Everywhere England go to play Test cricket, the Barmy Army follows, giving them unstinting support and always searching for the best songs, chants and banter to help their team overcome the opposition. This hilarious book collects the best and funniest moments from almost 20 years of enthusiastic backing. It reveals how the chants were created and how the players responded to hearing their names taken in vain. From the classic 'Ball and Chain' to the more recent 'Swann Will Tear You Apart', this book is an ideal way to get into the true Barmy spirit.

Despite the close and longstanding links between sport and music, the relationships between these two significant cultural forms have been relatively neglected. This book addresses the oversight with a series of highly original essays written by authors from a range of academic disciplines including history, psychology, musicology and cultural studies. It deals with themes including sport in music; music in sport; the use of music in mass sporting events; and sport, music and protest. In so doing, the book raises a range of important themes such as personal and collective identity, cultural value, ideology, globalisation and the commercialisation of sport. As well as considering the sport/music nexus in Great Britain, the collection examines sport and music in Ireland, the United States, Germany and the former Soviet Union, as well as in the Olympic movement. Musical styles and genres discussed are diverse and include classical, rock, music hall and football-terrace chants. For anybody with an interest in sport, music or both, this collection will prove an enjoyable and stimulating read. This book was previously published as a Special Issue of Sport in Society.

Supporters went to watch England play cricket overseas well before anyone had heard of cricket's Barmy Army, but what was it like? Pete Christopher's book tells the story of being on supporter tours visiting Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and South Africa, watching England win, draw, but mainly losing cricket matches. The book charts the rise of England's Barmy Army group of fans, from backpacker's funding their day's cricket by selling t-shirts, to the oft witnessed and TV highlighted organised assemblages now seen at Test matches. The author also describes the cricket matches he witnessed, countries and places he visits, and the sights he was lucky enough to see - a cricket travelogue from moments in time.

Globalizing Cricket examines the global role of cricket's of development, diffusion of cricket through colonization, and impact on the changing notions of English national identity.

Boxing Day, Melbourne 2010: a packed house of over 80,000 sits down to watch the crucial fourth Test unfold. Three days later, only 12,000 remain - and it's just the Barmy Army, celebrating as England retain the Ashes. They run through their full repertoire of songs, cheering on England's success. Meanwhile, the England players salute those who have made the effort to be there, spending thousands of pounds to support their side, inspiring them to another great victory. What was it like to be there? How did it come to pass that thousands gathered together? Who is the trumpeter? Who came up with the songs? What else do the Barmy Army get up to when the cricket finishes? This book answers all those questions, and many more, providing a brilliant and hilarious insight to life on tour with the Barmy Army. For those who were there, it will bring back a flood of memories. For those who weren't, this book will show you what you missed, and why you need to join in next time to have the time of your life.

Introduction to Sport Marketing is an accessible and engaging introduction to key concepts and best practice in sport marketing. Aimed at students with little or no prior knowledge of marketing, the book outlines a step-by-step framework for effective sport marketing, from conducting market analysis and developing a strategy, through to detailed planning and implementation. The book has a wider scope than other sport marketing textbooks, recognising that students are just as likely to have to employ their marketing skills in community sport or the not-for-profit sector as in professional sport, and therefore represents the most realistic and useful sport marketing text currently available. Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, the book has expanded coverage of digital and social media, product innovation, services and relationship marketing, and key contemporary issues such as social responsibility and sustainability. It features a much wider range of international cases and examples, covering North America, Europe, and the vibrant and rapidly developing sport markets in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. Every chapter includes a range of useful features to help the reader to engage with fundamental principles and applied practice, such as problem-solving exercises and review questions. Introduction to Sport Marketing is an essential textbook for any degree-level sport marketing course.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDS ' Top Bins! A personal best, a lap record and a hole in one for when rain has stopped play.' ALAN DAVIES 'The trivia book of the season . . . magnificent.' SPECTATOR Did you know that Henry VIII owned the first pair of football boots? Or that David Attenborough is responsible for yellow tennis balls? A Load of Old Balls is the curious story of us and sport. It's about our mind-blowingly determined attempts to be the fastest, the strongest, the most skilful. In this endlessly entertaining tale of play and belonging, astonishing violence and jaw-dropping cheating, we learn what led ancient Egyptian athletes to have their spleens removed and discover why Michael Palin was disqualified from a conker tournament. Crossing millennia, continents and cultures, Harkin and Ptaszynski - the brainy researchers for BBC's QI and co-hosts of No Such Thing As A Fish -show us sport as we've never seen it before. ** Published in hardback as Everything to Play For. ** For more from the team behind QI's hit TV show, check out the QI FACTS series of books, @qikipedia, their weekly podcast at nosuchthingasafish.com or visit qi.com.