Wary of the distractions accompanying footballers' celebrity lifestyles, England coach Fabio Capello will only allow players' partners to visit the squad for a single day after each game at next year's World Cup.
Seeking to avoid a repeat of what defender Rio Ferdinand called "a circus" when the glamorous wives and girlfriends - the so-called WAGS -stayed near the players at the 2006 tournament in Germany, Capello is set to take a tougher stance than his predecessors.
"I hope we will be there for a very long period but the players will have one day with their family, with the girls and with their friends," Capello said.
"It will be one day a week, after each game, and that is enough. That's it. We are there to play football, not for a holiday."
While international squads usually prepare in isolation for tournaments, with only infrequent and short visits by families, then England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson let partners stay in the German spa town of Baden-Baden, near the players' camp.
Several of the players conceded that the presence of the likes of Victoria Beckham and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole, who is married to defender Ashley Cole, and the subsequent media attention had distracted the players at the World Cup.
With many journalists staying in the same hotel as the WAGS, British newspapers gloried in tales including a 60,000-pound shopping spree in local fashion and jewelry stores and the dancing on the table of a bar while singing loudly.
England was knocked out in a shootout by Portugal at the quarterfinal stage and Capello will not tolerate a repeat.
"Absolutely not," Capello said. "If they do not want to come for the day, then they should stay at home."
The destination appears less alluring to partners seeking a break, anyway.
While the WAGS could stroll about in the warmth of the European summer in Germany, England's players will train at altitude on the High Veldt during the South African winter.