Date: Tuesday July 30, 2019 at 3:03pm
The morning of
the 4th May, I was feeling nervous as it was my first Army V Navy
game and having wanted to go to one since I was 12 years old, I felt extremely
privileged to be going to my first game… not just as a supporter but part of
the media team as well.
The atmosphere
was incredible, I hadn’t seen anything like it. Being an Army pad brat, I was
supporting team Army. But in all honestly, the Navy played brilliantly! Having
interviewed the Army and Navy captains for our March issue of NCNB, I felt so
proud to see both teams play at Twickenham Stadium in front of 80,000 people,
hearing their families and friends around us cheering them on!
It was great
seeing Fleur East perform live as both teams were preparing for the big game,
and a brilliant speak from Ross Kemp. The chilly weather and odd showers of
rain didn’t affect the atmosphere one bit, as they called out the names of each
player, the cheers from family, friends and work colleagues filled the stadium.
The first half
of the game showed both teams defences were tight and the odds on who may win
was hard to guess. Myself and my colleague Jay spent numerous times discussing
which team might win, it was unclear as both teams were playing so well.
As the game
came to an end and Army winning 27-11, all I can say is a big well done to both
teams. Thank you to the Army v Navy team for making us feel so welcome and
inviting us to be part of the media coverage on the day. It was a day to
remember. – Alisha Dean

You know the
day is going to be good when you start at McDonalds. Alisha and I were on our
way to the Army vs Navy Rugby match at Twickenham. In the car journey down to London we weren’t
sure what to expect, neither of us had attended an event as press before and we
had only found out the week before that we were going. With only a few days to
prepare and not knowing what to expect, we were a little nervous.
The worry about
a lack of experience though was soon outweighed by our excitement. Once we got
there it was easy to pick up press passes, but we did have a little difficulty
finding out where to go. This led to us
doing a lap of the stadium as well as climbing up and down what felt like a
hundred flights of stairs, only to find out that where we needed to go was
where we started.
After all the
exercise we had done in search of where we needed to go it was a relief to see
that there was a lift going from the press room area straight up to where our
seats were, right in the commentary section, we had a great view of the match.
After a speech from Ross Kemp and a performance for Fleur east, the atmosphere
was growing, 80,000 people pouring into the stadium from the local pubs and
beer tents, many of them in fancy dress for the occasion.
It was a close
first half, ending with the army leading 5-3, although had the Navy not had a
try disallowed the score line could have been significantly different. In the
second half both teams were quick to add to their tally, with neither being
able to break away with a clear lead. It was easy to see that we were going to
get a lot more out of the second half. It wasn’t until the final ten minutes
though that the Army managed to pull away by extending their lead from 15-11 to
22-11, followed by a final try shortly after.
Overall it was
a great game and a great day. Thank you to the Army v Navy team for inviting us
to be part of the media on the day. – Jay Locking