The sudden death of the Charlton Athletic supporter Norman Barker has touched countless lives far beyond the club’s south-east London home. The Addicks’ Championship match against Portsmouth on Saturday was halted on 12 minutes after fans alerted the officials to a medical emergency in the North Stand. The players were taken down the tunnel and the game was later abandoned. Barker died in hospital soon after.
Barker – widely known in SE7 as “Headphones Norm” because he was always seen wearing a pair – began going to Charlton in 1968. It is clear from an interview he did in 2020 that it was love at first sight. That led him to follow the club into his 60s and become ever-present at Addicks games and a very familiar figure.
At Charlton’s home game against Middlesbrough on Tuesday the club and fans paid their respects. Flowers, drawings, letters, notes, candles and robins have been left outside the North Stand in Norm’s honour. The players wore black armbands, applause for Norm took place before the match and his family were loudly acknowledged pitchside. The game was halted in the 13th minute to applaud Norm again, a gesture joined by the match officials and those in the Boro end. Norm’s season-ticket seat was draped in a Charlton scarf, headphones suitably on top, and red flowers underneath.
Many fans have this week highlighted how they knew Norm. Plenty said they realised they were going in the right direction on an away day if they spotted him – headphones around his neck and Davy Crockett hat on his head.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Norm perhaps once or twice. I would always nod at him, say hello, but I won’t pretend I knew him as well as others who had sat around him for decades. What I can confidently say is that he was a huge credit to the club. Warm and friendly, he always kept a level head when times were tough at Charlton – externally, at least.
That attitude is something many have commented on since his death, including the Charlton fan Charlie Brazil, who interviewed Norm for his Braziliance YouTube channel.
Norm, asked by Charlie what his advice would be to younger fans embarking on a possible lifelong commitment to the Addicks, said: “I’d say come down if you have the opportunity. You’re going to have lots of laughs, and you’ll probably shed the odd tear, but such is life! It’s good fun, I recommend it.”
Before Tuesday’s game Charlie said: “If it wasn’t going well he’d say: ‘Oh well, next game. Things will get better.’ I think a lot of us struggle to have that mindset in the moment, but it’s inspired me, actually. Football is more about the community, and that’s what I thought Norm was about.”
Another Addick, Steve Perfect, went to primary school with Norm in Woolwich and noted that Norm always called him Stevie, a name no one else used. “Everybody knows Norm,” he said. “Even before he was a famous Charlton supporter, everybody knew Norm. He had specific things about him. Before he had headphones, he always used to have music. He always had a wireless, a talk box. So he always went around with sound. He was always around, he was always friendly, and everyone always liked him.”
People may not have spoken to Norm one-on-one or in depth, but seeing someone every week makes you feel as if you do know them. One Charlton flag seen at games sums it up: “Different places, same old faces.” Football clubs are families, as cliched as it sounds, and he was a long-term member of that family.
Whether he realised how loved he was by the fanbase, we won’t know. He did, however, win the club’s Colin Cameron Supporter of the Year award last summer, something that was apparently a surprise to him. That he took the trophy – handed over by the manager, Nathan Jones – to a family gathering soon after shows how much it meant to him.
Dom Matthews sat next to Norm on the coach for the 3-0 loss at Stoke City last month. “I got to meet Norman through his workplace, which was the Reuse Recycle depot over in Thamesmead,” he said. “He was overjoyed with winning the Supporter of The Year award. But being Norm, he said: ‘Do you know what, there’s other people on this coach who deserve it more than me.’ That told you what kind of man he was.”
I sat next to Norm during the 3-0 win at Ipswich in October, and watching the highlights you can see him at the front doing what he loved most. He will be sorely missed. Circumstances mean “Headphones Norm” is now a name that has been heard far and wide – and it won’t be forgotten at the Valley.
