Collier dampens crowd fears

The crowd at the Ashes tests in England were loud and proud

The chairman of the ECB has urged the Australian authorities to sort out their own crowd trouble issues before pointing the finger at the travelling Barmy Army.

David Collier was surprised to discover this week that New South Wales premier Morris Iemma had written to Tony Blair requesting intelligence on known hooligans to help their policing of the New Year Ashes Test in Sydney.

Iemma wrote: "I am sure you would agree that the ugly stain of poor crowd behaviour can adversely impact the enjoyment of thousands of families who love cricket and reflect poorly on national reputations."

But Collier accused Iemma of trying to divert attention away from Australia’s own crowd issues.

He said: "There will always be a minority element we have got to be careful of.

"But the probability of large numbers of football hooligans travelling, when tickets have not been easy to get hold of, is at the lower end.

"The Barmy Army don’t have a history of causing problems abroad. There is a little bit of deflection going on.

The Barmy Army hang England flags over the stands abroad

"Clearly, the policies the ICC had to bring in were largely as a result of crowd issues in Australia, mainly Victoria, not New South Wales.

"I find (the letter) slightly odd. You just wonder if it is not being a little defensive."

The Barmy Army believe Cricket Australia’s controversial ticketing policy will not help potential crowd issues.

Cricket Australia did not want a repeat of the 2001 Lions tour or the 2003 Rugby World Cup when grounds Down Under were dominated by the visiting support from Britain.

England fans only had a limited opportunity to buy tickets through legitimate avenues - or pay for more expensive tour packages - so many have turned to a flourishing black market.

Barmy Army co-founder Paul Burnham said: "We’re not saying that there is never any trouble at cricket grounds - there are always a few idiots on both sides - but Cricket Australia’s ticketing arrangements haven’t helped the situation."

And Collier indicated his own displeasure that so many tickets have ended up on the black market.

He continued: "The problem you have to be cognisant of is that where tickets are in huge demand you will get touts or people flogging the tickets. Then it becomes less controllable as to who comes into the venue."

Paul Burnham © Getty Images

The difficulty in getting hold of tickets will not stop an estimated 20,000 fans travelling over to Australia for some part of the tour, not to mention the ex-pats who are already Down Under.

And David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, has called on the Barmy Army and all other travelling England fans to turn Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney into home venues.

Graveney said: "It seems to me there will be no-one left in this country. Our support will be enormous. It will be a huge series.

"The crowd have a huge part to play. Remember the Edgbaston Test last year.

"I have never seen opening batsmen get a standing ovation before they have even taken guard.

"It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If we can get the same sort of support in Australia it will make a huge difference.

"We are carrying the hopes of a nation and we will need to play our very best.

"Australia are the best team and quite rightly ranked as number one. But the last entry on their CV is that they were the team that lost the Ashes.

"If we can retain them in Australia it will be confirmation we are a serious cricket team."