It is believed that the initial trigger of the Australia-England sporting rivalry began with an insulting article written in a local British newspaper in the 19th century.

"Nothing of interest comes from Australia except gold and black cricketers", proclaimed the British Daily Telegraph in 1868 with a mixture of colonial arrogance and paternal intrigue.

Conversely, Association football in Australia is often referred to as "soccer" and the domestic A-League competition is considered to be one of the minor professional leagues in the country.

England's use of a tactic perceived by some as overly aggressive or even unfair ultimately threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries before the situation was calmed.

A bodyline delivery was one where the cricket ball was bowled at the body of the batsman, in the hope that when he defended himself with his bat, a resulting deflection could be caught by one of several fielders standing close by.

This is in part due to the number of successful players that have come out of Australia with the likes of Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Adam Gilcrist, and Matthew Hayden.

[9] On 9 June 2013, Australian David Warner infamously punched English batsman Joe Root inside Birmingham's Walkabout Pub.

The incident was believed to have been triggered by Root's decision to wear an Australian wig around his chin in a manner that was perceived by Warner to have been a racial taunt.

The win was considered something of a black eye at the time in a sport that epitomised a militaristic public schooled sense of athletic rectitude, and was dismissed as a product of outrageous good fortune in the English press, with the Manchester Guardian saying the Aussies' "nippiness and grit got them through, but their football... was rarely removed from the commonplace".

Despite having home advantage, Australia would lose the final by three points in extra time as Englishman Jonny Wilkinson nailed a drop goal with 26 seconds remaining to break Australian hearts.

Another notable meeting between countrymen of the two nations played out in a 2002 Wimbledon semifinal between Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Englishman Tim Henman.

Despite the vocal crowd in attendance, Hewitt defeated Henman and went on to claim the Wimbledon title with a straight sets victory in the final.

The name is also applied to followers of the team who join in with match day activities in the crowd, but do not necessarily travel as part of an organised tour.

Fanatics officially began in 1997 with the aim of forming an organised, passionate & patriotic support group that would follow Australian Sport at home & around the world.