RN Amateur Fencing Association

Welcome to the site for Navy Fencing. 
 

The Royal Naval Amateur Fencing Association maintains opportunities for all Naval Service personnel to get involved in fencing.   With the size of a full team being 18 fencers and requiring equal numbers of males and females, it always means there are always opportunities for less experienced fencers to participate at higher levels.  While being a historic sport (included in every Olympic Games) it remains vibrant, energetic and continues to grow nationally.  The Navy has managed to compete well with the other services and even be represented on the international stage with Lt Bowers gaining a double bronze at the Commonwealth Championships last year. 

From the nature of the sport and the need for a variety of other fencers to practice with then we generally encourage fencers to become involved in local civilian clubs for basic training and participate in team activities/matches.  To that end we run a series of events deliberately designed to bring on novice and inexperienced fencers in a team environment.  These are the invitational matches whereby we invite similar mixed developing fencers from local clubs to compete in a friendly and relaxed environment. We usually plan for four of these. In 2012 they will take place in Bristol, Portsmouth, Newcastle and Plymouth.

For any experienced fencers then we also offer further opportunities, the Royal Navy consistently provides a considerable portion of the Combined Services team which enters various National team events such as the Winton Cup and also enters an Invitational in Canada every other year.  We also have three more competitive matches planned each year.  For 2012 these involve fixtures against Lansdowne Club, Sarnia Sword Club (Guernsey) and a National Veterans Team (London)

We also have three events designed to be open to all levels these being the RN Championships (usually in May), the Combined Services Championships (usually in June) and the RN Inter Unit Competition (usually in London in late November).

Furthermore we do also maintain training for service personnel where we can and currently have service clubs available at HMS Sultan (for all those in the Portsmouth area), Shrivenham, Abbey Wood and occasional sessions in London.  In addition both Raleigh and Dartmouth have been running grass root sessions.

We have also managed to support fencers at a higher level, with one of our team acting as a referee at the Olympics in 2012 and another assisting with the organisation.  If you wish to know any more about fencing in the Royal Navy then do please contact us through this website.  

Dicky Barton

 Cdr RN, Chairman Royal Navy Fencing