The phrase Barmy Army is used to describe a rowdy group, of usually sports fans, who are excitable, volatile and very often drunk. “Barm” is the froth produced by fermenting alcohol. In English prisons, inmates used to pretend to be mad by “putting on the barmy stick” (that is, frothing at the mouth). In 1912, Fred Murray wrote and published a popular song that included the lines “Ginger you're barmy, why don’t you join the army.” This in turn then formed part of a popular limerick during the World War One, when the lines “you'll get knocked out by a bottle of stout, Ginger you're barmy” were added. Then, the phrase “barmy army” became popularised when rowdy English cricket fans, who had followed the national team to Australia for the Ashes tour in 1994, were affectionately nicknamed the “Barmy Army”.