The Barmy Army is a company that provides tickets and arranges touring parties for some of its members to follow the
English cricket team
The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engl ...
in the UK and overseas. The Barmy Army was at first an informal group, but was later turned into a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. The name is also applied to followers of the team who join in with match day activities in the crowd, but do not necessarily travel as part of an organised tour.
Collins dictionary defines the word barmy as "slightly crazy or very foolish".
The group, then less organised, was given its name by the Australian media during the
1994–95 Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
series in
Australia, reportedly for the fans' hopeless audacity in travelling all the way to Australia in the near-certain knowledge that their team would lose, and the fact that they kept on chanting encouragement to the England team even when England were losing quite badly. It was co-founded by
Paul Burnham
Paul Lawrence "Leafy" Burnham (born ) is a cricket supporter from Twickenham, London, England. He is one of the founding members of the Barmy Army of supporters of the England cricket team.
Personal life
Burnham was educated at Hampton School. ...
.
History
On the first day of the
1994–95 Ashes Series at
Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...
, a group of supporters of the English Cricket team during the lunch break headed to ''T-Shirt City'' on Hindley Street and ordered 50 shirts saying "Atherton's Barmy Army" (after then-captain
Michael Atherton
Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the ca ...
) with the Union Jack emblazoned on the back. By the end of the Test over 200 shirts had been purchased, and by the end of the tour, 3,000 had been purchased.
This Test is often cited as the catalyst for the formal establishment of the Barmy Army.
The Barmy Army, which is now a limited company, states that it wants to "make watching cricket more fun and much more popular". The group uses
flags,
banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...
s,
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
s and
chants to encourage the team and crowd participation in their activities. In contrast to the reputations of some sports fans for
hooliganism
Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events.
Etymology
There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
, the Barmy Army organisers actively discourage and avoid such behaviour.
The group engages in
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* C ...
work and has gained a good reputation among most cricket administrators. However, many cricket followers find their constant chanting to be annoying and disruptive, particularly during the afternoon sessions of Test matches when the chanting of the Barmy Army, fuelled by their consumption of large amounts of alcohol, often becomes a repetitive, irritating background noise; among others, the renowned cricket writer/commentator
Christopher Martin-Jenkins
Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on ...
accused them of "demeaning English cricket".
Throughout the 1990s, increased spending power, via a stronger British Pound at the time, enabled fans to take the song overseas when following tours of the English national cricket team. Because of that particular song, and the fact that it seemed to represent English fans' activity of standing in the hot sun, drinking lager all day until they were sunburnt and unwell, it became a description as well as a song.
David Lloyd and
Ian Botham used the tag to describe the supporters whilst commentating for
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
during England's tours from 1993 to 1995.
In the late 1990s performers
Richard Stilgoe
Sir Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe (born 28 March 1943) is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician, and broadcaster who is best known for his humorous songs and frequent television appearances. His output includes collaborations with Andrew ...
and
Peter Skellern
Peter Skellern (14 March 1947 – 17 February 2017) was an English singer-songwriter and pianist who rose to fame in the 1970s. He had two top twenty hits on the UK Singles Chart - " You're a Lady" (1972), which typifies his signature use of b ...
recognised the need for an anthem for the loyal supporters of a team that regularly seemed to lose and wrote a stirring song called "The Barmy Army" which they included in their touring repertoire. It can be found on their 1999 CD "A Quiet Night Out" and humorously celebrates the English team's skill at "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".
![Billy the trumpeter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Billy_the_trumpeter.JPG)
Most grounds now set aside areas especially for Barmy Army fans apart from
Lord's.
During the
2019–20 English tour of South Africa,
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
filmed a feature story entitled ''25 Years of the Barmy Army'' to commemorate the group's 25-year anniversary.
Hosted by Atherton, it covers the group's origins and characteristics, favorite countries to tour and favorite moments and features interviews with
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain (born 28 March 1968) is a British cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, with his overall international career extending from 1990 to 2004. A pugnacious right-ha ...
,
Joe Root
Joseph Edward Root, (born 30 December 1990) is an English international cricketer, who plays for the England Test and One Day International (ODI) teams, and formerly captained the Test team. He also represents Yorkshire in English domestic ...
and several members.
In other sports
Supporters of English national teams in other sports are also subsidiaries of the Barmy Army. The rugby equivalent was formed in 2014, they also form part of the Army to support
British and Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
, while there is another separate subsidiary for Rugby League.
The term Barmy Army has also been used to describe the Devonshire football team
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...
, usually with a prefix of ‘Green and White’ during stadium-wide chants, although there is no association to the above groups.
One Barmy Army member, Neil Rowe, gained media attention for dressing up as England football manager
Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016.
Southgate won the League Cup ...
both on England cricket tours and at the
2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Music
For the
1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, the Barmy Army recorded ''Come on England'', set to the tune of ''
Soul Limbo
''Soul Limbo'' is the seventh studio album by the American R&B band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in 1968 on Stax Records. The album was the first Stax LP issued after the label severed its ties with former distributor Atlantic Records in 1 ...
'', the original ''
Test Match Special
''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...
'' theme by
Booker T. & the M.G's, and released by Wildstar Records. The music video included appearances from
Ian Botham,
Ronnie Irani
Ronald Charles Irani (born 26 October 1971) is a former England cricketer who played Tests and ODIs for England. He played only three Tests for England, with decidedly mixed success, but found a niche in One Day Internationals, where he gained muc ...
,
Dickie Bird
Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird, (born 19 April 1933), is an English retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public, due to his excellence as an umpire, but al ...
and
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV children's television show '' Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show '' Who Wants to Be a Mil ...
.
''Come on England'' by England's Barmy Army (Music Video)
YouTube (produced by Wildstar Records and BFCS)
References
External links
*
* ttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-2535962.html Article challenging the view presented in the article above
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017
Cricket supporters
England in international cricket
Sports culture in the United Kingdom