Supporters

The supporters are are an important part of any sporting club. They have the power to change the administrations and they play a large part in determining the unique 'culture' of each football club.

Barrack / Barracker / Barracking

Where does the word "Barracker" come from?
A former Australian footballer now living in London UK, writes to the Australasian (August 12 1922 p26) and gives his opinion.
This man played in the very early days of the game, he says;
"Folk here often ask me how the word "barrack" originated. Well, I stand to be corrected on this also, but if my information is correct, I believe the word was the outcome of a match between the keen football rivals of that day, viz, Carlton and Melbourne.
An Irish policeman, in giving his evidence, about something that occurred, stated that he could not hear because of the barking (he referred to the enthusiasm of the various supporters, and spoke the word with a strong Irish accent) The papers next morning somewhat exaggerated it, so that it read like 'barakin, and the phrase was adopted ever after to signify 'supporting,' as for instance, we would ask the question, 'are you going to the match on Saturday?' and if the answer was in the affirmative would follow up by further inquiring, 'Who are you going to "barrack" for?'
The word larrikin was coined under similar circumstances.

The earliest mention of barrack, as a word for supporting a football team found on Trove, is from The Geelong Advertiser August 06 (p4) 1884. There is also an advertisement in the Traralgon Record July 12 1889 (p3) calling on "Barrackers Roll Up!!!" to see a local football match, Warragul v Traralgon.

On the eve of the Second Cricket Test England v Australia at Lords August 2019 there was a report in one of the English newspapers that mentions supporters as barrackers!

Footie/Footy

As with Barrack, where does the word Footie or Footy come from?
It is an abbreviation of the word Foot or Football. When was it first used in the UK?
This writer was on a working holiday in the UK in the early 1970's and on a couple of occasions was asked why I abbreviated football to footy/footie.
Blueseum had found the earliest Australian use of the word "Footie" was used in a caption under a photograph of a marking contest in a Carlton game in 1903.
Since then further research has uncovered that, 23 years earlier way back in 1880, "Footy" was used in an article on the election of former Carlton captain John Gardiner to Victoria's Parliament.
In Australia, "footie or footy" was used in association with Australian Football, the term has spread country wide and used by all codes.

If anyone has further information on Barrack/ Footy, or other Australian slang terms for football please contact Blueseum.

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