NO sporting event on the calendar captures the public imagination quite like a World Cup.
Flags are flown, songs are sung, and long-forgotten memories are suddenly resurrected.
A hot-tempered encounter between South Africa and hosts Mexico kicked things off in compelling style on Thursday – with Scotland, Spain, France, Portugal and England all due to begin their campaigns in the next five days.
Ahead of the opening week, publicans, restaurateurs and business owners have been gearing up for what they hope will be a bumper month of takings.
Bartender Diogo said The Halkett in St Helier plans to make the most of the Bailiff’s decision to allow matches kicking off at 11pm to be screened.
“We applied already for the licence,” he explained. “So we’re going to play all the kick-offs that start at 11pm, and we’re going to stay open until 2am.
“The idea is to put as many matches as we can on; of course, we’re going to aim for the England matches though, that’s the priority.”
“We are looking forward to it,” he added. “And I think it is going to be great for our business – because we are a sports bar and it is something that is going to help drive more people to walk in and see the matches.
“We are looking into getting a new projector at the back, so the idea is to have even more screens separate from the six different screens that we already have.”
As a fan, Diogo joked that he would be hedging his bets between his home team Paraguay, tournament favourites France, and perennial nearly-men Portugal.
At the nearby Forum Bar on Grenville Street, landlord Danny expressed excitement at the prospect of hosting his fifth FIFA World Cup.
“We always have a pre-game singsong with the old classics Three Lions, Vindaloo, Great Escape and many more, not forgetting ‘No Scotland no Party’”, he enthused.
“The flags are all up, with new speakers and TVs installed and ready to show all action as if you were there in the crowd.
“We welcome all supporters from all over the world; feel free to bring your flags and your noise and join the Forum family watching the biggest show on earth.”
Danny, whose dad is from Scotland, is travelling to the USA later this month to watch the Tartan Army play Brazil at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
“Ticket bought and ready to go,” he confirmed. “It will be tough, but this could be our best opportunity to progress from the group stages for the first time, so that’s the goal.”
Pubs are not the only commercial entities braced for a busy summer; Stephen at Graeme Le Maistre Sports said the shop has already noticed an uptick in World Cup-related sales.
“We’ve sold a few Columbia shirts, a few Italy ones, a few Germany shirts – Germany have a throwback to an older sort of top so we’ve sold a few of them,” he said.
“World Cup balls as well, they have sold pretty well; maybe not as much as previous years, but still an obvious difference.”
Stephen, who is from Portugal, predicted more disappointment for the Seleção das Quinas.
“I’m a bit of a pessimist,” he laughed. “If we lose, it’s like ‘I told you so’, if we win I will say, ‘fair enough, we won, but we’ll lose next time’, and it is like that all the way until the end.”
Greg, restaurant manager at Nomu on Bath Street, said he would be supporting Mexico in lieu of Poland, his home team, not qualifying.
“But in general, we are going to play Japan games, because we are a Japanese restaurant,” he said.
Japan play the Netherlands in their opener on Sunday at 9pm, and Greg said fans of the team were welcome to watch the game at Nomu.
“I’ll be open,” he confirmed. “I usually do the paperwork at 8pm, so I’ll keep the door open – and the chefs come in at 10pm, so they can watch it too.”
