Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested that Aussies could get the day off if the Matildas win the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Speaking to The Daily Aus, the PM was asked whether he would give the country a free pass to celebrate. He replied:
“It’s up to each state and territory to designate public holidays. But rest assured – should the Matildas win the World Cup on home soil, I reckon there will be a race by Premiers to declare a public holiday.”
The football tournament, hosted for the first time as a joint venture between Australia and New Zealand, is set to kick off in a month’s time.
Publishing the news to Instagram, the Matildas’ official page commented “bet” on the post.
The games will run for a month, finishing up with the final match on 20 August. Given that day is a Sunday and already a day most won’t be working, it’s expected that, should the Matildas win, Monday, 21 August could be a bank holiday.
Albanese declined to give the country the day off when the Socceroos made it through to the knockout stage in the men’s World Cup in December, the best the country has ever done. However, he did say that if the Socceroos won, he would consider it.
Too late to call a national holiday after the @Socceroos huge win against Denmark last night. But if we win the #FIFAWorldCup… that might be a different story.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 1, 2022
Although state and territory leaders are the ones in charge of public holidays, the federal government can intervene to ask them to provide one. The speed at which something like this can be arranged was seen last year when Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
The Matildas, captained by Chelsea forward Sam Kerr, and packed with world-class athletes like Ellie Carpenter and Caitlin Foord, have a much better shot at the title than the men did.
90Mins rates them as fifth in line in their predictions for World Cup winners while FoxSport ranks them as sixth. Tab gives them odds of 11 to take the title.
Still, an outside chance is much better positioning than the boys, although it will be a tough uphill battle against two-time consecutive champions, USA, and powerhouses England and Germany.
Let’s hope home game advantage pulls the girls through for the win. Remember, the louder you cheer, the greater the chances that we won’t have to work on 21 August.
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