The Royal Navy’s links with South Korea are to be celebrated on the football pitch – because it was the Senior Service that introduced the beautiful game to the South-East Asian country 122 years ago.

Football officials in Seoul have invited a Royal Navy squad to turn out in the magnificent stadium at Inchon, which hosted World Cup games during the 2002 tournament, for a match later this year.

The visit by HMS Flying Fish to Inchon in 1882 is credited with introducing football to the Koreans.

The invitation to players was announced at a celebration marking the centenary of the RN Football Association, held in Portsmouth last month on the site of the former Southern Daily Mail offices – now the Zurich Insurance office block – where the RNFA was born in 1904.

The Navy is credited with introducing and encouraging football in numerous nations around the globe, and First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West said it was appropriate that support was being acknowledged.

“Football is a game enjoyed by millions around the world and has enormous potential to bring together peoples of widely differing backgrounds and cultures,” said the Admiral.

“I’m proud that the Royal Navy played such a significant part in introducing the game to South Korea more than 100 years ago.”

Guests at the celebration included Mark Palios, the Chief Executive of the Football Association, and FA Chairman Geoff Thompson.

Centenary events continue next month when the Navy takes on the RAF in the Inter-Services competition at Fratton Park, home of Premiership club Portsmouth FC, and a dinner is lined up aboard historic ironclad HMS Warrior, to include footballing and RN sporting personalities.

On the pitch, the Royal Navy team notched up two impressive early-season victories, each by the narrowest of margins.

Gloucester were the opponents for the first competitive game of the season, played at Almondsbury in Bristol, and it was the civilian side which got off to the more impressive start.

It wasn’t until late in the first half that the Navy managed to put some pressure on the Gloucester defence – but it paid dividends when the home side conceded a penalty which was stroked home by POPT Fraser Quirke (HMS Temeraire).

Gloucester upped the work-rate after the break, but CPOPT Steve Riley (HMS Neptune) marshalled his defence superbly, and when a Gloucester striker was sent off for violent conduct, his team’s chances went with him. Leaving the Navy victors by 1-0.

Next up were the Prison Service at Oadby in Leicestershire, on a heavy pitch in bitterly cold January weather.

AEM Russell Hardwell (HMS Heron) and HMS Glasgow’s LPT Tugg Wilson pushed the civilian team from the outset, while at the back POPT Scott Mather and man-of-the-match POPT Steve O’Neil (both HMS Neptune) stood firm against the prison attacks.

CPO Riley scored the only goal of the game after a scramble at a corner.

The match saw the final outing for CCPO(WEA) Steve Johnson, who earned a record 231st cap in his last representative appearance before he leaves the Navy.

Next up in the group stage of the South West Counties Cup were Devon, in a match played on home turf in Devonport.

After a tight first half, the sailors put on 15 minutes of pressure, but failed to turn their territorial advantage into goals.

And when Devon striker Carl Cliff-Brown put the civvies 1-0 up after a swift counter-attack, the heart went out of the RN side who conceded another before the game ended scrappily to finish on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.