Bleary-eyed West Australian football fans will not have to watch early morning FIFA World Cup games alone in their living room as the state’s pubs and bars are given the green light to vary their opening times to cater for time zone differences.

The WA government will allow venues to apply for a one-off extended trading permit to open from half an hour before to half an hour after televised Qatar world cup games while the tournament runs between November 20 and December 18.

Fans will be able to watch FIFA World Cup games at Perth pubs in the wee hours of the morning.Credit:Getty Images

The permits were welcomed by the Australian Hotels Association WA, which has called for the flexible licensing arrangements to be extended to other major international televised sporting events such as the US National Football League’s Super Bowl.

Racing and Gaming Minister Tony Buti said the permits would be available to any pub or bar in WA televising a world cup game.

“Many of the games will take place late at night and early in the morning; it could be 11pm at night or 3am in the morning, so it’s great that we’ve got this new policy of extended trading permits to allow these venues to remain open,” he said.

“People can come out with their families, with their friends and watch the game.”

AHAWA boss Bradley Woods praised the government for its flexibility and said he hoped there would be future opportunities for major international global tourism and sporting events to be televised live in pubs.

“It could be American football; it could be soccer championships played throughout Europe; it can be other events like cricket, or rugby, where there is a strong following and a local base of Western Australia, but we just don’t have venues open, and they watch replays,” he said.

“There’s a big following of a lot of international sports and these are real opportunities that publicans and licensees want to get behind to make customers feel welcome at whatever times the shows are being broadcast.

“We’re not asking for 24-hour trade, what we’re asking for is the ability to be flexible to meet consumer demands and particularly major international sporting events.”

Despite the permits, pubs will be required to close at their normal times and reopen ahead of the televised matches.

For example, a pub that intended to televise a game at 3am on Wednesday morning but normally closes at 11pm on a Tuesday night would have to close for 3½ hours before the game.

Shoe Bar publican Paul Higgins said the permits would be well received by pub owners and punters and was not concerned about the timings of closures.

“[Punters are] coming for the game, so I don’t see that as a problem,” he said.

“They know what time the game is, they’ll come in just before the game starts, half an hour before the game starts.”

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