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By Will 4 years ago, mid-August Add your comment below
The Barmy Army have been called many things – delightful, charming and eloquent aren’t often among them. When England were in the doldrums in the early 1990s, the Barmies’ antics on tour were considered irritatable, pointless and loutish by many. That soon changed, though, through clever marketing and a general appreciation from the public and media. England were losing Test matches with an ease not seen for decades, yet here were hundreds of fans cheering them on.
They were quite influential during last summer’s Ashes, too. Or, if they weren’t there en masse in England, their cheerleaders were and gradually helped spread Ashes fever among the “normal” crowd through the series. They’ve had quite an impact I’d say. What, then, do you make of this?
The MCG, which has been renovated since England played there four years ago, will be bursting with 100,000 supporters for the first two days of the Boxing Day Test. And there are plans to take on the Barmy Army, too. The Australian version of the Barmies – the Fanatics – will have a battle bus at every match and singer/songwriter Greg Champion – Australia’s answer to Chas & Dave – will perform during lunch and tea breaks. But the Barmies are old hands at Aussie-baiting. They are busy adapting Tony Christie’s Amarillo for Shane Warne. He will not like the results.
Never heard of the Fanatics myself. Scott? Any other Aussies reading? Can’t wait for “Show me the way to Amarillo.” Suggestions for Shane Warneing it below, please.
Tags: ashes, australia, barmies, barmy-army, crowd, england, fanatics, support, the-ashes |
Aye, we got some of them on the ITV News Channel last year up against the Barmy Army. Usually on a bleary Sunday morning in between tests. Seemed an amicable enough bunch and certainly nothing happened to indicate anything more than a friendly rivalry.
Mind you, it was, as I said, usually a bleary Sunday morning.
The Fanatics, if memory serves me, started as a reasonably small group which supported the Aus Davis Cup team locally, but now follows the team wherever it plays. Harmless enough, and not a bad counterbalance to some of the more shall we say exuberant supporters found in many countries. Can’t say, however, that I look forward to their presence at the cricket. As mildly entertaining as the Barmy Army may have been (some of the songs were funny the first 30 times I heard them)their monotonous chanting does get tiresome as the afternoon wears on. I am not sure that uber nationalistic baiting, filled with all of the old cliches, is going to do anything to improve the atmosphere in the grounds or, more to the point, my enjoyment of the cricket. There ends my grump for the day.
The Fanatics are probably destined for the same short-lived lame existence as the NZ attempt, “the Mad Caps” (anyone remember them? Thought not).
There is something uniquely English about the Barmy army, the cheerfulness in defeat, epitomised by the adoption of the Life of Brian anthem, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. Also the Barmy Army grew organically, out of the shared love of cricket of a few fanatics in the 1990s who enjoyed the game for the game itself. (That seems something uniquely cricket: how many Manchester United fans would travel halfway round the world on a budget in the hope of seeing their team scrape a draw?) It was not some contrived promotion, though attempts since its inception have tried to make it such.
Christopher Martin-Jenkins, in an article around the turn of the Millenium, found the Barmy Army to be extraordinarily knowledgeable about the game, and called them true fans. Bob Willis said something derogatory about them, and had to live for years afterwards with the chant “Boring Bob, Boring Bob, Boring Bobbie Willis” – nicely satirising his anodyne commentary and endless whinging.
My favourite B/A song (to the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat): “Throw throw throw your ball, gently through the air
Murali Murali Murali Murali where is Darrell Hair”
Favourites
“I saw a Strauss, (where?) there on the square, there on the square, right there.
“A little Strauss with pads, (where?) there on the square, right there”
The Matty Hoggard song is always good for a laugh… all together now “Sarwan, Hines and Chanderpaul!!” Have to wait for ‘Gareth Southgate’ to take the lead on that one.
“Geraint Jones is English, he really, really is…”
…and so on.
Then when you mix in the ‘no ball’ chants when Brett Lee is bowling, ‘Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go’ when Justin Langer is in the vicinity, and the ‘Bet you wish you were English’ to Shane Warne, and I think you’ll agree that we’re pretty well tooled up for whatever the ‘Fanatics’ can come up with!
The Fanatics were a presence at the Ashes games last year — Michael Slater was always pointing them out from the Channel 4 commentary box.
So, Reverse Swing, what’s the tune for that Strauss ditty? Cracks me up. What do they mean?
Yeh – the Fanatics started in the Tennis community when the Davis Cup team travelled to traditionally hostile venues for big games. They all wear bright yellow and sit in groups to be spotted by the players and media.
I can’t see them having the same impact when the team is playing at home.
I also don’t think they will be any match for the wit, quality and quantity of the Barmy Army, the original and the best (if not, most annoying) 
Saw the Barmy Army up close at the Basin Reserve in Wellington 10 years or more ago. They were by far the most entertaining part of the crowd, so I went over to have a closer look. Not too close though, because (and I have no wish to perpetuate cliches about English people not washing, and it was a warm day) man, they stank! I was about 20 yards downwind and they nearly knocked me over!
My first encounter with the barmy armay was at the MCG prolly 8 years ago. It was day five, the gates where open, and dad thought he would take me to see my first ever live Ashes day. But the silly goose choose seats in about bay 12. and the Barmy Army where in Bays 13+14! It made for an interesting day for the little 8 year old i was then!
The series was over as Australia had won the forst three tests, and continuing on the Dead Rubber curse, managed to loose the fourth one at about 7:30 on day five. Then i got too see about 100 poms get arressted for running on the ground! 
Kathy – the tune for the Strauss song is the ‘Mouse from Amsterdam’ (didn’t you ever listen to Junior Choice??!!)
There are still quite a few commentators (notably Jonathan Agnew) who who are very irritated by how popular the Barmy Army are with the players. What they (we!?) have effectively done is to negate much of the home advantage that England face when they go abroad. It might not have counted for much back in the mid-90’s when we were rubbish, but out in Australia this winter it could really make a difference.
I often think that the psycological impact of the Barmies has been under-estimated. Having been part of the pack in the WI and in SA, it is quite apparent that the normal hostility of an away game is at least partially negated by a big and vocal part of the ground that is there to support the team – no matter how well (or badly) they perform.
The England team obviously loves the incremental pressure put on the oppo by the gags (no doubt they hear them all in the middle), and enjoy being able to share their success with anywhere from 100 to 10,000 of their best mates…
The fanatics started off at the tennis but nowdays they are much bigger than that, for example they were Soccer Australia’s official travel group for the world cup – the only way for Aussie fans to get (legit) tickets.
You’ll see them behind the sticks at most big rugby internationals too. So not quite the same thing as the barmy army more a pretty well run sports travel agency
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