Amazon Primary documentary Married to the Game has introduced to give perception on what existence is genuinely like for football WAGs – which includes a exclusive encounter for Riyad Mahrez’s wife Taylor Ward in Saudi Arabia.
Mahrez left Manchester City in the summer transfer window to be part of Al Ahli in a offer worthy of £30million just after 5 years with the Premier League champions – in a shift that came as a surprise to Ward, who was noticed in tears when explained to she would be packing up her baggage and shifting to the Center East at limited notice.
Mahrez earning up to £750,000-a-week in wages may perhaps have softened the blow, but the 6-aspect fact sequence showcases the struggles of the shift, which can take position in the middle of the pair’s wedding ideas.
From leaving her lifestyle in Manchester driving to travelling back on a regular basis to plan her wedding ceremony, the series delivers a look guiding the curtain of Ward’s shift – which, speaking completely to Mail Sport, she exposed as ‘an emotional rollercoaster’.
With the scenes reducing from England to Saudi Arabia, the cultural variations are notable, with Ward at a single position instigating a ‘diet coke cheers to that’ as the pair focus on rings in Jeddah ahead of their next wedding ceremony.
Amazon documentary ‘Married to the Game’ provides an insight into what life is like for WAGs in Saudi Arabia – showcasing Riyad Mahrez’s wife Taylor Ward
Ward very first married Mahrez in 2022 just after the pair met in Manchester just before tying the knot again very last 12 months
The influencer – a social media feeling with almost 3million followers on Instagram – claimed she experienced been on an ’emotional rollercoaster’ after getting instructed she was shifting to Saudi Arabia
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In the fourth episode of the sequence, Ward attends 1 of Mahrez’s game titles in Saudi Arabia and sits alone in a personal box.
‘I’m a Riyad Mahrez enthusiast, not a football supporter,’ she states, outlining that she won’t continue on view football when her partner, 33, retires from actively playing.
Mahrez provides: ‘She isn’t going to enjoy the activity actually, she sits on her mobile phone.’
‘I do,’ Ward responds. ‘You’re a liar. He can not fall the point that the moment he scored and it was straight soon after 50 percent time and I was however sat inside of the box. He arrived more than to the box to rejoice to us all. I was looking at it on the Tv and I ran straight out.’
‘I want to get involved in the chants but I are unable to fully grasp them,’ Ward claims as the episode cuts back again to inside the stadium.
The 26-year-outdated cuts a lonely determine as she watches her partner in motion, a considerably cry from her activities at the Etihad.
‘At Gentleman Metropolis we experienced a box, Riyad usually brought a few pals and I might provide my close friends as very well, class the young ones and whoever else,’ she states. ‘My relatives, every time they had been home they applied to arrive.
‘I better get employed to this simply because I have no mates. All my pals are my key university good friends and substantial faculty buddies. I’ve not really had to make new good friends because then, which is mad. It really is a nuts considered that I am likely to have to commence attempting to make new pals.’
And loneliness isn’t the only battle. In episode 3, Ward is however coming to terms with the transfer to Saudi. A region with a lifestyle quite unique to that of England.
Girls are usually anticipated to dress modestly in the state, masking up huge quantities of skin and carrying restricted-healthy clothes, a thing evidently unique, centered on the documentary, to Ward’s standard design and style.
Ward cuts a lonely determine as she viewed one particular of Mahrez’s games in Saudi Arabia, employed to observing with her buddies and family members
She reveals that Mahrez will not think she watches his online games mainly because she when missed him score for City
‘Oh, there are my Saudi outfits below,’ Ward states likely through her wardrobe. ‘This is extremely Saudi.
‘Long, appropriate, you might be not standing out, you happen to be mixing into the group. The blonde hair is a little bit of a giveaway that I am not from Saudi but you can try your most effective.
‘I will surely not be packing these figures,’ she provides, pointing out some much more revealing garments. ‘They can go firmly back in the wardrobe. I’ve never ever even worn this a single but it is really a little bit see-via so that will not likely be likely to Saudi.
‘Everyone has been so awesome so significantly, so I just want to make certain that we regard them back. The culture is so unique so I imagine it can be critical you get the time to understand and be respectful.’
Ward grew up in Manchester, with Mahrez moving to the City when he signed for the club from Leicester in 2018
Ward instigates a ‘diet coke cheers to that’ just after the pair talk about rings for their marriage ceremony
The 26-12 months-aged is witnessed likely by way of her wardrobe to make your mind up what clothes are suitable
She admits she ‘never envisaged everyday living anyplace other than Manchester’ until going abroad
She also walks the streets of the region alone right before conference up with a tour guidebook as she attempts to adapt to the distinctive society
Ward grew up in Manchester, effectively dwelling there for over 25 many years of her lifetime prior to producing the transfer to the Middle East.
She disclosed that her greatest anxiety in her relationship was getting to transfer place, a thing which is a significant concern for a amount of the WAGs in the sequence.
Mahrez seemed to demonstrate tiny thing to consider, arguing: ‘It’s component of the activity innit’ in a clip that has now absent viral.
‘I claimed to Riyad from the starting that the factor that scares me most is him transferring overseas. I have usually are living in Manchester, I have in no way had to shift away, but my most important dread is possessing to move to a new state, make new buddies and be absent from my relatives.
‘I’ve under no circumstances been so significantly absent from my sister in advance of. I have never ever experienced to go absent and even now operate a enterprise,’ she claims, prior to breaking down in tears while speaking to her sister, Darby.
‘If an individual reported to me 5 years in the past that I might be shifting to Saudi Arabia with a spouse and a child, I would not have thought them,’ she later on adds. ‘I would have assumed they had been speaking about the wrong individual.
‘I never ever envisaged my life everywhere other than Manchester.’