by EM RUSCIANO
It’s official.
WAG fever has set in and I’m not afraid to say it: I have a nasty rash!
I’m totally infected.
No wait, what I mean to say is: I like perving on WAGS when they’re done up for red carpet events.
Phew, we got there!
The Brownlow red carpet last night was a feast of flesh, sequins, feathers and that was just the spectacular Brynne Edelsten (I WILL NOT hear a bad word against her. I mean it. If any of you personally attack her I will be very disappointed. I love that woman – hard.)
I like frocks, I like sparkly things, I like checking out the girls whose hard bodies footballers have deemed worthy to announce to everyone: “She’s with me.”
This morning during our daily meeting for the radio show (Mamamia Today. 3pm-4pm on Southern Cross Austereo) my co-host Dave Thornton made a particularly outrageous statement.
“Man, those girls have got it so easy.”
Say what?
I pressed him further on this theory and got this in response:
“Because they have money and time on their hands.”
WOW to the SERS.
What followed was a verbal stouch akin to that time Ross (from Friends) told Rachel they were “on a break.”
What kind of logic is that? I quietly raged. My husband has worked in football clubs for the past ten years and I have seen firsthand what some of those women go through and I don’t know if I could cut it.
They are under far more pressure to look good, raise perfect children, support their husband, attend games, cook the right food, keep the children quiet, time pregnancies and fight off rabid female fans trying to rip the clothes from their husbands back, than I ever have been.
Do other people think as my co-host Dave Thornton does?
Do these women who happen to have a professional sportsman for a husband deserve no empathy from us commoners?
Em Rusciano is the host of Mamamia Today on Austereo (which you should be tuning into at 3pm every weekday because it’s ace) and regularly appears on Network Ten’s ’The Project’. You should follow her on Twitter here and take a look at her website here.
Do you think being a WAG would be easy?
Top Comments
Just wanted to add my (very late) 10c worth! I am also married to a professional footballer. We were together before he got drafted, I was never into footy and am completely not glamorous. I refuse to call myself a WAG. I didn't change my name when we got married because I'm tired of being *his* wife. Even though it means nothing, I often feel its the only shred of independent self-identity I have left. We have many children, one of whom was born before he was drafted, the second who was born in his first year, and the rest later in his career. I have never experienced the 'glamour' of being married to a footy player. Yes, I have had free entrance into clubs, drink cards, the Brownlow (thank God he was never a favourite to win, and I am not a skinny blonde with fake tits, so there was no pressure on me to look a certain way), but those small concessions (along with the money, which as others have mentioned is a good wage but unless you are Chris Judd or one of the newer, younger breed of footballer- is not a six figure salary!) will never make up for the lonely life I have lived with my children for the last 10 years. You (collectively) will never understand what it is like to have your husband 'owned' by the footy club, by the 'boys', by the media, by the so-called 'supporters'. Supporters who are very quick to turn on you after one bad game. He NEVER leaves work, he is never just 'him', he is ALWAYS 'so-and-so the footballer'. EVERY social function we attend becomes about him, his teammates, his season, and thats when he CAN attend! He must always be a role model, when all he wants to do is play footy! Yes, its part of his job to fulfil these other obligations, and as I remind him constantly, he can always quit, but footy is his passion, its what he loves doing, its what he's dreamed of since he could kick a ball- and its not because it pays well or he gets free entrance into clubs!
The women who are married to footballers are people! We have feelings, and we deserve the same respect as every other woman out there trying to support her man and/or raise a family! Just because our husband plays stupid footy (and yes I remind him daily he's not exactly saving lives- someone has to keep his feet on the ground because the public don't do it, thats for sure!) doesn't mean we should be fair game for criticism.
I realise other women have it 'harder', but its not a competition, and I have the utmost admiration for these other women who raise their families under difficult circumstances too. But please stop with the WAG- bashing, you only see a very small snippet of 'us' on TV, at the Brownlow or whatever, yet we are all put in the same basket- basically as anorexic, money-hungry, naive dumb bimbos, and its simply not the case.
Honestly this post is a bit silly, you can't stereotype any 'WAG' situation, not all of the players are cheats, not all of them are rolling in the deep and vise versa to making a regular income, not all of them are always stressed out of their minds and not all of the wag's themselves would mind being bored at an event a couple of nights a year. Every situation is different not to mention every AFL player! Stupid to even try and compare situations, thats like comparing people in any profession to each other - stupid!