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| June 09, 2006 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 12, 1427 |
World Cup fever grips football-mad Asia
HONG KONG, June 8: Bookmakers, bars and restaurants across football-mad Asia are preparing for a bonanza month as hundreds of millions of fans count down the hours to the World Cup kick-off on Friday.
From Dhaka to Seoul giant screens were erected in public squares, bars decked out with flags of the 32 competing nations, and TV stations predicted accumulated viewer numbers of well over 10 billion during the month-long event.
In South Korea and Japan, who co-hosted the last World Cup, football fever was not as all-pervasive as it was four years ago but with both teams qualifying for Germany, supporters are hoping they can repeat their success.
Japan reached the last 16 in 2002 and South Korea stunned everyone by making the semi-finals.
Hundreds of thousands of South Korean fans will take to the streets of downtown Seoul and other cities, with three big-screen TV locations in the capital the focal point of soccer nationalism.
In line with the team's colours, ordinary citizens are wearing red shirts or carrying red scarves in a show of support.
In Japan, advertising agency Dentsu estimates the World Cup will generate sales of food and beverages worth 367 million dollars, ranging from beer at bars to orders of pizza and new TVs to watch games at home.
“Our total sales (of TVs and other goods) doubled last weekend compared with the same time last year,” said Hidenori Tsutsumi, a spokesman at one of Japan's largest electronics retailers, Bic Camera.
In Australia, where the Socceroos have made the finals for the first time in 32 years, the Australian Hotels' Association said interest in the tournament was at record levels.
“There's always huge interest here because there's so many people from so many different backgrounds living in the country,” the association's national affairs director Bill Healey said.
“But this time, Australia's actually at the party for the first time in a generation and everyone has gone football crazy,” he said.
Bars in some states have been given permission to open late because the time difference with Germany means many matches will be played in the early hours.
Bar owners in Thailand's capital Bangkok have no such permission, but many plan to defy local laws that require them to close at 2 am.
Many companies in Asia fear bleary-eyed workers will slack off -- or not turn up at all -- after staying up every night for a month.
In Hong Kong some firms are allowing flexible working hours for employees during the tournament, with one shop permitting staff to start work an hour and a half later than normal, local press reported.
Stock markets could witness a dip in action too.
“Trading will very likely slow down during the World Cup because investors are too busy watching the games,” Sukhbir Khanijoh, a senior market analyst at Trinity Securities in Bangkok, said ahead of the tournament.
There will, however, be plenty of trading, much of it illegal, at bookies across the region.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be wagered on everything from who will win to who scores the first goal and how many yellow cards there will be in a game.
In Malaysia, police are working undercover with their counterparts in Hong Kong and Singapore to nab illegal bookies, while Bangkok police have set up 100 special units to smash gambling rackets.
Polls project that 3.7 million Thais will bet on World Cup matches, gambling some 368 million dollars.
Authorities in India, soccer-obsessed Vietnam and Cambodia are also on their toes, forecasting a boom in illegal betting rackets.
In Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country with few bars, many will watch the action at roadside ‘mamak’ food stalls which have set up large projectors for the tournament.
Customers watch matches as they eat and drink with friends, turning popular nightlife districts into impromptu street parties.
“All mamak stalls will put up a screen ... Fans will be shouting or scolding ... That's the best place to go if you want to see the fun,” said Goh Ah Chai, general secretary of the Football Association of Kuala Lumpur.
In China alone, state broadcaster CCTV estimates accumulating viewing figures of 10 billion for the tournament.—AFP
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