It was a hot and humid Sunday, here in Malaysia we saw a fantastic day of rugby to commemorate the centenary of the Royal Air Force. Organised by the Senior British Officer based at the HQ Integrated Area Defence System (HQIADS) at RMAF Butterworth, Wing Commander Colin Would, in partnership with Cobrats Penang Rugby Club. Ten different clubs from northern Malaysia played thirty-four matches across 5 age divisions throughout the morning. The Under 16 Girls' and Women's divisions proved particularly popular with teams travelling from as far as the Thai border to compete.
In the afternoon the RAF Centenary Commemorative Match took place, an RMAF Butterworth Select XV took on a Penang Blues Select XV over 80 hard-fought minutes at the Penang Free School sports ground. The Butterworth team contained service members from all of the troop contributing nations of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) based at RMAF Butterworth on the north east coast of Malaysia in Penang State.
The players from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and UK from all three services proudly wore air force light blue as they battled against a Penang Blues team which included a number of state and international representative players. Despite scoring 4 tries in a fighting display in tough tropical conditions the final result was 50-22 against the RMAF Butterworth team.
"The whole day has been a great opportunity for the station to give a little back to the local community and the funding provided by the RAF made a real difference in enabling some of the teams to take part. It was a real privilege for me to captain the RMAF Butterworth team and to maintain the close links with have with our FPDA partners at RMAF Butterworth and also the wider community here in Penang"
Wing Commander Would
Senior British Officer
