Another public holiday? The way Australia’s World Cup campaign is going, businesses shouldn’t rule it out

The Socceroos secured a historic World Cup victory over Denmark in the early hours of Thursday morning, causing a slow start to the working day for some of Australia’s most dedicated football fans.

But bleary eyes and the odd hangover aren’t the only headaches facing Australian business owners, as the unlikely success of the national men’s team has sparked calls for a new public holiday.

The Socceroos defeated Denmark 1-0 in Qatar overnight, securing the team’s place in the World Cup knockout rounds for only the second time in history.

The largely unheralded squad, which only scraped into the tournament after a dramatic penalty shootout against Peru, will now face football superpower Argentina in the Round of 16 on Sunday morning.

Australia’s success has led to calls for a celebratory public holiday from coach Graham Arnold, who suggested he’d file a special request to Canberra.

“Do I need to ask [Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese again to give the people a day off to celebrate?” Arnold asked journalists after the match, Sky News reports.

The Socceroos’ Aziz Behich echoed the suggestion, SBS reports, with the left-back saying a public holiday on Sunday would allow more fans to watch Australia challenge the South American giants.

Even the team’s official Twitter account called on Albanese to consider the request.

Thank you @AlboMP!

Public holiday?? 😉 https://t.co/00NY8nJ57h

— Subway Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 30, 2022

Public holiday buzz now extends to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, with ABC News Breakfast today urging the nation’s chief law officer to put the case to Albanese himself.

“I will, I will,” Dreyfus said. “But maybe we’ll wait until after we see what happens with Argentina. But it’s just a great thing to wake up to!”

There's hope for a public holiday yet!

Attorney-General @MarkDreyfusKCMP has seen the signs calling for a public holiday to celebrate the @Socceroos, and says he'll bring the idea up with @AlboMP… pic.twitter.com/Ypj5xBQr7E

— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) November 30, 2022

Australia doesn’t need to look far into the past to find the last time a Prime Minister called an unexpected day off, albeit in vastly different circumstances.

Albanese declared September 22 as a national day of mourning to recognise the death of Queen Elizabeth II, giving Australians and their employers less than two weeks to plan for the occasion.

And while a bonus public holiday is highly unlikely, other World Cup competitors have used victory against Argentina as an excuse for celebration: after orchestrating a shock 2-1 win over Argentina in the Group Stage last Tuesday, Saudi Arabia did actually declare a public holiday.

For the Socceroos, toppling an Argentinian team captained by Lionel Messi, the greatest player of his generation and arguably the best of all time, would be a sporting triumph on the scale of Australia’s 1983 America’s Cup victory.

In that instance, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously declared, “any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum”.

The stage is now set for the Socceroos to write themselves into World Cup history — and Albanese has an outside chance to one-up his Labor forebear by declaring a celebratory day off.