An amateur Aussie football team has put county before club and forfeited their match this weekend to hit the pubs and support the Socceroos.
Swinburne FC’s reserve grade side was scheduled to play at 2pm on Sunday – which is when the Socceroos’ FIFA World Cup opener against Türkiye is scheduled.
Club president Thomas Burchsmith said the club had the chance to move the game to a midday start, but said he and his teammates would have much preferred to sink frothies and watch the earlier match between Haiti and Scotland.
“It’s the Socceroos at a World Cup … this this this has to take priority,” he said on Nine’s Today on Friday morning.
“We had the opportunity to play it at around 12, so the game would finish at 2pm (but) that’s when the Socceroos are starting. I’m sure you guys can agree we’d rather sink a few beers beforehand and watch another game.
“It wasn’t going to give us enough time to hit the city, go to all the different venues and stuff like that.
“I, personally, wasn’t going to be watching the Socceroos while I’m driving somewhere, and I didn’t want to be stuck watching it on my phone because it comes around every four years.”
Burchsmith said the added bonus of watching the match during daylight hours, as opposed to the god-awful starts that come with European World Cups, was extra incentive.
“The amount of times Australian fans have woken up at 5am, 4am, some terrible times … the fact the sun will be out, and it’s a weekend is phenomenal,” he said.