Introduction
Match between 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (RAC) and Antwerp FC, 1945. NAM 1975-03-63-19-206
2006 is World Cup year so it is an ideal time to take a look at the fascinating relationship between the British Army and the ‘Beautiful Game’.
Compare the football superstars of today, like David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, with football heroes from the World Wars, including two incredible Victoria Cross (VC) winners.
The People’s Game
2nd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) football team, Harrismith, 1907. NAM 2000-12-2
Football is the most popular sport in Britain and unsurprisingly the most widely enjoyed game in the British Army. Like all sports, it can help develop soldierly qualities such as leadership, fitness, initiative, endurance, esprit de corps, teamwork and independence. It also has a significant impact on recruitment and retention. The Army Football Association, a County member of the Football Association (FA), provides administrative support and promotes the game at all levels. It is based at Aldershot, the home of all Army sports.
Army Challenge Cup
4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, Army Cup semi-final, 1912. NAM 1993-01-192-13
The Army has several football competitions and the most prestigious is the Army Challenge Cup for which all units enter. The cup was first won in 1889 and remains one of the Army’s oldest sport competitions.
Apart from the era of the two world wars the cup has been competed for every year since its formation.
Common ground
Friendly football matches have always taken place between different companies and battalions of the same regiment, or between different regiments, brigades and divisions. The Army has regularly played football against the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF).
20th Punjab Regiment football team, 1920.
NAM 1968-01-66-3
Wherever in the world the Army has been stationed football matches have taken place against local civilian teams. Such events play a key role in building links with local populations and winning ‘hearts and minds’.
Indian Army
The British introduced football to India and it was taken up enthusiastically by native soldiers of the Indian Army. Like their British counterparts, Indian Army regiments took part in competitions against both Indian and British units stationed on the sub-continent. From the mountains of the North West Frontier to the burning plains of Central India, football was played at Army bases and cantonments.
German Christmas victory
British and Germans meet in No-Man's Land during the 1914 Christmas truce.
NAM 1995-06-89-1-1
The Army has even played football against its enemies! A football match took place between German and British troops in the Ypres Salient during the Christmas Truce of 1914. Many letters and diaries report a match occurring, but the precise details are unclear. On 1 January 1915, The Times published a letter from a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) reporting that in his sector the British played against the Germans opposite and were beaten 3-2.
