Wayne Rooney will be travelling to the 2010 World Cup
without his wife, Coleen, who is staying at home. Photograph: Mark
Campbell / Rex Features
Wayne Rooney has revealed that his
wife, Coleen, will not be accompanying him to the World Cup in
South Africa after partially endorsing the view of the England manager, Fabio Capello, and the captain,
Rio Ferdinand, that wives and girlfriends have been a
distraction in the past.
"If they want to come and support us there's nothing stopping
them," he said. "Last time we were all together in the hotel and
that was a bit of a problem. My wife's just had a baby so she's not
going anyway."
Last week Capello bristled when asked about the details of the
Wags' accommodation in South Africa. "It is far enough when they
stay out of the training ground, you understand?" he said. He had
earlier announced that those wishing to travel would have to settle
for weekly visits with the squad. "We're going to South Africa to
play, not for a holiday," he added. "If they don't want to come for
the day only, they should stay home."
Asked if he thought the Wags had disrupted England's
preparations at the World Cup in Germany, the England manager was
scathing about their presence in the team hotel. "I think it will
be [like a] virus, no?" he said. "I think so. I hope so. The same
virus of the last World Cup."
Capello, of course, was only an interested spectator of the
antics in Baden-Baden, but Ferdinand has bitter memories of the
episode. In 2008 he said Sven-Goran Eriksson's invitation for Wags
and families turned the World Cup campaign into "a circus".
"If I'm honest, we became a bit of a circus in terms of the
whole Wag situation," said the defender. "It seemed like there was
a big show around the whole England squad. It was like watching a
theatre unfolding and football almost became a secondary element to
the main event.
"People were worrying more about what people were wearing and
where they were going out, rather than the England football team.
That then transposed itself into the team. That's said in
hindsight. At the time we were caught up in the bubble ourselves.
Being somewhere like Baden-Baden, walking around the town, there
were paparazzi everywhere, our families were there. When you step
back and look back at that, it was like a circus.
"I'm not going to tell the other players what you should or
should not do. But I just think that, as a squad, we were a bit too
open, going out in and around Baden-Baden, and probably had too
much contact with families. That's just my opinion. Some players
may think they'd rather have that contact with their families.
"But you're in a tournament and you don't get to play in many
tournaments in your career. To give yourself the best chance, you
have to be focused. Having the families around and the paparazzi
that were following us, it was all a bit too close and the football
wasn't really separated from it all."