There are at least two points of view on the Barmy Army. One is that they are a harmless bunch of fun-loving folk, and - as Jim White puts it - 'a strain of sporting support that is gloriously, wonderfully and uniquely British'. The other is, in the words of Matthew Norman, that they 'cast a brooding shadow over Test cricket':
All it's about with these self-styled warriors is them. They are the only faction of any sporting audience in history whose primary motivation for attending games is not to watch but to be watched.
Despite the general truths of liberalism, only one of these two views is correct. Nothing on earth, however, could elicit from me a full and frank expression of opinion, on this blog, concerning my own alignment on the issue.
A postscript in the way of 'sociology of knowledge': A high proportion of those who praise the Barmy Army while not being themselves of it are media commentators or England cricketers who don't have to sit beside or among the Barmies while watching a Test match.