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It’s been four decades since the then prime minister Bob Hawke appeared on morning television in a patriotic white blazer after Australia’s historic victory in the America’s Cup and declared: “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum.” The quote – instantly etched into the nation’s lexicon – has returned this week with a rare alignment of stars.

Friday’s match marks the first time a Socceroos World Cup game is being played entirely in Australia’s traditional working hours – and if they aren’t dropped entirely, tools will at least come to a standstill.

It’s being described by the Socceroos fan group Active Support, in a viral social media post featuring a picture of Hawke, as the “Great Australian Socceroos Sickie”.

Instead of waking at an ungodly graveyard hour, fans are being graced with a noon AEST kick-off, perfectly primed for a lunch break that evolves smoothly into the weekend. And the stakes are high. A win or draw will send Australia through the group stage for the second consecutive time – even a defeat may be enough, depending on other results.

The Socceroos assistant coach Paul Okon has called for the prime minister to give everyone a day off, with pubs and live sites across the nation expecting thousands of people to flock to their screens.

Some workplaces, including Coles and Allianz, are playing the game for staff to prevent an exodus.

CommBank, the naming rights partner of the Socceroos, would not confirm if it would show the match in offices but its executive of marketing and corporate affairs, Monique Macleod, says: “I’m sure our people will be following the match with great interest.”

Liam Parslow is an organiser for Socceroos Active Support, and just got back from two weeks at the World Cup, where he found himself in a Vancouver pub now famous for being nearly drunk dry by Australians.

After a stint of leave, he’ll be watching the game on the TV at work – but expects it’ll be an “early Friday knockoff”, and hopes employees around the country will “bring the green and gold” to the workplace and decorate their desks.

“I think the pubs will be full in the afternoon and into Saturday,” he says. “The thing about football is that it extends beyond many cultures and backgrounds.

“And it’s something that the lads do see. Last World Cup they saw Federation Square, all the action down there. If they know the nation’s taking the afternoon off or the day off with a sickie, it just spurs them on.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by the Socceroos defender Jason Geria, who told reporters this week a kick-off time “doesn’t get much better” than noon on a Friday, adding teachers could just “chuck it on the iPad”.

All the comments speak to a very Australian problem: with matches being played across North American time zones, three-quarters of the tournament airs between 6am and 4.30pm AEST.

The chair of the Football Supporters Association Australia, Patrick Clancy, says Friday marks an “extremely unusual and historic moment”.

“Everyone I’ve been talking to this week in all walks of life has said they’re finding ways to watch the game,” he says. “And there seems to be an approach from employers to find ways to allow people to watch it.”

Adam Wallis is the director of Artdeshine Pty Ltd in inner Melbourne. He’s planning to have the game on an 85-inch TV in the office on full volume – “so all the adjacent businesses in our little commercial zone will hear”.

He’d “like to think” it’ll bring more employees into the office, but is just proud of how the World Cup has brought “so many people together”.

The manager of the Imperial Hotel in Melbourne, Christopher McInnes, says more than 600 people attended the venue for the Socceroos’ first group game, and he’s expecting hundreds more on Friday.

The pub is on the corner of Bourke and Spring streets, making it the perfect spot for “corporates [to] pop out of their jobs early”.

“We’re expecting a really, really big crowd,” he says. “I’ll be very surprised if I don’t see a few people in suits with their laptops out trying to pretend they’re getting their work done for the afternoon.”

Others have planned ahead. In online forums, football fans brag at having booked time off months ago, with one supporter telling Reddit: “I’ll be on the brekky beers I reckon.”

Bazz Wilders is among them. He’s saved up his leave as a landscape gardener and taken four weeks off during every World Cup since Australia’s historic qualification in 2006, with the aim of watching as many games as possible.

He’ll be watching the Socceroos with his wife at home this Friday, as in Perth “none of our locals are open at 10am”.

“The 12am and 1am kick-offs are a bit of a struggle,” he says. “I’m usually in bed by 6.30pm to get a bit of shut-eye before first kick-off.”