SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (The Straits Times/ANN): With just a week to the World Cup’s kick-off, Singapore fans have been given many free viewing options, including over 70 locations at community clubs, ActiveSG Sports Centres and Safra clubhouses.
Football’s most prestigious tournament, which will be held in Qatar in 2022, will kick off next Sunday with the hosts meeting Ecuador at 11.55pm.
This match will be shown at 24 community clubs, said the People’s Association on Sunday, when it unveiled a list of public screening venues along with Sport Singapore and the National Library Board.
There will also be live screening at five ActiveSG Sports Centres (Hougang, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Toa Payoh, Woodlands) and the Sports Hub, while the National Library Building will show matches the third-placed play-off on Dec 17 and the final on Dec 18.
Fans are urged to check the schedule at these places before heading down as not all matches will be shown at all venues. Each location will have its own screening schedule.
For most of the first fortnight, there will be four matches kicking off every day at 6pm, 9pm, 11.55pm and 3am. The final will be on Dec 18.
Earlier, Safra had said on its website that fans can watch matches for free at its six clubhouses, while Changi Airport will also be having free screenings at ST3PS at Terminal 3 basement 2, which usually holds daily movie screenings and live weekend performances. The space has a seating capacity of 200 with additional standing space for 100 people.
The buzz is also set to extend to bars and restaurants, which will also be decorated with national team jerseys and flags to suit the occasion, with some F&B outlets are hiring more staff to cope during this busy period.
Brewerkz, which had stopped showing live sports at its restaurants, will be screening the earlier games every day as well as the third-place play-off and final (both at 11pm) after receiving requests for screenings, said executive director Tan Wee Tuck.
Cafe Football, which has outlets in Woodleigh and Jurong, will employ around 50 per cent more manpower with an expected 50 to 70 per cent increase in footfall, said co-owner Simon Tan.
He noted that both venues, which have a total capacity of 330, are usually full during weekly screenings of English Premier League matches and they should be able to cope during the World Cup, which will see 64 matches played in 29 days.
Restaurant and bar chain Harry’s will screen matches at all 19 outlets, about half of which will extend operating hours to accommodate the midnight games.
Its head of marketing Hannah Teo added that outlets with a quieter lunch crowd will also open later because of limited manpower.
The Bar Station at Tanjong Katong, which usually screens Liverpool’s matches for fan club events, is also hiring more part-timers and extending its opening hours to 2am.
Owner Jasmine Ong is excited to see fans come together to enjoy the sport.
She said: “It’s a fantastic atmosphere and it’s really fun... It will be nice to see fans in different jerseys come together to watch and enjoy the match together.”
While most operators were concerned about the increased costs and price of screening the matches, they were confident the crowd numbers would make up for the additional operating costs.
Tan paid around $28,000 for the World Cup to be screened at Woodleigh (10 screens) and Jurong (seven screens), while Ong forked out about $3,000 for one screen.
Both remarked that the price had increased from the 2018 World Cup.
Tan, 44, said: “The World Cup happens once every four years and together with the reopening of the country after Covid-19, people are gearing up to come and soak in the atmosphere.
“We don’t take things for granted that people will come here to watch, but... football is a big thing here, so I’m pretty confident we will gather the footfall needed.”
Ong added: “We are a sports bar, we also show rugby, cricket and so on. We’ve had already had people asking if we would show the World Cup, so naturally we would sign up for it.
“It’s more about providing the service for people so they can enjoy it.” - The Straits Times/ANN
