Gallagher L-R: Carly Zucker, Alex Curran, Toni Poole and Lisa Roughead in 2006.
Alex, incidentally, is a grandmother now A lucky man in many respects, you might think, but any lone male who has stumbled unwittingly into the middle of a hen party might recognise my feeling of discomfiture. No doubt the Germans have an even longer word for it. But I needn’t have worried. Coleen and co are charming.
They are straightforward, down-to-earth women who, they tell me, are simply ‘on holiday and supporting the boys’. They express an unshakeable belief that this time England will triumph.
Then they settle down to a spot of sunbathing. Elen Rivas, Frank Lampard’s then fiancée, is the only one reading and, as we are sun-lounger neighbours, we strike up a conversation about books. Around us, the others swap stories about their journeys.
‘Where’s Victoria? ’ someone enquires, referring to Mrs Beckham, undisputed WAG queen. Shrugs all round. (Though we didn’t know it, Posh Spice’s scheduled flight had been cancelled because of an engine fault, and she had had to hire a private jet.
) Meanwhile a small group of photographers have gathered beyond the River Oos on the edge of the hotel grounds and are training their long lenses on us. Well, not on me exactly. Still, I slowly shake my head in mock annoyance and instinctively draw my stomach in, secretly hoping they’ll get my best side. None of the WAGs seems too bothered by the cameras.
It has been said the WAG phenomena started in Baden-Baden in 2006 though the acronym had been around a while. Many were familiar with their champagne-and-shopping lifestyle from the reality TV show Footballers’ Wives, which first aired four years earlier. The WAGs already had one Louboutin-shod foot in the nation’s consciousness. But what happened 20 years ago this month elevated things to a whole new level.
When I left the wives and girlfriends by the pool, the cocktail hour pianist was playing Ain’t Misbehavin’. And the WAGs weren’t misbehaving. Not then, anyway. Victoria Beckham, the 'undisputed WAG queen', cheers for England at the Fifa World Cup 2006 It has been said the WAG phenomena started in Baden-Baden in 2006 though the acronym had been around a while.
The accepted narrative would later be that they spent their time boozing and dancing on tables by night and hitting the designer boutiques by day. Yet I can report that it wasn’t exactly like that. Even if it was, did the WAGs deserve the sniffy criticism that came their way? They weren’t role models.
Why shouldn’t they enjoy themselves? Really, wasn’t this a big fuss about nothing much? England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson didn’t think so. He spoke of the attention surrounding the WAGs as being a ‘distraction’ to his players.
Was their mental resolve so shaky that the spectacle of their partners out on the town risked putting them off their stride? No wonder we struggle with penalties. After all, it wasn’t as if the WAGs were cavorting with strapping lads in lederhosen. As for the rest of us, a distraction is sometimes exactly what’s needed during an England game (and before and after, for that matter
Please follow us on Google to support us Wags Footballers' Wives Fifa World Cup Baden-Baden Germany Wives And Girlfriends Champagne-And-Shopping Lifestyle Supporting Their Partners Enjoying Their Holiday Straightforward Down-To-Earth Women Challenging The Conventional Narrative Different Perspective
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
BBC Staff Furious Over Different Rules for Employees Under InvestigationBBC staff are furious over the different rules for employees under investigation at the corporation. Presenter Victoria Derbyshire faced a misconduct probe over her interactions with multiple colleagues, while her colleague Naga Munchetty, also faces a string of bullying complaints. Kaye Adams, a long-standing broadcaster who worked on a freelance basis for the BBC for over 15 years, was suspended during her probe, and five months later, she was sacked after several complaints against her were upheld. The BBC is handling things in a way that isn't right, with different rules for different people depending on their contracts. Staff are furious, and there seems to be an agenda to go after successful women at the top. Ms Derbyshire's complaints were raised after the corporation's 2025 Respect at Work review, which encouraged staff to speak out about misconduct. It came in the wake of a string of scandals involving high-profile BBC figures including news anchor Huw Edwards and sport presenter Jermaine Jenas and claims of bullying on Strictly Come Dancing.
Read more »
Control Resonant is a sequel — and also a starting pointRemedy is exploring its supernatural universe from a brand-new perspective.
Read more »
How Social Context Influences Brain DisordersAn important new book provides vital and exciting perspective on the interface between brain and culture.
Read more »
Reflections on the WAG Phenomenon: 20 Years After Baden BadenA firsthand account of the England WAGs during the 2006 World Cup in Baden Baden, exploring their impact on the tournament and cultural legacy.
Read more »