Sally Harding: 'Wagatha Christie' saga was the worst sort of whodunnit
WhatsApp messages deliberately deleted. A phone lost in the North Sea, implausible evidence given under oath, a sting operation carried out by the Queen B Wag, it's no wonder the Wagatha Christie saga is being turned into a TV series but not even the producers of Footballers Wives could have come up with such a drama-laden storyline.
It was Rebekah Vardy who, via the libel case she insisted on persevering with despite Coleen Rooney’s attempts to stop it, brought salacious, titillating and at times grim details of this war of the Wags into the public domain to be feasted upon by the drama-loving masses.
I, like everyone else was glued to this jaw dropping trial where in a move that could define the whole unsavoury episode saw the judge decide not to disclose her long awaited decision ahead of time in case either party leaked it to the press. To recap, Rooney publicly rumbled Vardy for feeding stories from her personal social media account to The Sun in a now famous ‘reveal post’ signing off the ultimate cliffhanger with the now immortal words ..."It's.... Rebekah Vardy's account", que an Eastenders duff-duff-duff. The plot definitely thickened from there even by TV soap standards.
As far as Rooney was concerned, her job was done. But by June 2020, Vardy felt that her own reputation had been so profoundly tarnished that her only option was to launch libel proceedings however ill-advised that surely was.
The judge found Vardy did leak the private story and that it was "likely" that Mrs Vardy's agent at the time, Caroline Watt, "undertook the direct act" of passing the information to the Sun newspaper.
Vardy's fame hungry ego might be dented a long with having to foot a hefty legal bill and Coleen won't have revelled in her troubled marriage to Wayne Rooney being dragged through the tabloids again but the real disservice done here is to womankind because the appetite to watch females fighting with each other is infinite and now we have enough to keep us going for decades.
In a week that ended with our own heroic Meath Ladies triumphantly winning back to back All Ireland titles and inspiring a generation of girls to believe they can do anything, work hard and follow their dreams along with The England ‘Lionesses’ winning the Euros, it's disappointing that another sporting duo are letting the side down and undoing decades of good work.
Two women with prospects, power, freedom and an opportunity to be role models for millions have become cartoon versions of themselves in a Carry On type scenario that seems to embody the saying, more money than sense.
In a time where women are trying to shake off stereotypes and become in equal in society, the two most prominent headlining making ones in recent times have taken a sledge hammer to feminism and left it in smithereens.
Isn't it also interesting that we don’t care at all what the women’s team’s Habs (husbands and boyfriends) are like, never mind whether they get on with each other? Kim Cattrall said in an interview at the height of her Sex and the City fame, when there was a rumour that that four co stars all hated each other that “Our show is made alternately with the Sopranos, and yet I have never seen anyone ask whether they got on with each other.”
The fascination with a bitch fight is rooted in commonplace sexism, a bid to belittle women and undermine their credibility.
Let's feel proud that on this side of the water it is our Meath Ladies that are headlining grabbing for their skill, dedication, team spirit, strength and bravery that will see so many young girls follow in their footsteps and embrace sisterhood.