As the world’s greatest footballers descend upon South Africa, they will of course be accompanied by their wives and girlfriends (WAGs) who will be hopping on flights to South Africaalong with their ridiculously high heels, designer dresses and legions of paparazzi.
Over the last couple of World Cup competitions, the spotlight has been increasingly focusing on the footballers’ wives (and girlfriends), who now seem to be almost as popular as the players themselves. It’s not just Wayne Rooney that the papers write about, but also his wife Colleen. Gerrad may be the one we’re watching on the pitch, but off it, it’s his partner Alex Curran who’s in the limelight.
This is all in the wake of England manager Fabio Capello’s warning that WAGs should stay away from his squad. The Italian, who is known as a firm disciplinarian, wants his team to be concentrating fully on the football and therefore stated that contact with WAGs during the tournament should be limited. Nevertheless, many of the WAGs will be jumping on flights to Cape Town and heading to South Africa and will doubtless be enjoying the best hotel and spas that country has to offer.
The lists of ladies is long: Abigail Clancy, Christine Bleakly, Toni Poole, Chantelle Tagoe, Nicola Carragher and Amanda Salmon; they’ll all likely to be making their way over to South Africa at some point to watch their partners battle it out on the pitch.
Although England star David Beckham will not be playing due to injury, he will be accompanying the England squad which means the world’s most famous WAG – Victoria Beckham – will also be heading to South Africa.
Mrs Beckham is rumoured to be renting a luxury flat in Camps Bay, Cape Town but the former Spice Girl will not just be lazing by the pool; she intends to take sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz to visit children around Cape Town as part of her work for the charity Save The Children.
There has been a surge in luxury properties and resorts opening just in time for the World Cup. For example, the 154-room Fairmont Zimbali Resort which is a short drive away from Durban, offers ocean views, luxurious soaking tubs and expensive interiors styled in stone, wood other natural materials of the African environment.
Though not renowned as a high-class shopping zone, the WAGs will no doubt find that South Africa’s sophisticated clothing industry does offer high-fashion design, and of course, as one of the biggest gold and diamond mining nations, there will be plenty of bling on sale. At the Premier Diamond Mine in Cullinan near Pretoria, WAGs can sip sparkling wine while a designer sketches ideas for their piece of jewellery.
All the big cities in South Africa have malls and shopping centres are everywhere. Some are so big that you could almost spend a day walking from one end to the other. Those arriving onflights to Johannesburg will find plenty of places to spend at the Eastgate centre and the newly enlarged Cresta shopping malls; in Umhlanga, just outside Durban, there’s the massive 37 acre Gateway Shopping Centre; Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, with over 400 stores, caters to all shopping needs, and the more exclusive centres that are most likely to attract the WAGs are Johannesburg’s Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square and Hyde Park.
So, whilst the players will be trying hard to gain World Cup glory on the pitch, you can be sure that the WAGs will be trying equally hard to outspend their rivals in South Africa’s most expensive shopping zones.
