The 2026 FIFA World Cup is nearly upon us, and football fans across Australia are currently facing a collective scheduling crisis. With the tournament hosted across North America, the local time zones mean that the vast majority of live matches are going to broadcast smack-bang in the middle of the Australian working day.
For those of us who prefer not to have our football viewing interrupted by spreadsheet deadlines, this poses a distinct logistical challenge. Thankfully, SBS has anticipated our collective panic and stepped in with an aggressively practical solution: a fake union designed to help you watch television at work.
Enter the World Cup Watchers’ Rights Association (WRA).
Nick Mohammed Leads the Corporate Resistance
To give this cheeky initiative some actual weight, SBS has appointed British actor and comedian Nick Mohammed (of Ted Lasso and Slow Horses fame) as the Honorary Executive Chair of the WRA.
Mohammed is joined by a line-up of Australian talent acting as official ambassadors, including comedians Matt Okine, Mel Buttle, and John Cruckshank, alongside former Matildas’ goalkeeper Lydia Williams.
The goal of this star-studded committee? To advocate for your fundamental right to do absolutely no work between June 12 and July 20.
“Over the coming weeks, millions of Australians will be asked to do the unthinkable: work during the 2026 World Cup,” Mohammed noted. “I cannot legally tell you to watch football during work hours. My job is simply to look you in the eye and say: We see you. We see the last-minute ‘meetings’, the long bathroom breaks, the light from a phone under a desk. You are not alone.”
The Extravagant Lengths of Football Fans
If you think hiding a live stream behind a PowerPoint presentation is a niche tactic, the data says otherwise. Recent research commissioned by the WRA reveals that three in four Australians plan to tune into the tournament this June, and they are willing to employ some remarkably stealthy tactics to do so.
According to a survey of over 1,000 Australian adults:
- 38% have watched sport while actively on a work call.
- 33% have booked a fake meeting room specifically to watch a match.
- 20% have muted their own microphones to focus entirely on the game.
- 10% have literally hidden under their desks to watch secretly.
The desperation is real, but the WRA argues that it does not have to be this way.
Can We Get the Bosses on Board?
According to the data, 71% of Australian workers believe employers should simply let them watch the tournament during office hours. Surprisingly, more than half of Australian bosses (53%) actually agree, stating they intend to make arrangements for staff to keep an eye on the scores.
The WRA’s mission now is to convert the remaining, less-lenient 47% of management.
As Uma Oldham, SBS Acting Director of Marketing and Audiences, points out, more than 65% of the live matches will kick off during someone’s shift. Fighting the football madness is futile. Instead, SBS is urging workplaces to embrace the tournament, offering round-the-clock replays, highlights, and mini-matches via SBS On Demand so no one misses out.
After all, as Oldham says, “Life’s too short to miss a tournament that only happens every four years.”
If you want to legalise your daylight football viewing, you can officially join the movement HERE
