Australia Football demands reversal of Melbourne World Cup watch party ban

Football Australia has criticised the decision to stop public screenings of the 2026 World Cup at Melbourne’s Federation Square, urging authorities to reverse the restriction.

The governing body said it was “extremely disappointed” with the move by the Melbourne Arts Precinct, which cited concerns over previous “dangerous” fan behaviour at the venue.

Football Australia chief executive Martin Kugeler defended the importance of public viewing sites, stressing their cultural value during major tournaments.

“The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and unites Australia’s multicultural communities, while reinforcing our national identity. Live sites create iconic moments for Australian sports fans”, he said.

Kugeler also argued that the decision undermines Melbourne’s sporting reputation, saying:

Melbourne is one of Australia’s sporting and multicultural capitals, and this decision goes against this tradition.”

However, the Melbourne Arts Precinct defended its stance, with chief executive Katrina Sedgwick pointing to repeated safety concerns linked to a minority of supporters.

“This issue is really with a very small group of fans who, unfortunately, behave in a way that is just antisocial and frankly, dangerous,” she told ABC.

She explained that crowd safety had become difficult to manage during past screenings. “The challenge is when you have a crowded square with lots and lots of people and people are smuggling in flares,” she said.
Sedgwick added that injuries had already occurred in previous events, noting: “Some people were injured by flares in previous World Cup screenings.”

She also described the scale of disruption at a past match night: “I think on the final night of the last Socceroos game we screened, we counted over 100 flares and fireworks that had been let off in the square.”

The Socceroos will open their World Cup campaign against Turkey in Vancouver on June 13, before facing the United States in Seattle and Paraguay in California.