Wives Must Support Husbands' Football Teams, Says Marriage Counselor
- As much as football is a beautiful game, there have been incidences where couples break up because of players and teams they support
- In 2018, Briefly.co.za covered the story of a 14-year marriage that ended in divorce after one partner mocked the other over Messi’s disappointing performance at the world cup
- It is for this reason that Saudi Arabia's marriage counselor Basma Jumaa adviced women to support the same football teams as their husbands'
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Football has become a part of our lives that, seemingly, won't be departing from the scene anytime soon.
As much as it is meant to be a beautiful game, there have been reported incidents of clashes in allegiance between couples when it comes to teams they support, sometimes causing a strain in relationships.
In a story earlier covered by Briefly.co.za a 14-year marriage of Russian couple, 40-year-old Arsen and 37-year-old Ludmyla ended in divorce after the woman mocked her husband over Messi’s disappointing performance at the 2018 world cup.
Source: UGC
It is for this reason that Saudi Arabia's marriage counselor Basma Jumaa adviced women to support the same football teams as their husbands'.
This, she posits, goes a long way in avoiding unnecessary tensions in marriages.
Speaking to Al-Akhbariya's Al-Rased TV show, Jumaa asked couples to embrace flexibility as an important ingredient in nurturing their marriages, football included.
"You cannot expect to do the same thing and have different results each time. Flexible people find a solution in every problem and stubborn people find a problem in every solution," she expressed.
She added that since traditionally husbands head the homes, wives should get to know which teams they support and rally behind them too.
"Wives must try to share with their husbands some of their interests, such as supporting his football club and celebrating with him if the team wins. It is okay to memorise the names of a number of players and wear the favourite team's shirt," she continued.
On top of this support, Jumaa explained that the wives should be more understanding when the husband leaves the house to go watch his team play.
"It is better for the wife to take advantage of this time, as she certainly has things that can be accomplished when the husband is away from home," she concluded.
Her sentiments were, however, received with opposition from both men and women with most seeing it as a step backwards in the quest for gender parity.
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Source: Briefly News
Sibusisiwe Lwandle (Head of Entertainment) Sibusisiwe Lwandle is the Head of Entertainment at Briefly News (joined in 2019). She holds one Bachelor of Arts (BA) and one Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from the University of Cape Town and the University of KZN respectively. She has over 10 years of experience in journalism, having worked in print, online and broadcast media. She has worked at Independent Media and 1KZNTV and has contributed columns to the Washington Post. Passed set of trainings by Google News Initiative. Email: sibusisiwe.lwandle@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
