From foreign exchange dealers sneaking a peek in a corner of their trading
screens to ferry hands watching on portable televisions, Australian soccer fans
are getting their nightly fix of World Cup action.
Soccer fever has gripped sports-mad Australia, a country better known for
rugby than the round ball game, since national side the "Socceroos" came from
behind to beat Japan 3-1 in their opening match in Germany on Monday.
Australia's first victory in a World Cup finals match after reaching the
game's showpiece event for the first time since 1974 caused thousands of fans to
turn up late for work following celebrations in the streets into the early
hours.
With matches played overnight Australian time, employers do not face as big a
problem with workers watching games during office hours as European businesses.
But there is the problem of bleary-eyed workers trudging in late after
watching matches that start between 11 p.m. (1300 GMT) and 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) in
Australia's big east coast cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
More than 7 million Australians, or 43 percent of the population aged 14 and
over, stayed up to watch the match against Japan, a record for late-night
viewing, according to pollsters Roy Morgan after a telephone survey of 678
people.
Australia's next game against world champions Brazil starts even later -- 2
a.m. on Monday Sydney time (1600 GMT Sunday).
"It will be interesting to see if viewer numbers increase again," said Roy
Morgan's Gary Morgan.
"Pity the employers of Australia. Bad luck!" he said.
Politicians are urging bosses to be lenient with workers who turn up late
after burning the midnight oil.
"Monday morning might get off to a slow start in New South Wales," said
Morris Iemma, premier of Australia's largest state.
"But bosses should go easy on staff turning up late for work that day. They
will have been up all night wanting to be part of the nation's sporting
history," he told Reuters.
Iemma's plea stopped short of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke's famous
champagne-drenched declaration after Australia won sailing's coveted America's
Cup in 1983 that any boss who sacked a worker for not turning up "is a bum".
