Soccer ‘Widows’ Might Do More Than Grieve

Amid the rising World Cup fever, the Independent daily newspaper lived up to its name Tuesday and devoted a page to those beleaguered non-soccer fans, mainly harassed wives, mothers and girlfriends who face the next few weeks playing second fiddle to the family television.

Reporters interviewed enterprising soccer “widows” who have set up their own website for non-enthusiasts.

Worldcupwidowsclub.com offers companionship and space for outbursts from frustrated soccer-hating women.

On it women complain of husbands who will spend the next few weeks shouting at the TV screen and frightening the dogs, communicating with the rest of their family with grunts or “shhh” if there’s a threat of conversation to vie with the soccer commentator.

“I have no refuge. My programs are switched off and I’m forced to go out,” laments Kath Cross of Cardiff in Wales.

“I’m usually the skivvy handing out beers and crisps and trying to keep the noise down,” admits Rebecca Gillick of Wiltshire, in south England.

Stoptheworldcup.co.uk offers a free World Cup-free trip to New York and invites anti-World Cup fans to leave their thoughts regarding the soccer mania over the next few weeks.

Others are cashing in. The Swiss tourist office website features a video offering special World Cup-focused experiences in the sunny Alps by showing swarthy young men tossing hay, climbing mountains or milking cows. “Ladies, why don’t you spend this summer in Switzerland, where men focus less on football and more on you?” asks a seductive male voice.

Although Switzerland has qualified for the World Cup, the tourist authorities seem confident that enough of their men will be available to be mountain guides, golf coaches or masseurs.

Mediterranean beach vacations for women fleeing World Cup mania come from Easyjet, one of Britain’s low-fare airlines.

Just You, a travel company specializing in singles holidays, has seen a 15% surge in female travelers over the World Cup weeks compared to mid-June and July in 2005.

“It does seem the World Cup is accelerating this trend,” customer services manager Julie Chew told a TV interviewer.

Among the main attractions, a nine-day break to New England and New York competes with the beaches of Cyprus and Mauritius.

Other homegrown invitations include Linthwaite House Hotel in the Northern English Lake District offering a luxury football-free stay with perks such as a welcome hamper with champagne, massages and “serious pampering without a hint of football chatter,” according to the brochure.

Other British hotels and resorts offer similar luxurious non-soccer interludes, seizing the chance to ensure that World Cup widows won’t be grieving.