Since the 2006 World Cup, Britain has been in the throes of a WAG obsession. During the important tournament the player's wives and girlfriends seemed to attract more attention than the England team. Wearing skimpy hotpants and oversized sunglasses, they provided some much-needed eye-candy for the male spectators. Many women seemed equally impressed with the WAGs, as they flaunted their designer shoes, fashions and handbags to the world's press. Although England's World Cup performance was disappointingly brief, it soon became clear that the WAG phenomenon was here to stay.
The most famous WAGs are Coleen Mcloughlin, Elen Rives, Alex Curran, Cheryl Cole, Jamelia, are-worrying-role-model Lloyd and, of course, the mother of all WAGs, Victoria Beckham. While Victoria Beckham, Jamelia and Cheryl Cole had successful careers before meeting their famous partners, many WAGs have succeeded in using their glamorous lifestyle to achieve celebrity. Coleen Mcloughlin is a classic example of this; once a podgy Liverpudlian schoolgirl, she successfully used her fiancés fame to launch a successful career as a TV presenter, model and journalist. She has now amassed her own fortune of around £6million.
Of course, Coleen had no obligation to pursue these career options. Being a WAG is a lucrative and glamorous occupation in its own right. With many premiership footballers earning a massive salary, their partners are simply required to look beautiful. Because of this, many WAGs seem to spend most of their time shopping in designer stores, falling out of nightclubs or frolicking on exotic holidays. With a lifestyle like this, it's hardly surprising that many girls are desperate to bag a footballer.
Unlike the empowered generations of women before us, many women in their twenties now spend up to £1,000 a month trying to achieve A WAG lifestyle. An article in The Independent revealed this shocking story by claiming, "the majority of young women aged between 21 and 25 aspire to being a "WAG" (footballer's wife or girlfriend) rather than a powerbroking executive." Obviously, the high price of this luxury lifestyle is completely unrealistic for most under-25s, which means that for many girls, their WAG aspirations are causing them to spiral into debt.
Even sadder than those willing to risk bankruptcy for a designer handbag are the girls who Kiss and Tell. When their night of passion with a footballer fails to turn them into Posh Spice, they sell their sordid secrets to the tabloids. The five escorts involved in Ronaldo's recent orgy provide a perfect example of this. The girls, from Mckenzies escort agency in Leeds, sold their stories to the News of the World and The Sunday Mirror. In these titles, one of the girls admitted: ""I thought having sex with three Manchester United stars would be like a dream come true. But I realise now that being a WAG is not all it looks cracked up to be."
Ultimately, while WAGs are certainly good to look at, they are negative role models for teenagers and young women. Our celebrity-obsessed society needs positive role models who can inspire girls to stop trying to snare a footballer and embark on their own careers.
