Wagatha Christie: A uniquely British feud

3 min readNov 21, 2020

Forget The Crown. The only British drama you need right now is the real-life feud between two Wags — wives and girlfriends of football stars — currently playing out in the UK High Court.

Last year, Coleen Rooney, the wife of former England striker Wayne Rooney, sensationally accused fellow soccer spouse Rebekah Vardy of leaking her personal information to the British tabloids. Rooney said she knew this because she had carried out a sophisticated sting operation on Instagram.

Vardy has vehemently denied the allegations and has taken Rooney to court for defamation. A judge has made an initial ruling in favour of Vardy, but the legal battle is far from over. If Vardy and Rooney do not resolve things privately, we may see a full trial in the new year.

We know, it’s a lot. So here’s what you need to know about the high-profile spat that has sparked a court battle, inspired hundreds of memes and riveted a nation.

Who — or what — is a Wag?

First, the basics.

Even outside the Royal Family, the British like their titles. And on the sidelines of a professional football pitch, these women may as well be royalty. The term first entered the popular vernacular alongside Victoria Beckham — also known as Posh Spice — international pop star and wife to football phenomenon David Beckham.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionVictoria Beckham (R) — the original Wag — watches a match with Cheryl Tweedy, who was then with footballer Ashley Cole

With Posh at the helm, the mid to late-2000s became the golden age of Wag-dom, with attention turned increasingly away from the field and into the stands. So much so, that some blamed England’s poor performance at the 2006 World Cup on the Wags, who were dubbed a distraction.

So who are these Wags?

As mentioned above, Instagram sleuth Coleen Rooney is married to Wayne Rooney, England star and also a former player for Manchester United, DC United and others. The supposed leaker, Rebekah Vardy, is the wife of Jamie Vardy, who plays for Premier League club Leicester City.

Both Wayne and Jamie had also played together for the England football team.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionColeen and Rebekah were pictured together at Euro 2016

According to British journalist Elizabeth Paton — who has tried to explain all this to Americans in the pages of the New York Times — Rooney used her time as Wag to grow her celebrity status — reaching “peak Wag royalty” while Vardy is “a more recent addition to the fold”. The two were not “known enemies”, Ms Paton said, but this quickly changed last year.

And who is Wagatha?

Last October, Rooney made the claim that someone had leaked information from her Instagram account to a tabloid newspaper. In a stunning display of sleuthing skills, Rooney blocked all of her followers — except for one — from seeing her Instagram stories. To smoke out the culprit, Rooney then posted a series of fake stories which later appeared in The Sun

Wagatha Christie: A uniquely British feud

Who — or what — is a Wag?

So who are these Wags?

And who is Wagatha?

Written by LVEKT 0