Women’s Inter-Services 2026 Championship – Army v Royal Air Force

25/03/2026  -  10.41

Alex Alexandrou

On the 19th March, I had the pleasure of attending the 2026 Women’s Inter-Services match between the Army and the Royal Air Force that was played at Bracknell Town’s stadium in Sandhurst. 

The Championship is a tri-service competition played on an annual basis and up for grabs are a number of trophies that the representative teams of the Army, Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy compete for. Each team plays the other two teams once and home advantage alternates every season. The teams play for the Williamson Trophy but in addition this main trophy, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force match is played for the Lynsey Miller Cup; the Army and Royal Navy match for the Knight Cup; and the Royal Air Force and Army match for the Chatterton Cup.

The match was the Army’s home fixture and the Royal Air Force team came into the match with the chance of securing the Williamson Trophy as they had already beaten the Royal Navy.

The matches are open to the public and admission is free, so this is a valuable community engagement activity for the military. There was a fair smattering of fans made up of military personnel, friends and families of the players, groundhoppers and those with a spare few hours and a love of all things football. The match was also being streamed live by the BFBS.

As one would expect, tradition plays a key part in these fixtures and prior to the match the players, officials and spectators stood to attention for the National Anthem.

Standing to Attention for the National Anthem. Source: Author's Collection

The match like all the previous matches I have attended in this and other military football competitions was played in a competitive, fair and robust manner, with no quarter given but with the mutual respect that comrades-in-arms have for each other.

It is fair to say that the Royal Air Force have been the dominant team in this competition for a number of years, although the Army team did take them very close in the corresponding fixture played at Lincoln City last season, losing by the odd goal in seven.

The match got off to a bright start with the Royal Air Force team showing why they have been dominant but the Army team was resolute in defence with Army keeper, Tyrill Bell making a number of excellent saves and keeping her team in the match in the first half. The Army team held out until the 30th minute when Lucy Farrow opened the scoring for the Royal Air Force and a few minutes later Georgia Carr doubled the lead for the visitors. So, 2-0 at half-time for the defending champions.

In the second half, the Army players came out of the blocks but the Royal Air Force defended resolutely and against the run of play, defender Abigail Hayes hit a long distance shot that any forward would have been happy with and put the match well and truly beyond the reach of the Army. However, this group of Army players although relatively inexperienced compared to their Royal Air Force counterparts, refused to give up, were resolute and continued to attack deep into time added on and could have pulled back a couple of goals but it was not meant to be and the final score was 3-0 to the Royal Air Force.

The mutual respect the two teams have was in evidence at the end of the match as they both congratulated and commiserated with each other, with the Army team gracefully accepting defeat and applauding their adversaries as they collected their medals and trophies.

Royal Air Force Captain Catherine Beaver Receiving the Williamson Trophy. Source: Author's Collection

Thus, the Royal Air Force retained both the Williamson Trophy and the Chatterton Cup but more than this, the match was a great advertisement for women’s military football. All was not lost for the Army though, as the following week, they defeated the Royal Navy 4-1 and came away with the Knight Cup.

Biography

Alex Alexandrou is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Football and War Network.