'Football widows' send message of love during World Cup month
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In a month when news headlines are dominated by the World Cup, some women have a reason to huddle together under one united front -- the resentment for the cold shoulder they received from their football-loving partner.
However, turning into bitter and resentful girlfriends and wives are no longer the fashion, as least for Chinese women who attempt to pursue a happy ending after the one-month carnival. They act smart and try to stay in tune with their partners.
Twentyseven-year-old Huang Qiao says the World Cup is a quadrennial event for her to cozy up to her husband, an avid football fan who has sit for more than 80 percent of the 62 games at the ongoing World Cup in South Africa, started on June 11 and scheduled to complete on July 12 Beijing Time.
Women like Huang are usually nicknamed "World Cup Widows," referring to the wives and partners of those planning to spend the whole month of June in front of a television and who themselves have no interest in football games.
Besides those women who could have celebrations as their men have no interest in football at all, the left are somewhat divided: some complain, some perceive the World Cup month as a chance to seek their own interests, while more seem to have chosen to stay tune with their partner's hobby.
"I wouldn't complain. I choose to stay with him if time allows, and that gives us more time to talk, even it's about football." Huang said.
To show her support for her husband's "obsession," she bought her husband a pair of slippers stamped with national football team logos at an online store and rounded up her husband's friends to watch games at bars.
Calling herself a "pseudo-fan", Huang said she supported the Germans. But when Argentina, her husband's favorite football team next to Italy, was defeated by Germany in a shocking 4-0 quarterfinal on Saturday, she gave up her stance and shared with her husband a melancholy sense of loss.
Zhang Xudong, Huang's husband, said he appreciated all the love messages -- the time Huang had spent on him and delicate arrangements she had made especially to cater for his hobby, even sometimes against her will.
Amanda, 28, a supervisor at Xi'an Tiandun Gylinder Gasket Co.,Ltd., said watching football with her husband showed a wife's respect and support for a husband.
"He taught me how to appreciate the matches and I felt we were closer than before after I took to the game." she said.
Netizens have brainstormed to offered tactics for women to cope with men's World Cup symptoms.
A writer on eHOW Blog suggest "football widows" to plan dinner around the game.
"Eat between games, or during half time. Realize that there will be times when dinner for your husband will be a bag of potato chips and a beer on the couch." it read.
An article carried by BBC, says "Don't panic if you see him slumped, tearful, head in hands and moaning things like 'Guttted', 'Devastated' or various abstract expletives... just make tea and remember to use a plastic cup in case it has to be thrown at a wall or the television when result is broadcast again."
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