h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

World Cup Women's Football is featured heavily in the media at the moment, but whereas in the Men's version we would be seeing photos of the WAGs*, I haven't seen any coverage of the Women's equivalent. Who are they, where are they, and what should they be called?

*The term WAG has been criticised for many reasons, and I can't be the first to notice it is inaccurate anyway, since it discriminates against the possibility of men's boyfriends.

For the same reason, is WAG inaccurate in this context?

Do they need to be called anything? Frankly it's the footballer that should occupy interest not their private life..

yep, exactly that. The concentration on the WAGs is irritating in the extreme.
I read a comment on an article about Thomas Müller's wife (who is something in the horseriding fraternity - sorority?) which said: can't one of them marry someone with something intelligent to talk about?

The thing is, there's an inconsistency in us knowing so little about the women's significant others, compared to what we know about the men's footballers'; and as Icy hinted, it is entirely possible that at least a few of the women's significant others are themselves women, which might lead us to wonder if they are being deliberately kept out of the limelight, to maintain the flimsy illusion that those footballers aren't gay.

The only female footballer I know the name of used to play in the French national team, oh maybe 10 years ago, and she was one of the very first women in France to take a "paternity leave", when her girlfriend had a baby. It was in the papers and everything.


Marinette Pichon, if you're wondering.

"Do they need to be called anything? Frankly it's the footballer that should occupy interest not their private life.. " [Still Incognitas]

Do they *want* the attention? Why should they give up their privacy just because of what their spouses do? Not that I care what the players themselves do. I recommend the book "A Year with Verona," by Tim Parks, an expatriate Englishman who spent a whole season attending all the games by the Verona team. He even rode the bus with the team sometimes, and his account of the players' behavior sounds far more improbable than any fiction you might read!

Trouble is, as long as there is the demand for rubbish like that in the papers, that's what they're going to print.

They also print comic strips, puzzles, recipes, movie and book reviews, investment advice, want ads/personals, and op-ed articles.

It depends on the club.

At my 2nd (and local) club, Hitchin, the WAGS are called the Fishponds Road Terrace.

Clubs with larger crowds are also available.

PP.

I for one am outraged by the heteronormative assumption that female footballers don't have wives or girlfriends. For shame.

That being said, can we call the men ballhogs?

You can call them anything you want, but if you want them to come toward you, you'll need to know what they expect to be called.

>>What's the collective noun for ....<<


A Penalty of footballers' husbands?
A throw-in?


Will we be having a first naked footballers' husbands' calendar next year?

SOSOs???

Spouses Or Significant Others??

"Will we be having a first naked footballers' husbands' calendar next year?" [TC]

You mean something like "Dieux du Stade"?"

You read my mind. (and Sho's too no doubt)

ah, I have the coffee table book - a present from my workmates when I hit 40 or so. *dreamy sigh*

To pick up on a previous point - I suspect that many of the WAGS of women footballers are actually on the pitch. Thus the collective noun would be a "team".

My only experience of top level women's football is a friend who played. She said half the team went out with each other the other half had boyfriends.

are you suggesting that most female football players are lesbians?

not that it would matter but why? Would you intimate that a bunch of men running around on a pitch kicking a ball are gay?

It's a rather odd thing to say.

I rather suspect that the reality is that unlike the WAGs of male players at that level, the partners are busy earning a living (since the women players earn way less than their male counterparts).

The earn a lot less in the UK, but are handsomely rewarded in the US:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33114171