why do they call nathan lyon gary

Nathan Lyon is called “Garry” because teammates started jokingly comparing him to former AFL (Australian rules football) star Garry Lyon, and the nickname just stuck and went viral through the “Nice Garry!” stump-mic moments.

Why do they call Nathan Lyon “Garry”?

In the mid-2010s, during Test matches for Australia, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade began calling out “Nice, Garry!” almost every time Nathan Lyon bowled a good ball. The shout was a playful nod to ex-Melbourne Demons footballer Garry Lyon, whose surname matches Nathan’s, and the dressing room banter morphed into a full-blown nickname.

Fans quickly picked up on the “Nice Garry!” catchcry after hearing it repeatedly on the stump mic in the 2016 home series, and it turned into a cult meme across Australian cricket. Crowds began timing a collective “Nice Garry!” for specific balls in his overs, and Lyon has talked about how people of all ages yell it at him in public, from kids to adults at weddings and on the street.

“Nice Garry!” and meme culture

• The phrase became famous during a Test series against South Africa when Wade’s constant “Nice, Garry!” encouragement got picked up on TV audio.

• At the MCG, fans even tried to coordinate a stadium-wide “Nice Garry!” on the third ball of his spell, only for Lyon to take a wicket and turn it into a roar instead.

• Compilation videos of every “Nice Garry!” call, plus crowd chants, helped cement the nickname in online cricket culture.

Why this nickname stuck so hard

• It’s a simple surname joke: Nathan Lyon ↔ Garry Lyon (the AFL legend), which made it easy for teammates to riff on.

• Wade repeated it constantly from behind the stumps, so TV viewers heard it dozens of times a day, turning it into a running gag.

• Cricket fans love in-jokes; “Garry/Gazza” became shorthand for Lyon, adding to his cult “GOAT” status as Australia’s most prolific modern off-spinner.

Lyon has said he finds it funny and enjoys that people call him Garry in public, even his own young daughter once jokingly telling him “Nice, Garry” before a game, which he took as the moment he knew the nickname would never die.

TL;DR: Nathan Lyon is called “Garry” because of a running joke comparing him to AFL great Garry Lyon, amplified by Matthew Wade’s constant “Nice, Garry!” shouts on the stump mic that turned into a nationwide cricket meme.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.