Tonight, thousands of Australians are planning to stay out until 3:00am for the Rugby World Cup Final.
Others are planning a most sensible approach: maybe a glass of wine or two in front of Netflix, some Thai delivery courtesy of our good friends at Delivery Hero*, before turning in around 10:30ish and setting their alarm for a 2:45am wake up.
Yeah it’s at 3:00am on Sunday morning, the most abhorrent timeslot possible for live sport. However, if you care about sport – and being part of something special – then you better make sure you watch this.
I’m not talking about recording it and watching it in the morning, having successfully avoided all forms of text messaging and social media in fear of learning the result. I’m talking about LIVE sport. Live, as in you watch it while it is happening, over on the other side of the world, completely out of your control.
Personally, I embrace the 3:00am timeslot. I look forward to waking up disoriented and scared, grappling for the light switch, fumbling around on the couch for the remote, only to be taken aback by the sheer volume of the TV once it turns on. I also like the fact that this is happening really far away. Sure, this isn’t a 1997 Socceroos v Iran qualifier in Tehran (fuck, that was scary), but a World Rugby (formerly IRB) final at arguably the home of rugby, Twickenham. It’s pure and good.
So assuming I don’t have a bender tonight, I’ll wake up at 2:45am, turn the kettle on and watch the Wallabies in my shitty pyjamas, alone. It’s not my preferred way of watching sport – I’d much rather have a beer in my hand and be craning my neck up to a massive flatscreen in a densely populated sports bar, wearing comfortable clothes, perhaps a dress shirt and nice jeans, to give me the option of kicking on afterwards, surrounded by hundreds of similarly minded desperates.
But these are our only two option, Australia. Our only options. A) Massive circuit and watching the game hammered, or B) bleary-eyed half-asleep couch-bound viewing. It’s too late to get on a plane. So whether you’re hell-bent on getting fucked up tonight and carrying through until 3:00am, or taking the mature option of an early night, it doesn’t matter.
Just make sure you are part of this.
By Dave Edwards
* Delivery Hero approached this website some years looking for a commercial partnership (i.e. we write favourably about them in an article in exchange for some kind of discount. We never followed up. To be honest, wouldn’t say no if they came back to us).