Sports is demanding. There’s travel, there’s staying away from family and friends, eating out and missing home in general. It’s difficult physically and mentally. Which is why you’d see a bevy of smartly dressed women, better halves of the ones who are taking charge of the action on field. They are more popularly known as WAGs, shorter version of wives at games. Their presence is always in the news, for the good, for the not-so-good reasons.
We Indians are more inclined towards family. We’re fiercely protective about them and want their cushion all the time – when the going gets tough and otherwise. It’s difficult for us to peel ourselves away from them, even when the call of duty comes calling. We flinch when we have to be apart, don’t like it and try everything under the sun to avoid it, or at least delay it. Now imagine a man, being required to spend time away from his family for a good month and a half.
He’d try somehow to get his family along. It’s slightly more difficult for the common man, but when you are a cricketer and have every luxury at your beck and all, and you’re sponsored by one of the cricketing boards that literally mints money, you know you can, and you will afford to take your families along.
Yes, the overseas tours are excruciatingly long. But, it isn’t like they are going for a war, is it? While it’s ok for wives and girlfriends to be around for a stipulated period of time, it is just not done if they serve as a distraction instead of being pillars of support. I mean, they’re there to make the players feel comfortable and help them focus on their task at hand. But if they do exactly the opposite and even get pampered to do that, then it’s not serving the purpose at all.
Before we get deeper into this, let’s take three situations. A win-win, where both the parties involved gain; a win-lose, where at least one of the parties gain; and a lose-lose, where both the parties end up on the losing side. In this case, the last two situations do not make sense. It has to be win-win. While the players should play well for their country, they should be allowed the comfort they need. Which is basically what the BCCI and other sporting authorities try to do by allowing wives and girlfriends to be a part of the contingent.
However, there are situations when these WAGs do more harm than good. Roger Federer’s wife Mirka for example, was in the eye of a storm. During the tense ATP Tour Finals semi-final between Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, there was a heated exchange of words between the duo. But the row didn’t stop there. Roger Federer’s wife Mirka was shown in a video calling Stan Wawrinka a “crybaby”. The video has since been blocked by ATP Media on the grounds of copyright issues.
Even if we take a recent example of cricketers, the Indians tour of England, reports suggest that it’s these cushions that are diverting the attention of the cricketers from what they should be focussing on. It seems that these wives wanted the players to take them around the city instead of being in the nets. Surprising? Maybe.
However, there are two sides to every coin. While they do relieve the cricketers off some steam, they also want a chunk of their time for themselves, which is what sparks off the problem. Virat Kohli, being the talented cricketer he is, was expected to fire and come of age, especially considering that he should be groomed to take over from MS Dhoni, who has already hinted at quitting soon. But then, his bat didn’t do the talking; instead, the presence of his girlfriend did.
With such a shoddy performance, the BCCI had decided to limit this whole WAGs affair. While it did save the BCCI from a lot of logistical nightmares (getting tickets, booking accommodation and getting good seats), it also gives a chance for the players to do what they being paid to do. When soldiers pack up for war, do their families also tag along? No. Sports, these days, is nothing short of a war. They need to focus, even if it’s at the cost of some comfort. All the luxuries more than make up for it.
The upcoming World Cup will probably be a good time to see what impact WAGs have on the game. It’s a gamble, alright, but well worth it.