Watching World Cup 2010 in Sydney !

Yes, it’s in June – July 2010 – 4 weeks of party!. My fellow Aussie, some, will ask “what world cup? which world cup?” – It’s quite sad but true, but at the moment, football (or soccer) is not that damn popular in here (Other kind of football which not dominantly handled by “foot” namely Aussie Rule and Rugby are more popular and  all called football or “footy”). So, the answer of that question is: “It’s the world cup, the only world cup that bigger than Olympic, the real football world cup: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ^tm , mate !”

To tell you the truth, I am not a die hard football fan. I mean I did not follow English league, Bundesliga, or even Australian own A-league. But I will not miss the world cup for the world.

So, mark your calendar, the first match will be on Friday , 11 Jun at 23:00 and the Final will be on Monday , 12 July 2010 on 03:30.

Watching World Cup On TV

The great news is, at this 2010 world cup, all 64 matches can be watched live on TV without a need to subscribe for Pay TV. Yes, it’s free to air TV at its best. Thank you to SBS station. (For international friend, the “main” TV station here in Australia is Ten, Seven and Nine – SBS is more on niche market – confirming soccer or football is still not on the main core)

Here is the full schedule from SBS: SBSWorldCupTVSchedule.pdf
(print it out and stick it on your fridge!!)

Make sure your TV at its best, at least, make sure you can receive the Digital Transmission – the HD (High Definition) version is preferred for best quality – (buy a HD set top box if you have not). For you that in the market for nice new bigger TV, forget the Plasma, forget the LCD TV, you should aim for LED TV (In general: as bright as plasma, but as reliable as LCD – the best of both world) – some of this LED TV is also 3D (3 dimension)-TV, but I doubt SBS will broadcast in 3D.

Alternatively: FIFA Fan Fest – Darling Harbour, Sydney

But for you that want MORE than just watching it on TV, there is a special treat from FIFA and NSW government, it’s call FIFA Fan Fest.

FIFA Fan Fest in Darling Harbour (digital impression)

The first time of its kind, FIFA chooses 6 cities in the world: Berlin, Paris, Rome, Mexico City, Rio de Jaineiro and Sydney (Do you see that all those cities has hosted world cup before, except Sydney – so it’s a clue perhaps… :-).

And on those city FIFA extends the invitation to come and celebrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa to more football fans around the globe with: a giant screen in secure environment with FREE admission to watch LIVE all the match with fellow fans.

And in Sydney, the FIFA Fan Fest is on the beautiful Darling Harbour (see the digital impression above). Yes, a giant floating screen to watch football with friends and family.It’s free and secure! So, how awesome !

It’s predicted there will be 30,000 fans each nights for the whole months (maybe triple on the final day!) – the police has express concerned already that it gonna be a big if note huge task – considering alcohol is available. Take this as good aspect, now that the police and organizer cannot really under estimate this huge event, everything will be more prepare and more resources thrown in into the event. Australia has been a very famous with making huge event a family friendly one – so this will be one as well !

For more info about FIFA Fan Fest ^tm, click here. or here. Official info is here. If preferred you can book Ibis or Novotel on site for your super indulgence football experience.

Just come to Darling Harbour at the scheduled match and you might see me there !

One caveat: it’s winter in Australia – temperature will be 5-10 degree Centigrade in the early morning!!

If you are interested to become a volunteer to this great event, hopefully the registration is still open at here. You will be given meal voucher and cool uniform to watch the big screen at super premium location.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

The Darling Harbour Fan Fest has 2 big screen locations: Cockle Bay and Tumbalong Park. Each hold 10,000 crowd. Once the number is reached, you will be denied entry!!
It’s for obvious reason: prevent overcrowding, in case of emergency. Hence come early ! If you have been denied entry that’s mean you are late, just come a little bit earlier, especially popular game.

(In Cockle Bay in particular, the site will looks like still got a lot of space, but remember the screen is on the water (floating), there is quite a  gap between screen and water – furthermore, if you know darling harbour, there is spiraling decorative fountain in the middle that is now closed with wooden platform – cannot hold unlimited number of crowd.)

Socceroos Chance

Being in the hard group with Germany, African Champion – Ghana, and Serbia – the Australian team is quite the underdog. But the OZ has been known to do the unpredictable…. I hope 1 win and 2 draw can bring them to the knock out stages like previous cup. With Cahil and Kewell on the team, these seniors will ignite the spirit of the team!

Draw with the German as it’s just the first match for both, one win against Serbia and another draw with Ghana – that’s my prophecy…

What is “Socceroos” ?

For international friend, the Aussie loves to name their National Team with national animal or Australian unique word as nickname.

“Socceroo” is “Soccer” and “Roo” (short for Kangaroo – an animal unique to Australia).

You can see other similarity with The Wallaby (a small kangaroo) as nickname of the Australia national rugby union team, The Kookaburra (a bird native to Australia) as nickname for Australian national men’s hockey team while the ladies team nicked “HockeyRoos”. “Boomers” and “Opals” for basketball national team, etc

2010 Socceroos Jersey

The dark and light color version of Socceroos Jersey 2010

Available for purchase at NikeStore.

To show your support for Australia to host FIFA World Cup 2018 or FIFA World Cup 2022 click here.
To check out Football Federation Australia (FFA) click here.

Enjoy the festivity of  2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ^tm in June 2010 !