Paul Burnham

Paul Lawrence "Leafy" Burnham[1] is a cricket supporter from Twickenham, London, England. He is one of the founding members of the Barmy Army of supporters of the England cricket team.

Personal life

Burnham was educated at Hampton School.[2] Burnham has a sports and business degree and in 1984, he started working for British Airways in their cargo division.[3] He is nicknamed "Leafy" which came from his time working at British Airways and was originally "tea leaf", the cockney rhyming slang for "thief".[4] He has played cricket for Old Hamptonians.[5]

Barmy Army

In 1994, Burnham travelled to Australia to watch The Ashes. There he met a number of other English supporters who were noted for singing songs, despite England losing. They received press attention which was positive in Australia but negative in the British press. Burnham then trademarked the name "Barmy Army"[1] in the United Kingdom and Australia[4] and created a number of replica shirts with it on them which sold out.[6]

After the Ashes, Burnham started running the Barmy Army on a part-time basis while supplementing his income by working as a bookmaker and writing for various cricket magazines. In 1997, he negotiated the Barmy Army's first sponsorship deal with Vodafone to support the Barmy Army's tour of the West Indies. He started working for the Barmy Army full-time in 2002 as the organizer after creating a website and travel agency for them.[3] Burnham also set up the Barmy Army's operations office in Sunbury-on-Thames.[7] Burnham has also been involved in charity fundraisers.[8] He has also set rules for participants of the Barmy Army while with them, most notably banning Barmy Army members from using vuvuzelas in stadiums.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "BARMY ARMY by BACSC Ltd and Peacock, David John - Australian Trademark No.1114806". Trade Marks Australia. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  2. ↑ "Player Profile". The Trevor Trophy. 1985-09-05. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  3. 1 2 Carter, Ben (2005-09-14). "Profile: Choir master - Paul Burnham, Chief organiser, Barmy Army - Marketing news". Marketing Magazine. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  4. 1 2 "Not barmy, just lucky". In the News. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  5. ↑ "Old Hamps knock spots off Richmond". Harrow Times. 2000-05-26. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  6. ↑ "Profile: Choir master - Paul Burnham, Chief organiser, Barmy Army". Campaign. 2005-09-14. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  7. ↑ "Special report: From fan club to Barmy Army Ltd". New Zealand Herald. 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  8. ↑ "Paul 'leafy' Burnham and members of the Barmy Army present a cheque". ESPN. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  9. ↑ Day, Bill (2010-07-03). "Barmy Army ban vuvuzuelas". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
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