Victorians have been given an extra reason to get out of bed early to cheer on Australia at the World Cup, with free breakfast to be served to fans at a Melbourne live site on Saturday.
The Herald Sun can reveal AAMI Park and Federation Square will again host public watch parties for the Socceroos, despite Australia’s do-or-die round of 32 clash against Egypt kicking off at 4am.
To ease the pain of the early rise, free hot breakfast will be served to the first 10,000 fans through the gates at AAMI Park.
Doors open at 2am, with ham and cheese toasties, croissants, vegetarian quiche, cheese and bacon pies and breakfast sausage rolls all at no cost.
Melbourne Park chief executive John Harnden said the initiative would help create “a memorable live site experience” and “an electric atmosphere at AAMI Park as fans unite behind the Socceroos”.
“I also want to thank the many thousands of fans who have come through our gates to celebrate this historic moment for Australian sport,” he said.
More than 27,000 fans packed AAMI Park across the Socceroos’ first three matches, with further crowds filling live sites in Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Traralgon and Shepparton. Federation Square reached its 7000-person capacity for all three group stage matches, with overflow fans directed to AAMI Park.
A Federation Square spokesman told the Herald Sun last week that security had been “reviewed” and “strengthened” following a number of incidents during Australia’s clash with the US.
Despite this, security officers were overwhelmed on Friday morning, forced to open the live site an hour early after fans pushed through barriers, let off flares and threw water bottles.
Meanwhile, Queensland is set to pip Melbourne to host the Socceroos’ first match on home soil after the World Cup, with Australia to face Brazil twice later this year.