Not sure what the general thought is around here, but I see no issue with taking a single day off school for a rare opportunity to spend quality time with your family watching your national team in a world cup match, if they generally have high attendance.
Some teachers probably appreciate lower counts as they are still hungover from the night before too.
Schools are going nuts at the moment about attendance due to central govt targets. Look at the craziness with schools shutting at 1pm during the heatwave so they could claim attendance figures - while sending children to walk home at the hottest part of the day.
Who decides what “quality time” is, though? Seems unfair if watching a football match is ok but a child taking a day off to do something equally valid with their family (a different sporting event in which they the child was participating) gets penalised. (This does happen.)
It would be fairer to give all children something like a handful of days they may use (pehaps 5 a year?) they can use for family-related, sporting, cultural and religious activities. Events like the World Cup can be flagged up in advance and parents and their children can choose whether or not to use their allocation.
