46 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2010


THE RN Ladies have opened the 2010-11 season unbeaten – thanks not least to an impressive comeback.


Victory Stadium with a new-look side,


The campaign opened at largely


comprising fresh


faces, taking on well-established Portsmouth team Widbrook United.


AB Sarah Mansfi eld (HMS


Scott), one of the mainstays of the squad, was tasked with leading the attack and linking with the midfi eld as often as possible; the midfi eld four were playing together for the fi rst time, – MA Lindsay Phillips (Collingwood) was the sole survivor from last season’s team. Wtr Jenny Conning (JFC Naples), making her debut as captain, organised the defence – which was quickly tested by a Widbrook team who were playing their ninth game of the season. The opponents looked to get the ball forward quickly and were more organised and composed than the inexperienced sailors and took a 2-0 lead by the break. Enter the proverbial game of


two halves. A couple of slight alterations to


Football fans fête Forces


SAILORS and Royal Marines acknowledge the support of 44,919 football fans as they step on to the famous turf of Ibrox Stadium.


Personnel from HM Naval Base Clyde, Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines and ship’s company from HMS Ark Royal – in Scotland to offload ammunition before paying off – were invited to attend the Rangers-Aberdeen clash as part of Remembrance weekend events in Glasgow. Players wore poppies on their shirts and the fans held up individual placards in unison to create huge poppies in the stands, and at half-time the Senior Servicemen were asked on to the pitch – and promptly received a standing ovation. Rangers and Aberdeen fans weren’t the only football aficionados to fête Ark Royal’s sailors. On the same day another group from the flagship were in


Yorkshire bidding farewell to their affiliated city. As part of that farewell, the sailors were guests of Leeds United when the Championship side hosted Bristol City. Like Rangers and Aberdeen players, the two English teams also donned shirts adorned with poppies to mark the occasion. And at half time, the Ark Royal contingent were invited on to the Elland Road pitch to the cheers of 27,000 football fans chanting ‘Ark Royal’, before marching off to a spontaneous, and reverential, silence; the sailors were taken aback by the overwhelming nature of their reception. Lt Andy Haywood spoke for all in describing it as an event which was “genuinely moving”.


During the visit to Leeds, the carrier’s rugby team had a run out against Roundhegians RUFC (a 20-14 victory for the matelots), while the footballers lost 3-2 to students from Leeds Metropolitan University.


Picture: David Donnelly/www.dgdonnelly.co.uk


John’s Hungary for strongman success


THERE’S strong. There’s Royal Marines strong. There’s David Haye strong. And then there’s John Strange strong. The name might not be familiar,


but the 25-year-old leading medical assistant, serving at MOD Corsham, is the 13th strongest person on the planet. The submariner, the current Combined Services powerlifting champ, headed to Hungary and the World’s Natural Strongest Man contest alongside heavyweights from Poland, Sweden, the USA, Romania,


Canada, Australia and Scotland. The


who strive to be strong without resorting to bodybuilding drugs, such as steroids.


atlas stones (ball-shaped stones) weighing up to 160kg (25st) on to platforms up to 170cm high (5½ft); flipping a 500kg (78st) tyre; carry a 180kg (28st) husofell


The contest comprises lifting sport


Northern Ireland, celebrates


those


stone (coffin-shaped stone) down a course;


known as a yoke, weighing 435kg (68st) along a course; and, finally, lift weights between 150kg and 220kg (23-34st) up two steps of 40cm (16in). John managed to lift a 150kg


carry an implement


atlas stone up to a 170cm platform, flipped the tyre over once, carried the husofell stone eight and a half metres (28ft), moved the yoke four metres (13ft) and made the first step with the 220kg. When the points were tallied, the junior rate was ranked 13th. The winner was strongman legend Hungarian Laszlo Fekete, who’s lifted various versions of the title five times over the past two decades.


Hungary,


form a British Natural Strongman Federation and,


Thanks to his performance in John’s been asked to


organise a strongest man contest in the Senior Service.


hopefully,


the RN’s formation saw Mansfi eld playing a deeper role looking to get hold of the ball and be the creative player in the middle, also giving the midfi eld a bit more cover and experience in the centre of the park.


With both sides looking to attack


the fi rst 20 minutes of the second period passed quickly but with no real opportunities to note until a 65th-minute corner, swung in by debutant AB Hanna Canning. United cleared the ball straight to Mansfi eld on the edge of the box who unleashed an unstoppable shot straight past the keeper. That strike bolstered RN


confi dence and ushered in their best period of play in the match as they pushed forward straight away looking for the equaliser.


Comeback queens


Onside with Lt Cdr Neil Horwood, RNFA


O N


It came after 80 minutes from


a great pass and involved AB Jess Riley Siggins (Heron) who was playing her fi rst game in over a year.


Siggins played a give-and-go with Canning who forced her way into space to square for Phillips to side foot into the net. The last ten minutes saw both sides seek a winner, but a draw was perhaps the fairest result. The second game of the season


was a fairly comfortable encounter at Yeovilton against Bridgwater – after a couple of early chances for the visitors were blocked by keeper AB Louise Worsfold (Nelson). Those saves brought the RN to


life, although it was well into the second half before their pressure was turned into goals.


On 55 minutes MA Lindsey Phillips (HMS Collingwood) made a great run down the right wing following good work from Siggins.


The resulting run and cross was cut out by the Bridgwater defence, but only cleared as far as Lt Laura Thombs (Argyll) who easily side- stepped an oncoming midfi elder and slid the ball to Nelson’s AB Kayleigh Edwards.


She adjusted her feet to get a


quick shot away which was too good for the despairing dive of the Bridgwater keeper. Good link-up play after 70 minutes between Thombs and Edwards enabled Edwards to fi nd herself in space on the edge of the Bridgwater penalty area again. Despite having a lot to do, a great fi rst touch split two defenders wide open, and she proceeded to move into space on the edge of the penalty area, going round the last defender and fi ring the ball confi dently past a stranded keeper for a great score.


Ten minutes later the game


was killed off courtesy of Phillips who exploited space behind the Bridgewater left back; she didn’t hesitate


in driving forward and


unleashing a quality strike from the corner of the box which the keeper couldn’t get close to. The Navy ran out 3-0 winners. This was a good early game for the RN ladies, who showed that they could play some really good passing football. Meanwhile


the season


begun with one win and one defeat for the men’s U23s. Cambridge University were the opponents for fixture.


the opening


On a near-perfect pitch, the RN began the game brightly against a technically-competent university team.


Despite a great deal of


endeavour from the RN forward pairing of ET Jason Farnsworth (Edinburgh) and AET Musumeci (Heron) the game was goalless at half time.


The game opened up slightly in the second half and the RN were unlucky not to take the lead when an ambitious overhead kick from WEA Ritchie (Collingwood) hit the crossbar. Cambridge began to press the


RN; with the advantage of a good team understanding they initially hit the woodwork before the winner came from the penalty spot in the last 15 minutes. The next outing saw the sailors


take on Icarus FC – a side which draws its players from the RAF Offi cer Corps, providing a good mixture of both experience and youth.


a lively


The U23s began the game in fashion. Some excellent


movement down the left fl ank by debutant AET Danny Brookwell


has


(Culdrose) and a low drive across the six-yard box was met effectively by ET Farnsworth and the RN were 1-0 up after six minutes. With momentum in the favour of the Senior Service, both Brookwell and AB Ross Beech (FPGRM) made advances down the left and right channels and were well supported by their respective full backs.


Brookwell grew in confi dence and opted to take on the Icarus right back. With a brilliant run down the left beating three players; the 17-year-old struck the ball sweetly across the RAF keeper to take a 2-0 lead on 18 minutes. AET Nikki Longstaff (Ark


Royal) and LMEA Mario Biagani (Sultan) battled well in the centre of the fi eld and ensured the opposition had little time to settle into their stride, but the game started to turn after 30 minutes and the Icarus pressure paid off with the RN conceding a soft goal to go in 2-1 up at half time. The second period started as the


fi rst had fi nished with continued pressure from the opposition which led to a penalty being conceded that was confi dently tucked away by the RAF.


It took the RN longer than it


should have to get back into their stride, but eventually they started moving the ball effectively and creating the space to hurt the opposition. With a couple of changes in the second half – Logs Nobby Hall (Ark Royal) and AB Dave Mc Loughlin (Vanguard) added fresh legs – the game started to swing back in favour of the Navy. A move started and brilliantly off by AET Longstaff


fi nished


restored the RN lead. Further pressure led to a penalty being awarded to the U23 and the fourth goal was slammed home by the ever-reliable left foot of McLoughlin.


Some poor defending in the


fi nal stages led to a third goal for Icarus but the Navy managed to hang on and came out 4-3 victors.


Raleigh’s gym’ll fi x it


MOST things from the 1980s should be left there: mullets, shoulder


pads, Kajagoogoo. But the decade of big hair, yuppies, the


Rubik’s cube and fi tness videos did have some redeeming features: the Falklands were liberated, Live Aid pricked the public conscience... and Kajagoogoo split. And in the early 1980s the Royal Navy called time on a method of physical training which had served it for more than a century. A generation later and the clubz at HMS Raleigh have resurrected Initial Military Fitness – aka Swedish PT (so called because it was invented by a Swede...). The RN brought this form of exercise to Blighty and promptly introduced it to encourage fi tness and instil discipline. It’s still in use in the Royal Marines, but it fell out of favour in the Fleet... until the call for ‘more grit’ went out... and IMF was reborn. So today, men and women on only their second day in the Service are getting their fi rst


taste of Senior Service PTIs and their fi rst taste of this very regimented form of physical training. So what is IMF? Well, the instructor mounts a wooden horse


at the front of the gym hall and lines up the 60 or so trainees on black spots marked on the fl oor.


And on these spots, the rookie sailors stand


to attention, jump to face the corners, stand to attention, run on the spot, stand to attention some more...


Running up and down the sides of the hall, three PTIs – ‘strikers’ – ensure that standards are maintained by the trainees. “Needs to be sharper.” “Don’t move until you are told.” “Stop scratching.” The strikers move in and out of the rows, straightening arms, getting posture right. “There’s no hiding place,” points out WO1


Dave Randle, Raleigh’s senior clubz, overseeing this reintroduction of IMF on a trial basis.


“The Navy has always relied on the PT branch to instil discipline. It wanted its sailors to be more disciplined, more robust, to show more grit.” And today it’s less grit than looks of sheer concentration/terror (it’s a fi ne line...) etched on the trainees’ faces. “That was terrible,” LPT Lee Carrie yells across the hall. “This is pretty simple stuff.” The sailors are, of course, only two days into their careers, so perhaps we’ll let them off a little. But what IMF certainly does is instil immediate discipline.


The only sound in the hall is gym shoes pounding the fl oor followed by a few pants and sighs. The trainees do not utter one word. “It is very satisfying giving this training,” says


WO Randle. “You can see kids from all backgrounds picking up lessons they’ve learned, coming along, becoming more disciplined as we introduce civvies to military life.” Picture: Dave Sherfield, HMS Raleigh


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48