{"id":5632,"date":"2026-05-06T05:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5632\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:40:13","slug":"world-cup-socceroos-news-no-live-sites-at-federation-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5632\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Socceroos news: No live sites at Federation Square"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football Supporters Association Australia chair Patrick Clancy says the decision to not host a World Cup live site at Federation Square risks Melbourne being seen as a \u201csecond rate sports capital\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Herald Sun reported on Wednesday that \u201cwill not show any Socceroos matches on the big screen during next month\u2019s World Cup, citing previous issues with unruly supporters\u201d.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite hosting some of the most memorable sporting moments in Australia\u2019s World Cup history, dating back to 2006, and also including the Matildas\u2019 2023 World Cup campaign on home soil, it has been decided that a small number of fans\u2019 unruly behaviour in the past involving flares, which saw the fire brigade called during the Socceroos\u2019 2022 Round of 16 clash with Argentina in 2022, made it\u00a0untenable to host a live site screening of games again. <\/p>\n

The Herald Sun quoted Melbourne Arts Precinct chief executive Katrina Sedgwick describing that behaviour as \u201csimply unacceptable and damaging to Fed Square\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Clips of Australia\u2019s football fandom in the middle of the night at Fed Square went viral across the planet during the 2022 World Cup, and at the time, was described as proof of the deep football culture and passion that the World Cup unearths every four years in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clancy\u2019s statement in response, in full, called out that this decision robs the opportunity for this showcase of passion for Australia\u2019s football fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is Australia\u2019s most popular team sport by participation with its roots through every region and culture of the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery four years, the World Cup demonstrates the popularity of the world game with tens of thousands packing out live sites around Australia for every Socceroos game, despite games often being in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pictures and videos of Fed Square during World Cup 2022 went vital around the world. We want to see this repeated!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe most recently saw this again with the Matildas games during the Women\u2019s World Cup in 2023. The atmosphere at live sites including Federation Square was extraordinary and the support passionate. It is something you simply don\u2019t see with other sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederation Square is, by far and away, the best place for a World Cup live site in Melbourne. All efforts must be made by the State Government, the City of Melbourne and Fed Square management to make it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout Fed Square being a live site, Melbourne will be at risk of being seen as a second rate sports capital.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football Supporters Association Australia chair Patrick Clancy says the decision to not host a World Cup live site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6964,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-5632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-federation-square","9":"tag-melbourne"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}