Albury's QEII Square confirmed as live site for Matildas' World Cup semi-final

Albury Council announced the news on Tuesday, August 15, in response to a public social media call for a large gathering for the game after the Matildas' thrilling quarter final victory on Saturday, August 12,

The event will start at 7.30pm, ahead of the 8pm kick-off.

Albury mayor Kylie King said the event would cost about $10,000 to run with hiring fees for the screen, portable toilets and security.

"Councillors were quite united in encouraging our events team to see what could be done, and they were so proactive," she said.

"All of that had to be factored in and they were able to get confirmation this morning that the licence is secured and we're good to go.

"A mighty effort from the team here to respond to community requests and to just be so agile and nimble to be able to put it together. Every councillor is just so proud of our team to be able to get this up and running."

The council noted it will be alcohol-free family event, with dogs prohibited.

Food and drinks will not be available for purchase.

Cr King said it was now over to the people to turn out in numbers.

"We followed up the united request and I'd love our community to all get together and cheer the Matildas on. I know we'll need to rug up because it is still pretty chilly, but if everyone brings their rugs, their gloves, their chairs and their loudest voice, we can all get them over the line in unison," she said.

"We're all Aussie, it doesn't matter which side of the river we're on, let's all get together.

"We've all just needed a bit of joy in our lives. We've had so many debates, whether it's about the Voice or it's about cost of living and power prices and interest rates and all the rest. I think it's such a lovely thing to be getting us feeling uplifted about."

Cr King said the council had everything on standby to do it all again on Sunday, August 20, should the Matildas progress to the final.

"Part of it will be determined on the numbers. Obviously, if there's not a lot of people that turn up then you'd have to justify the investment, but if people do turn up, it'll be fine." she said.

"It'd be a nice problem to have. We just have to obviously restructure some budgeting things to compensate, but our team will be good at doing that I'm sure."

Wodonga Council all but ruled out a screening of the game Monday, August 14, due to a broadcast licensing restriction.

Mayor Ron Mildren said the council was warned after screening the Socceroos' round of 16 match against Argentina in December 2022 at The Cube because it hadn't sought a licence from the broadcaster.

However, Wodonga Council told The Border Mail on Tuesday that the screen at The Cube has been out of order for a period of time due to technical issues.

Racing Wodonga has also applied for a licence to broadcast the semi-final at Wodonga Racecourse.

Wodonga councillor Graeme Simpfendorfer congratulated Albury Council for putting the event together on its Facebook event post.

"Awesome! No excuses, no 'spin' just getting it happening for our communities, well done!," his comment read.

Meanwhile, Wangaratta Council will open up Riverside Square for the occasion, with a portable screen to be set up for the clash.

Mayor Dean Rees urged spectators to support nearby restaurants in the precinct and find a spot before kick-off at 8pm.

He confirmed the event cost less than $1000 to pull together.

"The Rural City of Wangaratta is fully supportive of all our sporting cultures, especially for women in sport. I think this will be a great thing if we can get a heap of people up there with a big screen up," he said.

"There's bars next door and drinks and all those bits and pieces around, so hopefully we can have a good social time up there and cheer on a win.

"It'll be spectacular. We have hired the big screen which is about six metres by four metres and it'll certainly show off the soccer really, really well down there.

"Hopefully we'll get a few 100 people up there to watch it.

"We haven't invited food vendors to come along with with vans or anything because it's a bit of a promo for the area down there with the existing restaurants.

Cr Rees said the council didn't have any issues surrounding licensing.

"If it was on Austar or Foxtel, you would to pay your licence fee for it, but it's a free-to-air game," he said.

"You're either watching at home free, or you're watching it somewhere else free aren't you?

"Wangaratta is always first for major sporting events, and this is a major sporting event. We had the junior world cycling championships in Glenrowan on the weekend, and obviously the short course swimming championships that were on with over 1000 people at our aquatic centre on the weekend, because we're the king of sporting events.

"I hope it's a successful one and the Matildas are in the final, which would be an amazing event. I'm not sure about a public holiday, but certainly it's a great thing to have them there."

Cr Rees said the council wouldn't rule out showing the final at the same site on Sunday, should the Matildas win the semi-final.

"We'll see how this one goes, but there'd be no reason why we wouldn't and have a big final up there. The more people, the more atmosphere there is," he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a partly cloudy Wednesday for Albury, with a top temperature of 16 degrees, while a high of 15 degrees is tipped for Wangaratta.

By the time the game starts, it should be around seven degrees.

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