If you, like everyone else across Australia, were sat in the pub last Friday instead of at the office working, watching the Socceroos finish the job against Paraguay to secure a well-earned spot in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup, you'll know the particular joy of watching this team do it the hard way.
Well, now the reward for that suffering is a 4 AM kick-off against Egypt on Saturday, and in a rare move that almost no one would have called, the Australian government has announced that the pubs can stay open all night for it. Well, that’s one way to watch the action.
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Across NSW and Victoria, any licensed venue broadcasting the match can throw the doors open and keep them open through the night to accommodate the millions of fans expected to tune into the Round of 32 clash. NSW has even announced more public transport options to get everyone home safely after the full-time whistle.
Queensland wants operators to apply in advance and prove the whole exercise is in service of watching the football rather than just squeezing a few extra hours of trade out of a Saturday morning. WA, SA, Tasmania, the ACT, and the NT are all offering the same deal on request.
It may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but I think we’re all allowed to enjoy a rare moment of flexibility after years of restrictions for anyone looking for a late-night pint. That’s in Sydney, at least.
The football purists will point out, fairly, that we've been here before – as recently as 2022 when Australia fell short to Argentina. But we were all crammed into the only public place still open at that time: the casino. Just me?
Anyway, this somehow feels different. This is 4 AM on a Saturday morning after a Friday night, and could prove to be one of the biggest nights in the Socceroos’ World Cup history. See you at the pub.
