British Army Rugby League

The British Army Rugby League team is the official rugby league team representing the British Army. The team was founded in 1994 when the Army first recognised rugby league as an official sport and lifted a ban on it. The new team was able to play in the Challenge Cup. The team play their home matches at Aldershot Military Stadium in Aldershot, Hampshire. An Army women's team was set up in 2019.
History.
Historically, rugby league had been banned in the British Armed Forces due to the strength of rugby union and the Rugby Football Union's demands that anyone playing rugby league would be banned from playing rugby union. This ban was lifted in 1994 following an announcement by the Armed Forces Minister Jeremy Hanley. The new team was founded by Martin Coyd of the Royal Engineers. Due to the wide array of British Army deployments worldwide, the British Army do not play in a league in the English rugby league system. Occasionally they have players from the Army Rugby Union cross codes to play in their matches. 
As a result of the ban being lifted, the men's team became eligible to enter the Challenge Cup. Initially in 1999, the Rugby Football League (RFL) were only going to allow the winners of the Inter-Services competition (which the Army won) to enter in the 2000 Challenge Cup but they were eventually persuaded that all three of the services teams were able to enter. The team's best result was to reach the fourth round of the 2020 Challenge Cup, the highest for a forces team since 2010 when the Royal Navy reached the third round. The Army Women team won the Challenge Shield in 2019 However none of the military teams took take part in the 2021 Challenge Cup because the RFL decided that only professional Rugby League teams would be allowed to compete because of the COVID-19 pandemic.