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Fan behaviour threatens future of Army versus Navy game

(Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

The famous Army versus Navy rugby match, which attracted a sell out 80,000 crowd to Twickenham, is under threat due to the behaviour of fans who according to critics treat it as a “drunken, al fresco fancy dress party.”

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The Army beat the Navy 27-11 on Saturday in a match that had been moved to an earlier 2pm kick off following complaints about fans from local residents after the 2018 contest. The clash between the forces has been a regular fixture since 1907 and was only interrupted by the two World Wars.

However, the match is in serious danger of being moved from Twickenham following the latest incidents which have seen Richmond Council issue a strongly worded statement over the behaviour of fans in the area before and after the game. Residents expressed outrage at witnessing scenes of drunken behaviour, urination in gardens, fans passed out in the streets, attempted theft and, in one instance, a woman being hospitalised after being struck by a bottle thrown by fans in St Margarets.

Responding to the unacceptable behaviour, Leader of Richmond Council Cllr Gareth Roberts said: “Unfortunately, in spite of measures taken to mitigate the impact of the match on our residents, such as scheduling an earlier kick off time, there was no noticeable improvement in behaviour. Match attendees now see this event primarily as a drunken, al fresco fancy dress party with the rugby match itself being of secondary importance.

“The vast majority of our residents are proud to live in the home of Rugby. They are also proud of this borough’s long-standing connection to our armed forces. However, when they see their town being trashed by people attending the Army v Navy game they find their pride and good-will being put to the test.

“It is now time for the RFU and the Armed Forces to consider whether they want to allow this fixture to continue. We have long held the belief that, if it is to continue, then the fixture should be rotated among other stadia, and we will be putting that case to the RFU.

“We are now seeking an urgent meeting with the RFU and organisers of the fixture to seek reassurances that in future local residents will not experience another day of drunken, loutish behaviour which brings the RFU and our armed services personnel into disrepute. If those assurances are not satisfactorily forthcoming, it is time this fixture moved out of our borough.”

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An RFU spokesperson said:”We took significant steps to improve this event including reduced licensing hours, earlier kick off and bar closures plus no games before the main match. While there have been some complaints received, behaviour at this year’s match was better than previous years. We will have a full debrief of this event with the police and the council as we do every year and will look at every complaint individually.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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