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England’s 2006 World Cup campaign in Germany was not short on subplots.
From the lofty pre-tournament expectations placed on the so-called Golden Generation to Wayne Rooney’s recovery from a metatarsal injury, the competition would ultimately end in another quarter-final exit, again on spot kicks.
But away from the pitch, a new phenomenon was born, as the word ‘WAG’ entered the nation’s collective consciousness.
Joe Cole on the media and their WAG obession
England were based in Baden-Baden for the tournament and as the squad settled into life at their base, the red-top media’s focus seemed to shift away from what was happening on the pitch and towards the activities of the squad’s wives and girlfriends.
As Joe Cole and Ashley Cole look back two decades on, the pair of former England team-mates believe that the squad themselves were unaffected by the growing media clamour.
“It was irrelevant to the players,” Joe tells FourFourTwo. “It gets talked about a lot. The girls were just doing what they’d usually do, having a nice time with the families. They’d go out for dinner, but the press made it what it was.”
Other members of that squad have suggested that the situation became a distraction, but Joe did not experience it in that way.
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“It didn’t bother me one bit,” he adds. “I’ve heard other players say it was a distraction, I was just happy that all of my family were having a great time, and so they should have been, because they were on a journey with you.”
For Ashley Cole, it was the logistical set-up that was the cause of any issues.
“Maybe the press shouldn’t have been in their hotel,” he argues. “It wasn’t the fault of the press, whoever arranged it shouldn’t have put both in the same hotel.”
Joe agrees that these circumstances made it easy for stories to emerge: “They’d be listening to get stories,” he says, with Ashley also chipping in: “Yeah, it was crazy…”
Former West Ham and Liverpool star Joe adds that the media landscape of the mid-2000s played a huge role in fuelling the WAG culture.
“Social media has changed things now – back then, the media needed to be fed with pictures of the girls going for a run or something like that, and it was going on the front page,” he continues. “I find it incredible that people are interested in that celebrity world. I just think it’s mental, but it sells, doesn’t it?”
Could It Be Coming Home? with Joe Cole and Ashley Cole is brought to you by Carling, official sponsor of the Emirates FA Cup and Adobe Women’s FA Cup. Watch the show on YouTube and Spotify, or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts
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