Cricket enthusiasts from Australia and England have taken their rivalry to social media, sparking a heated debate over viral footage that captures fans hurling beer cups and trays at each other during the first Ashes Test in Perth.

Clips shared on platforms like X and Instagram reveal the chaotic scenes as throngs of spectators engaged in a beer cup and tray tossing frenzy, risking ejection from the stadium.

In response to the unruly behavior, officials at Perth Stadium displayed a stern message on the venue’s large screen, reminding attendees, “Fans are reminded that throwing items is prohibited. If you throw, you go.”

Despite such incidents, beer snake antics remain a beloved tradition in Australian sports culture, even after security personnel removed fans from the Melbourne Cricket Ground for similar activities in 2022.

On Saturday, a video shared by former sports reporter turned content creator Josh Garlepp on X showed fans in two separate stands throwing cups and trays, along with the caption, ‘The barmy army are trashing the place tearing each other limb from limb.’

Pictured: A grab from a video showing fans throwing cardboard beer trays down onto English fans during the first Test on Saturday, with the trays littering the aisles

Another video on X showed beer cups and trays raining down from the upper levels of the stands (circled) as a security guard (left) went through the crowd as a warning about spectator behaviour flashed up on the big screen

Pictured: Fans in a section with a large Barmy Army presence show off a huge beer snake made out of empty cups. Several spectators at the ground said objects were thrown when the snakes started to get confiscated

The video ignited a lively discussion about which group’s supporters were to blame for the spectacle.

“I was in the top tiers and can confirm it was the Aussies tossing the cardboard trays after their beer snakes were taken away,” one observer commented.

‘I was there not sitting with the barmy army. Loads of stuff came cascading down from the locals above us,’ another cricket fan added.

‘It was the whole stadium. I was there,’ an English supporter commented, with another spectator writing, ‘It was everyone, not just the BA [Barmy Army].’

‘That was not the barmy army fans you t**t. Plenty of Aussies. Happened because they stopped their beer towers,’ wrote another fan.

Australians chimed in on the argument with comments like, ‘English fans are the worst lot. Sore farking losers,’ and, ‘That’s English culture.’

An Instagram video posted by former AFL star Daniel Gorringe showed spectators throwing cardboard trays from the first tier of the stands onto the fans below, with the caption, ‘Aussies giving it back to the Barmy Army (stop singing songs about Steve Smith crying)’.

The vision shows the area around the seats at ground level littered with the trays, with so many thrown that they are piling up in the aisles.

A video on Instagram captured a huge beer snake in another section of the ground on Saturday 

English fans went online to blame local supporters for the scenes at Perth Stadium

Aussie fans also took to X and responded in kind

English flags are seen on the fence at the front of the area, indicating that a lot of Three Lions fans were seated there – and some of them have built their own beer snake, which is also visible in the footage.

One of the comments on the video read, ‘The whole ground started throwing trays at this stage, it was bloody great.’ 

Content creators Those Carter Boys – who are the brothers of Aussie Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown – posted vision to Instagram of a huge beer snake that stretched for more than 20 rows, almost covering the entire length of one stand.

Western Australian Police said the only arrest made during the Test was related to a traffic offence outside the ground. 

The scenes came as the English fans witnessed their team suffer a complete meltdown after going to the lunch break with a lead of 99 runs and the loss of just one wicket.

Skipper Ben Stokes’s men then went from 1-65 to 6-88 in a stunning collapse, ending up all out for 164. 

That meant the Aussies had to chase the highest innings total of the match – 205 – for victory on what had proved a treacherous strip for batters.

However, Travis Head then pulled out an innings that will go down in Ashes folklore, smashing the attack for four sixes and 16 boundaries as he raced to a sensational 123 runs from just 83 balls.