Friday, January 05, 2007

"Barmy and nasty too"

Today's Australian publishes a letter from Margaret Lindley of South Hobart complaining about the Barmy Army :

Throughout the fourth Test, I was forced, along with thousands of others, to endure its repeated insults to Australia and Australians, particularly to Australian women.

I invite the army’s admirers to listen, for example, to its version of Waltzing Matilda. Probably the only repeatable line in this foul-mouthed parody is the first, “We all shag Matilda”. If a group of Lebanese youths gathered in a public space to chant precisely the same words as those sung by these visiting Englishmen, there would be a national outcry.


I was interested to hear the speakers in today's post match presentation ceremony praise the Barmy Army. Even Mr Creagh O'Connor, the Cricket Australia chair, paid tribute to them. This is a bit twofaced given all the trouble that CA and its affiliates went to to exclude the Barmy Army trumpeter (the least offensive member of the army since they don't sing along when he plays) . CA has also, as I've previously posted, put the boot into its media competitor (and generally more reliable source of information) Cricinfo over its relatively mild comments about Justin Langer. In comparison with the BA's chant about Langer, which makes some very scurrilous claims about him, this is small beer indeed.

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