Lap of Honour at the Millennium

13th February 2012

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There was a standing ovation for troops recently returned from Afghanistan when they took part in The British Forces Foundation's Lap of Honour at the Wales versus Scotland Six Nations’ encounter at The Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

The 73,000 strong crowd rose to their feet as the 30 representatives of the Army, Royal Navy and RAF took to the field at half-time and completed a full lap of the pitch to deafening cheers.

Sgt Dan Milward from RAF Leeming was blown away by the response: "I can remember when I joined the RAF and was discouraged from wearing uniform in public, yes mainly down to the terrorist threat at the time. Even as that threat diminished the public image of the forces was generally low.

"With the help of charities like The British Forces Foundation the same public are now recognizing the sacrifices we all make every time we say goodbye to our loved ones. The fact that over 73000 people were on their feet applauding us shows how our image has changed and how proud we can all be of our actions."

The 30 troops had lined up at the start of the match to form  a “Guard of Honour” in time for the arrival of the Scottish and Welsh teams. Alex Luff from The Millennium Stadium said: “For a number of years, The Millennium Stadium has got behind our Armed Forces and Lap of Honour is just right for an occasion such as this.  The response from the crowd was deafening.”

BFF Director Mark Cann added: “It was a relatively quiet first half to the match but the Lap of Honour at half-time really got the crowd going and the second half play and atmosphere was electric.

"As a Charity dedicated to boosting the morale of Britain’s Armed Forces, we are enormously grateful to The Welsh Rugby Union for extending this invitation to host the 5^th leg of Lap of Honour.  I really cannot think of a better venue or occasion for such a positive undertaking.”

The BFF's  Lap of Honour came about to  provide a contemporary and informal way of bringing the Armed Forces and British public together. The first “Lap of Honour” took place at Wembley back in 2008 [ahead of England’s Euro 2008 game against Croatia] and last year’s lap launched The John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree racecourse.

Lap of Honour enables people to demonstrate support for their Armed Forces and in turn the servicemen and women to show what support, on such a large scale, means to them.  The positive effect this has on morale is evident not just to those directly involved but also to the troops deployed on operations all over the world.