Some say the WAGS were put off South Africa because England’s manager saw them as a distraction, writes Shirley Tart. Others say the flashy fashion plates thought the shopping probably wasn’t up to much.

Then came a whisper that the glamour brigade believed they’d be in danger, so it was best to stay at home.

I can’t speak on the first count, the wives and girlfriends would be wrong on the second and as for the last point, danger and death also lurk in parts of London, other big European cities and, God help us, Cumbria on a June Wednesday.

Now, it seems that some of the girlies will brave the trip after all – especially if England look like winning – and stay at the amazing but garish Sun City gambling complex.

I’ve been visiting South Africa regularly since 1993 (and been to Sun City). Now, reflecting on those great days of the first free elections in 1994 which I was so privileged to cover, who would have thought that just 16 years later they would be hosting a sporting event as big, prestigious and global as football’s World Cup?

When I was there last year after an unforgettable trip to Botswana and the unique Okavango Delta, the arenas and stadia were almost finished, cab drivers pointed them out with pride and Cape Town, where we spent a few days before flying home, was already buzzing with World Cup anticipation and dreams of glory. Not necessarily the glory of a home victory, they are a realistic lot, but the glory of staging the very best tournament in that beautiful land of contrasts, history, splendour and style.

South Africa intends that all who visit – to play, manage, the spectators or holiday makers at this exciting time in our sporting life – will leave changed by the experience and enthralled with a very special land.

But Gary Lineker being protected by £1000-a-day guards paid for by the BBC doesn’t help nerves and does little for the integration between locals and visitors which so enriches these great occasions.

Yes, there are sobering crime figures, yes some criminal activity is violent, yes poverty is still widespread and, yes, many people live routinely behind bars and gates. In this often lawless 21st century, show me a land without some similar problems, including our own.

Yet the vast majority of visitors travel in a welcoming South Africa without any problem at all. The government has effective anti-crime initiatives, but robbery, car snatching and mugging still happen with gangs tending to target people who appear to be affluent, including those driving expensive cars, wearing eye-catching jewellery, obviously carrying a lot of cash and making expensive purchases.

Can see the WAG way of thinking then, can’t you? You also need to be careful about credit and debit card misuse. Somebody managed to copy one of mine and do a fair amount of damage with the details last year – I was lucky, the credit card company paid it all back.

But I also once had my wallet snatched in a church in the elegant Portuguese capital of Lisbon, have had a couple of similar instances in London over the years, had my car broken into at a country railway station, and tried to console my elderly and bewildered mother as her handbag was snatched in Paris. We all know of many cases of theft, violence, robbery, murder and mayhem across the world.

So get a grip.