Army Navy Match

The Army Navy Match is the annual pilgrimage of service personnel, veterans and armed forces supporters for the annual rugby union match played between the senior XV teams of the Royal Navy and British Army. It is the most viewed and anticipated match of the Inter-Service Championship, with the winner being awarded The Babcock Trophy. Since 1914 it has been held at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

The first meeting of the teams was a match played between the officers of the British Army and the officers of the Royal Navy on 13 February 1878, it was not until 1907 that the Army Navy Match became an annual fixture, For the first fixture the match Secretary was Surg Lt George Levick RN. From 1909 it was jointly administered by the newly formed Royal Navy Rugby Union and the Army Rugby Union. In 1920 service personnel who were not Officers were allowed to play for the first time. Since then it has been played every season, with the exception of during the world wars (1914–19 and 1940–45) and COVID-19 pandemic when the matches were suspended.

Brief background

Traditionally, the Army Navy match has been played in the second half of the domestic season. In the 1907-08 season it was played in December, and due to this anomaly the calendar year 1908 did not see an Army Navy match, while 1907 saw two.

Originally only officers of both services where allowed to represent their services senior XV teams, and the fixtures where styled ‘Officers of the Navy’ v ‘Officers of the Army.’ in 1920 the fixture was re-styled ‘Royal Navy’ v ‘The Army’ and teams where to allowed to select their players from all personnel, including other ranks and ratings, to mark this change, the 1920 match was attended by King George V.

The 2016 Army Navy was the 99th in the series and the match saw a new record crowd of 81,323. The Navy took the lead 7–0 (Dave Fairbrother) on 20 minutes before the Army scored three tries (Semesa Rokoduguni 2, Owain Davies) before half time to lead 19–7 at the beak. A further try for the Army (James Farrell) early in the second period saw them extend their lead to 26-7 with half an hour of the match remaining. The Royal Navy staged the most remarkable of comebacks with tries from Gareth Rees and Rhys Dymmock-Williams either side of a penalty try to level the scores at 26-26 with 9 minutes remaining. An Owain Davies penalty with 2 minutes to go seemed to seal the win for the Army before Royal Navy fullback landed a 45m penalty of his own to again tie the game 29–29 with less than a minute to go. The draw meant that the Army Navy Trophy was shared but he Royal Navy were Inter Service Champions having beaten the RAF 9–8 at USSG Portsmouth. The RAF had beaten the Army 13–12 at RAF Halton in the opening round of the Inter Services. Royal Navy Number 8 completed a remarkable game which included a try, a yellow card and being named Man of the Match.

The 2017 Army Navy match was unable to live up to the onfield excitement from the year before. However the 100th match saw another record crowd (81577), the attendance of Prince Harry as Patron of the Match Charity, Invictus Games Foundation, and an Army win 29-20.

The 101st Army Navy Match was played at Twickenham on 5 May 2018 with the Army winning 22-14. The match was notable in that the Navy had one man sent off in the first ten minutes of the game and the Army took advantage of their wing overlap to good effect. Army Corporal Matthew Dawson was awarded the Babcock Man of the Match.

Stadium

At the first meeting of the two teams in 1878, the match was played at The Oval, before in the 1907 match being moved to The Queen's Club in Kensington. Since 1914 the match has been held at Twickenham Stadium which is the largest Rugby Union Stadium in the world, and the United Kingdom with a capacity of 82,000, it is also the home ground of the England National Team.

The fixture constantly draws large crowds to Twickenham with the largest attendance of 81,577 in 2017.

Due to the size of the fixture, some local residents have made criticisms, about the disorderly conduct of some supporters outside of the stadium.

Team colours

Navy - Navy blue shorts, socks and shirt.

Army - White shorts, red shirt and socks.

In the first match of 1878 the Army played in white. The Navy have always played in blue jerseys though in 1955 their shorts were white.

The First Army Navy game 1878

The first Army vs Navy game was held on 13 February 1878 at The Oval, London, between officers of both services. A contemporary newspaper ''The Broad Arrow'' gave the following account of the match:

''A fine exhibition of football delighted the somewhat small number of spectators. Bush scored the first try for the Navy from a scrummage near the line. The goal was kicked by Orford. A band of naval spectators who had taken up their position beneath a white ensign mounted on the roof of a drag greeted this score with great cheering. The greasy state of the ground was not favourable for any great display of running. Encouraged by a cry from their supporters 'Come on Navy, Force the Passage of the Straights' the Navy mounted great pressure and scored a touch down. In the second half the Navy scored a second try. Wrench of the Army took advantage of some bad passing by the Navy and scored the Army try: The goal was kicked but this ended the scoring and the Navy deservedly won the first match between the Services.''

The full version of the report from the Broad Arrow seems to suggest that the correct quote of 'Force the Passage of the Straits' was used.

The Army selectors made a generous contribution towards the Navy victory by selecting a Royal Artillery officer, R Bannatyne, as Team Captain. He was serving overseas at the time and received no notification of his selection. As a result, he was absent for the game. The situation was further confounded by the fact that another Army player arrived late and missed a good part of the match.

The teams were:

The First "Official" Army Navy game 1907

The Army Rugby Union was formed in 1906 whilst the exact date of formation of the Royal Navy Rugby Union is shrouded in doubt but is likely to have been towards the end of 1907, after the 1st official Army v Navy Match. February 1907 was when the first match organised by the two Services in a formal manner was played, with Surg Lt George Levick RN acting as the Match Secretary. The match was held at the Queen's Club, West Kensington and was won by the Officers of the Royal Navy 15-14. The match was played at Queen's Club until 1914. After the First World War the first match was hosted by Twickenham in 1920 and the game has been played there ever since.

Team colours

Navy - Navy blue shorts, socks and shirt.

Army - White shorts, red shirt and socks.

In the first match of 1878 the Army played in white. The Navy have always played in blue jerseys though in 1955 their shorts were white.

Anniversary Army Navy Matches

The first eight matches were played at Queen's Club. Currently the 101 matches have resulted in 62 Army wins, 35 Navy wins and 4 draws which includes the thrilling 29-29 draw in 2016. The Royal Navy won the first match in 1907 but the Army have won the other anniversary matches. On 7 March 1936 the Army won the 25th match 12-3, in 1967 they won the 50th match 6-3, in 1992 they won the 75th match 16-9 and in 2017 they won the 100th match 29-20

Disorderly Incidents

Match results

Pre Inter-Services Championship and Pre Army Rugby Union / Royal Navy Rugby Union - Army Navy Matches (1878–1906)

It is quite probable that other matches were played in this time for which records are not known.

Pre Inter-Services Championship and Post Army Rugby Union / Royal Navy Rugby Union - Official Army Navy Matches (1907–1914)

* The first match that was an official Army Navy Match was in 1907 after the Army Rugby Union had formed in 1906 and with the Royal Navy moving towards formation. The match Secretary was Surg Lt George Levick and there was a charge for entry. The matches in 1878, 1880, 1905 and 1906 do not count towards the official record of matches between the two sides with February 1907 being the first and the 29 April 2017 the 100th match.
* 2010 & 2020-2021 are the only occasions that an Inter Service match has not taken place for a reason apart from World War. The RAF v Army match was cancelled as the Army were stranded in their overseas training camp in South Africa due to flight disruptions caused by the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. In 2020-2021 all three Inter Service matches were cancelled due to restrictions placed on sport by Covid-19

References

* McLaren Col Lt J:The History of Army Rugby (Aldershot, The Army RFU, 1986)

Notes

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External links

Army Navy Match
Official website
Army Rugby Union
ARU - official website
Royal Navy Rugby Union
RNRU - official website
Royal Air Force Rugby Union
RAFRU - official website
Navy Rugby by Alligin Photography
Un Official website with largest online resource of Navy Rugby informatio

Rugby union competitions in England
Recurring sporting events established in 1878
1878 establishments in England