Barbara Ellen: Fabio's ban turns Wags to witches

Opinion

How bizarre, not to mention chauvinist, of England manager Fabio Capello to ban Wags (wives and girlfriends) from seeing much of their spouses during the football World Cup.

Capello, whose default facial expression seems to say "I am sitting on a large rusty nail", has curtailed the Wags' visiting rights to one day after matches, announcing: "We are in South Africa to play. It is not a holiday."

Fair enough, Fabio, but perhaps more appropriate to tell the players.

Indeed, isn't Capello's ban just a bizarre way for the team, even the country, to slyly blame a bunch of women for England's 2006 World Cup defeat? As in: Last time, our players were so distracted by the ladies' champagne swilling and hair straightening they could not play to the best of their ability?

Even squad prankster, king of the whoopee cushion Rio Ferdinand chimed in, saying the Wags had turned the tournament into a "circus".

Which is strange. Some of us remember England getting knocked out of the 2006 quarter-finals after a series of pathetic, lumbering performances that would have made a seaside donkey blush. There was also the little matter of Wayne Rooney tap-dancing on a Portuguese player's groin, reducing England to 10 men.

Moreover, while one recalls the Wags spending in the boutiques of Baden-Baden, and drinking in bars, one doesn't remember them playing on the pitch, letting in any goals or missing any penalties.

Men have been blaming women for their shortcomings since the Garden of Eden, but come on, an international football defeat? Not only is the ban unfair, it doesn't even make sense. Does a store manager or a policeman not do his job properly because he saw his wife the night before? Should pilots take a vow of celibacy lest the destructive effect of "female" cause them to lose concentration? "Air traffic control - can't control plane, feel life force draining ... own fault, shouldn't have watched the telly with wife."

In other sports - cricket, tennis or rugby - no one pours scorn on the players' partners. Mrs Flintoff isn't blamed when Freddie goes off carousing. Roger Federer's wife wasn't told to clear off from Wimbledon because "this is not a holiday".

So it is a class issue as well - the Wags are perceived as "common". "Common" in this context seemingly meaning pretty, lively and generally rather harmless and sweet.

However, this is beside the point.

The last time England won the World Cup was 1966. I don't remember anyone blaming "the missus" for any other defeat in the intervening 40-plus years (not Mrs Bobby Charlton for over-wearing of twinsets, or Michelle Lineker for distracting use of hair spray) and it shames them to try to do so now.

The last time we looked, the England players were supposed to be professionals. Presumably what occurs during professional sporting tournaments is down to them and them alone. Ergo, it shouldn't matter a jot if their women are getting trashed by night or buying new handbags by the dozen by day.

After all, when England win, they don't drag Wags into the post-match interviews to share the triumph so why should they be lumbered with any part of the defeats?

On past performances, it will probably all end in heartbreak and fudged penalties anyway, but, if so, sorry Fabio, you're going to have to find someone else to blame.

- OBSERVER