Featured Image Credit: Married to the Game via Amazon Prime/Taylor Ward via Instagram
Topics: Saudi Arabia, Riyad Mahrez, Manchester City
Chris Byfield
Topics: Saudi Arabia, Riyad Mahrez, Manchester City
Riyad Mahrez’s wife Taylor Ward admitted that one rule in Saudi Arabia made her have the “biggest freak out”.
Ward swapped Manchester for the Middle East after husband Riyad Mahrez secured a lucrative move from Manchester City to Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ahli last summer.
A Prime Video show, ‘Married to the Game’, is documenting the lives of five of the partners of Premier League footballers, with much of the footage focused on Ward preparing for her sudden move to Saudi Arabia alongside Mahrez.
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In one scene, cameras catch Ward hastily packing her family’s bags as she explains to friends the extent of Saudi Arabia’s strict policy on the modesty of women’s clothing.
She tells them: “No lashes, no nails. Oh my god, I'm going to be the biggest tramp when I come home. You're not even going to recognise me."
The culture shock initially had Ward in tears, with the 26-year-old at one point explaining finding out the swimming pool in her hotel was strictly to be used by men.
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"I won’t lie, I had a freak-out yesterday," Ward tells her sister Darby. "I rang the hotel to ask, 'I’m coming with my baby, what do people wear around the pool?'
“I know it is a lot more conservative there and you have to dress a certain way. I said, 'I just want to check when I come with a baby, what is the best thing to wear?
“Do I need to wear something covered if I am going in the water?' They were like, 'Oh no sorry, it’s just a man’s pool, it is just a gents' pool.'"
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Speaking to Mail Sport about the series, however. Ward has revealed she is now settling into life in Saudi Arabia.
She said: “From what I had heard, I was worried about that [the conservative culture] when we first went, but it has surprised me. It's more relaxed from what I was first told.
“Everyone's been really supportive. Obviously, it was a shock at the beginning. My grandparents still live in the UK and they were devastated that I was leaving. It's only a five-and-a-half-hour flight if they want to see me. We'll just do trips there and back and family will come see me.
“My mum and dad live in Dubai which is a two-hour flight away. They have been to Saudi six or seven times already - constantly turning up to come and see me which is nice.”