Brad Turner got an email  from the Fanatics,  the business that organises travel to some of the world's most popular events as well as annual Anzac commemorations at Gallipoli and the Western Front.

The email was advertising the football World Cup. He forwarded it to two mates who also live on Sydney's northern beaches, Mick Williams and Andrew Smith, saying: 'This is us'.

Now all three dads and their three eight-year-old sons are flying out on Tuesday bound for Moscow and the World Cup.

Mr Turner said: "I was talking to Mick a couple of weeks later about something unrelated and told him my wife, Jill, had said I could go to Russia. He said 'Let me talk to Kate, I think I will be OK, too'.

"I spoke to Andy and he said he would speak to his wife Angela. I said it would be 12 nights and cost about $10,000. They both said yes. Now it has turned into 18 nights and $25,000."

Brad's wife, Jill, said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. "It's only in the last few days that I thought 'Oh my God, I'm going to miss not having them around. We have never been apart for that long.