Afghans try rugby thanks to 45 Commando

By News reporter

April 23 2011, 9:02am

Captain (Capt) Stuart McCrimmon (pictured right) takes the ball in a rugby game played on a make shift pitch In Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shawqat in Southern Afghanistan. Stuart McCrimmon has spent the past week training up members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to take pare in the game. The support for the game came from the Lawrence Dallaglio Trust with the initial idea coming from Captian (Capt) Alex Pounds, the Training Officer at the Royal Marine Reserves (RMR) based in London. Footage from the game is due to be aired at the match for heroes at Twickenham on St Georges Day (23 Apr 11). Proceeds from the event will go to Help for Heroes, the Benevolent funds across the three services and the Royal Marines own charity, the C Group. The new arrivals from the Commando unit will spend the duration of their tour co located with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and they hope to organise more events that will support their close working relationship with the Afghan soldiers. NOTE TO DESKS: MoD release authorised handout images. All images remain crown copyright. Photo credit to read - Sergeant Alison Baskerville RLC

Royal Marines from Arbroath’s 45 Commando have taken time out of their military role in Afghanistan to undertake a joint sporting mission with the soldiers of the home nation.

The Angus commandos are now firmly settled into their new deployment, working alongside the Afghan National Army to provide security in the Nad-e Ali South area of Helmand province.

The marines and the ANA share a forward operating base, carry out patrols together and meet local people living nearby, and while their role remains a stressful and dangerous one, an early opportunity to forge a successful relationship emerged on the unlikely setting of the makeshift rugby pitch.

Adjutant Captain Stuart Maccrimmon said, “We work really long days, often in the blazing sun, so it can be really tiring and quite stressful.

“On the rare occasions we have a bit of spare time, the lads like to have a kick-about or throw the ball around but we noticed the Afghans were a bit reluctant to join in I think they were just confused about the rules.”

Capt Maccrimmon and some of the marines decided to train the Afghans so they could take part in the oval ball game and, with no shortage of volunteers from the ANA, the new players have been getting to grips with the basics of passing, line-outs and scrums.

To make things more interesting, Capt Maccrimmon and his team organised a match between the marines and the soldiers to take place at FOB Shawqat, neatly timed to coincide with this weekend’s Match for Heroes at Twickenham.

“The performance of the Afghans impressed us all, especially as they had never played or even watched rugby before,” he added.

“At first, we thought we’d better go easy on them but had to change that tactic when we realised how good they were.”

The Angus marines held on for victory, but have now been challenged to a cricket match by ANA servicemen keen to even the score in the growing friendly rivalry.

The rugby match will also have a beneficial spin-off back home in the UK, with shirts worn by the Royal Marines and the Afghan soldiers set to be auctioned here to raise money for military charities.