Barmy Army rubbish hooligan claims

And we don't want any of that singing either ... © Getty Images

The Barmy Army have rubbished suggestions that hoards of thugs will travel with them to Australia for the Ashes.

"To suggest that football hooligans will travel halfway round the world at great expense in the middle of the football season, just months after spending fortunes following England at the World Cup is quite extraordinary," said Barmy Army co-founder Dave Peacock.

He was reacting to news that Morris Iemma, the New South Wales premier, had sought intelligence from British police on known troublemakers to assist in their policing of the Sydney Test. He wrote: "I am sure you would agree that the ugly stain of poor crowd behaviour can adversely impact [on] the enjoyment of thousands of families who love cricket and reflect poorly on national reputations."

And the state's police minister, Carl Scully, had a warning of his own. "If any didn't [behave] then we'll have the sort of response that we had to some of the rugby league games - very strong, very stern, very quick."

Paul Burnham, one of the founders of the Barmy Army, warned that any problems would be exacerbated by Cricket Australia's handling of ticket allocations. "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 arrangements haven't helped the situation."

Victoria Police superintendent Mick Williams, who is in charge of security during Melbourne's Boxing Day Test, said he was more concerned about the behaviour of Australian supporters.

"[The Barmy Army] are very well-organised and actually control a lot of their own people. In fact, we tend to have more problems with our own local spectators than visiting spectators," he told The Age.