HISTORY OF THE INTER SERVICE CHAMPIONSHIP

The Inter Service Championship has been celebrating sport and service since 1920, when the newly-formed Royal Air Force joined the British Army and Royal Navy in a three-way competition to find out who was the best rugby team among the UK Armed Forces.

By 1924 all three matches had a level of prestige that they were all played at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, which remained the host venue until 1998. Since then, Army v Navy has regularly packed out the home of England Rugby, and even since the pandemic crowds have remained healthily around 50,000.

Although the British Army now has more Championship titles than the other two teams combined, the red shirts did not win their first until 1926. But in the last decade the honours in the men’s competition have been shared relatively evenly, with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force each winning it twice, and with the 2024 title going down to the wire with all three teams in the running in the final match.

Some of rugby’s most illustrious names have represented their Service, such as Rory Underwood and Paul Hull (Royal Air Force), Tim Rodber and Rob Wainwright (British Army), and England Sevens internationals, Greg Barden and Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy).

The women’s teams joined the Inter Service Championship in 2003, recognising the growing popularity of rugby union across all three Services. In 2019 the Royal Air Force broke the Army’s stranglehold on the overall title, but while Covid-19 prevented them from defending their title in 2020, with rugby did return the women with parity with the men in terms of the date and venue of their matches, and now all three spring days feature double-headers and a true celebration of Service sport.

The Inter Service Championship provides a full weekend of action, too, with the respective Masters teams also playing on the Friday night. The Masters joined the Inter Service Championship in 1996, and while – as in the men’s competition – it took several years before the Army won their first title they have gone on to be the leading outfit. To date the Army have won 17 Championships, followed by the Royal Air Force with five and the Royal Navy with three.

There is a fourth level to the Inter Service Championship, with the Under-23 teams going head-to-head during the pre-Christmas period. The Championship was introduced in 2006, and given that it is played before the senior teams begin their build-up campaigns in earnest it is not uncommon to see players win both Under-23 and full caps in the same season. To date the Army have won nine titles, the Royal Navy seven and the Royal Air Force one.