Victoria "Posh" Beckham’s World Cup shopping spree angers football authorities.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup has come to a close with Italy taking the trophy. The task  now for Germany is to clean up the aftermath and tally the costs of hosting such a massive sporting event.

And speaking of costs, reports from Germany are saying that while their husbands and boyfriends were busy playing soccer for their countries, the Wives and Girlfriends (or "WAGS" as they are otherwise known) of the footballers took to the shops and went on a World Cup-sized shopping spree — much to the dismay of the authorities.

According to the Football Association, the WAG’s activities — including "daily forays to designer shops and nightly bouts of champagne swilling" — were a distraction. The WAGs, led by Victoria Beckham, ran up a hotel bill of more than $512,000 for their partners, and there were reports of $133,000 being spent in an hour’s shopping.

Ah well. What else is a girl to do while her husband is taking part in the world’s biggest sporting event? Moving right along…

They shopped by day and partied by night – and provided far more entertainment in Germany than the England football team. But now the players’ wives and girlfriends – known forever as the WAGs – are to be banned from accompanying their partners to major tournaments.

The WAGs whose behaviour was scrutinized at every step included David Beckham’s wife Victoria, Wayne Rooney’s girlfriend Colleen McLoughlin, Joe Cole’s girlfriend Carly Zucker, Elen Rives, Frank Lampard’s fiancee, and Cheryl Tweedy, Ashley Cole’s partner.

Now, the WAGS, Rooney and Beckham have a common denominator – all of them have been red carded. McLaren, who took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson after England’s World Cup quarterfinal exit, has decided that the WAGs’ power shopping and late night partying make them too much of a distraction.

And although they are now safely back in the one home turf, the England national football squad’s wives and girlfriends have left German businessmen with a happy reminder of their visit.

I’ve never taken my wife to work and it’s important for the footballers to concentrate on the game, rather than on what their wives are doing. Way to go Steve! Good thing to send off the WAGS for non-stop partying and huge spending.