A local newspaper has an article about a major issue of concern to Sportspeople and their partners. The partners are tired of being labelled as WAGs, Wives and Girlfriends, as they consider it demeaning and want to be labelled as SOs, Significant Others. To many this seems a rather silly request given the real-world problems of COVID and numerous conflicts and natural disasters. The two terms could be combined to SWAGs although that might not be flattering as in Australia that refers to a form of bedding.
There should be some recognition of other labelling options with the LGBTQI communities although none of the top-level male players have admitted to being a member of these communities. A number of the players in the women’s competitions are more honest. The only acronym that I could find that uses most of the letters is GASLIT and that seems appropriate as many of them may be gaslit by the media after their SO’s career is over.
What a lot of football WAGS or SOs forget is that there are literally about 3,000,000,000 other SOs out there in the world and not many of them have sponsorships or companies wanting to give them cars and expensive clothes. As many of them do have a public voice and a social media presence, at least for a few years, they could make a better use of their voices and help with many social issues.
It’s time for a bit of SOS – Save our Sanity.
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia
