History
The Barmy Army, which is a limited company, claims it wants to "make watching cricket more fun and much more popular". The group uses flags, banners, songs and chants to encourage the team and crowd participation in their activities. In contrast to the reputations of some sports fans for hooliganism, the Barmy Army organisers actively discourage unsavoury behaviour.
The group engages in charity work, and has a good reputation among cricket administrators and among some other fans. However, some cricket followers find the chanting of the Barmy Army to be annoying, lowbrow and disruptive and veteran cricket writer/commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins has accused the Army of "demeaning English cricket".
Originally, "Barmy Army" was a football chant sung by fans at many grounds, including Norwich City (late 1970s) and Sheffield Wednesday (early 1980s). In conjunction with the increasing appearance of English football shirts at cricket grounds in the early 1990s, the song's repetitive cry of "Barmy Army, Barmy Army, Barmy Army" transferred to domestic cricket arenas at Old Trafford and Headingley. It was particularly apparent during the 1993 Ashes tour.
Throughout the 1990s, increased spending power 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, 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 during England's tours from 1993 to 1995.
Only in the mid 1990s was the tag recognised as an official title for English touring cricket fans and adopted by what is now recognised as the official Barmy Army. Some regard the Barmy Army's unofficial leader to be Vic Flowers, nicknamed "Jimmy Savile" because of his resemblance to the late former disc jockey.
Most grounds now set aside areas especially for Barmy Army fans apart from Lord's where they are banned.
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