Barmy Army keeps Australians guessing
Posted: Monday January 04, 1999 03:58 PM
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Barmy Army's No. 1 ditty on Monday: "If your granddad was deported, clap your hands." Graham Chadwick/Allsport |
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- When Huddersfield lawyer Bob Carr stands up at the Sydney Cricket Ground, 500 English fans rise with him.
Forefingers jabbing in his direction, they chant at the top of their voices: "One Bobby George, there's only one Bobby George, one Bobby Geor-orge, there's only one Bobby George."
Australian fans trying to follow the final Ashes test from nearby seats shake their sunburnt heads. Who the hell's this Bobby George fella?
Don't even ask mate. This is England's Barmy Army -- just be grateful they're not singing about you.
The Barmy Army has become an institution as it follows the England team around Australia. It has become organized, online, even trade-marked, although its thousands of loyal troops still swig as much beer as they can handle.
It has also kept alive the spirit of the old English soccer terraces, minus the violence that forced the introduction of all-seated stadiums.
Carr, the Yorkshire lawyer, said he had a choice for his Christmas break between a skiing holiday in the French Alps or catching England in the last couple of tests Down Under.
He went for the cricket only to find himself adopted as cheerleader when he arrived in Australia because his fellow fans decided he bore an uncanny resemblance to Bobby George, the flamboyant former world darts champion.
"I would never go to a stand like this for the soccer at home, but here it's different, all the social barriers have collapsed," said Carr.
"It doesn't matter if you're staying at a three-dollar bed and breakfast or the Sydney Hilton. It doesn't make any difference at all."
The group's taunts are aimed either directly at the Australian team, or just at Australia in general -- and its convict roots. "If your granddad was deported, clap your hands," was a favorite ditty on Monday.
Australian test pair Mark Waugh and Shane Warne also came under fire since admitting last month that they had been fined for accepting money from a bookmaker during a tour of India and Pakistan in 1994. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) had kept the scandal quiet.
The chant goes: "Mark Waugh is an Aussie, he wears a baggy cap, and when he saw the bookie's cash, he said I'm having that.
"He shared it out with Warney, They went and had some beers, And when the ACB found out, They covered it up for years."
Francis Kelliher, a Chelsea fan taking a year's break from his job at London's Savoy Hotel, said: "It's just playful banter, the Aussies do try and give it back."
Kelliher's Australian wife, Linda, is a proud Barmy Army foot soldier -- even when they taunt their former colonial cousins with a rendition of "God Save Your Queen."
"I just wish Australians could be more vocal. It makes it much more fun," she said.
"All Australians want to do is whinge and whine," she added. "They call the English the whinging Poms, but they get behind things. I'd rather be with the Barmy Army getting behind a team than sitting over there keeping quiet with the Australian fans."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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