If you want to grab the best seats at The Fraternity Club for World Cup viewing, you’re going to have to get up really early to beat Nick Porter-Renwick to them.
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To make sure he got the seats in the first row right in front of the main screen, Mr Porter-Renwick woke up before dawn on Saturday.
Well before dawn. Almost before midnight, actually.
He and partner Jeanelle English arrived at the Fraternity Club at 1.30am to grab the prized seats.
‘‘I wanted to get here at 1.15am, but I had to wait for Jeanelle to get ready,’’ Mr Porter-Renwick said.
‘‘I like to get the best seats in the house. We got here to see Mexico and Cameroon play, and then Spain and Netherlands - that was a good game - and now Australia versus Chile.
‘‘It’s a good triple header.’’
Mr Porter-Renwick said he plans to miss a lot of sleep this month to grab pole position at The Frat for all the Socceroos matches, as well as any other games involving the top teams.
Also there on Saturday morning in the 400-plus crowd at the Frat’s Casino Lounge to support the Socceroos was Sue Johnston and her family.
‘‘We came here last time as well,’’ she said.
‘‘We come because my son and husband have always been really interested in soccer. And I guess I’ve been taken along too.’’
She said she came to watch the game at The Frat because of the atmosphere and the cheering - which became deafening when a room full of Socceroo fans screamed after Tim Cahill headed home Australia’s first-half goal against Chile.
But the final score of 3-1 didn’t please those in green and gold, the Chile contingent decked out in red were very happy.
One of them was Sebastian Olguin who travelled from Horsley to be at The Frat for the 8am kick-off.
‘‘It’s good to be here with the other supporters - it’s a good atmosphere,’’ Mr Olguin said.
He admitted his loyalties were a bit torn during the game
I was born in Chile and came here when I was two - my whole family is Chilean,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s hard because I was born in Chile but I grew up in Australia. Maybe no matter what happens, it’s a win-win situation.’’
It’s definitely a winning situation for The Fraternity Club, which is set to have a very busy month as fans from all teams turn up to watch the games in any one of three rooms.
General Manager Daniel Perkiss said the club has invested $15,000 in state of the art projection screen TVs for the World Cup.
Add to that the numerous TVs spread across three rooms showing the World Cup,the national flags and jerseys adorning the walls and it’s easy to see why people come to view the games there.
‘‘We want to make a statement that we’re the home of football,’’ Mr Perkiss said.
‘‘This event is not all about the bottom line. It’s about the experience and connecting with the football community.’’