Posted by Mark

As we contemplate the prospect of spending the next six months testing hammocks, sipping champagne and critiquing luxury hotels, Mark is faced with the million dollar question…

Is it acceptable to watch the FIFA World Cup on your honeymoon?

Planning your wedding is an exhausting, exhilarating and amazing experience.  As a couple you will enjoy highs, lows and set-backs culminating in the best day of your lives.

At the same time, for any sports fan, particularly any football fan, every four years an event of similar drama, excitement and romance takes place. If you are fortunate enough to be getting married in the next few weeks and your honeymoon falls in the period of June 11th to July 11th then there is a strong chance that FIFA World Cup matches will be taking place during your dream honeymoon.

Unless handled in a delicate manner this challenge alone could cause arguments, wedding cancellations, ruined honeymoons, divorce or even death (well, maybe not death but we guess your new wife could quickly abstain from normal honeymoon and newlywed activities!)

Mark works in the sports industry and has tried and failed to use the ‘I need to watch this football for work’ excuse many times but as a passionate football fan and Manchester United supporter he was successful in incorporating football into our own honeymoon, so learn from the Master.

Here are some potential tactics to breach the World Cup issue with your lovely wife-to-be:

1.  Grab the nettle – Face up to the issue, be brave, talk to your wife before the trip, negotiate being able to watch from the knock-out stages onwards and promise to only watch the important games. A bribe or promise of a treat on the trip may ease discussions.

2.  On the sly – Sunbathe near the bar, ask the waiter for score updates, regular bathroom trips. Proceed with caution, getting caught watching a game behind wifey’s back could have scary consequences.

3.  ‘Stumble’ across a pub showing the game – Perfect Planning Prevents Poor Performance – know your team’s schedule, accidentally arrange drinks in a pub that you know will be showing the game.

4.  The shopping trip – Either ask your bride for some alone time while you go and find her the perfect honeymoon gift and combine shopping with watching a match. Alternatively give your bride a big shopping budget and send her off while you ‘rest’ at the hotel.

5.  Go where the action is – If you are feeling brave, consider a honeymoon in South Africa. The whole country will be wrapped up in WC fever and the matches and atmosphere will be unavoidable.

6.  Concede defeat – Let your wife know that the WC is on and that to demonstrate your commitment to your marriage you are choosing not to watch the matches. This will either will a sympathy vote where she let’s you watch the big games or will win you a pile of brownie points to be cashed in at different points through your married life – for example – ‘I didn’t watch England win the World Cup on our honeymoon, I made that sacrifice for our love, so I should be able to choose the name of our first child and I would like to call him Wayne (as in Wayne Rooney)’.

To all soon to be married football fans out there, good luck…and don’t give up!