This Saturday, The Sportsman will bring you uninterrupted, globally available, live coverage as the British Army take on the Royal Navy in the second round of the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup.
The historic meeting will be available live and exclusive by The Sportsman on our dedicated rugby league YouTube channel.
In the history of the competition, neither Army, RAF or Navy have faced one another. They have however contested inter-service on many occasions since the so-called ban on rugby league within the armed forces was lifted on April 29th, 1994.
“The army is the organisation it is because it runs on great governance and there's rules and guidance for absolutely everything, and they had something called synopsis sports.” Martin Coyd, founding secretary of armed forces rugby league tells The Sportsman.
“Because [rugby league] wasn't on the list. You couldn't play it. And there are a couple of notable incidents where things were put on orders banning people. It was a guards regiment that we wanted to play rugby league and they came out and banned it.”
That was until April 1994, however, when the right honourable Jeremy Hanley (pictured below, centre), armed forces minister, made the historic announcement that rugby league was to become a recognised sport within the service.
“So the change came about in the early 1990s, when the All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group and the notable people that I recall were David Hinchcliffe, the MP. for Wakefield and Ian McCartney was the MP for Wigan, began to ask questions in the House of Commons about why don't soldiers play rugby league?
“I think the first answer was you know, 'we don't know. We'll find out.' And the second one was 'none of them want to. We haven't got any desire to play rugby league in the British Army.' Mr Hinchcliffe and Mr McCartney went back and said, 'Well, we found some that do want to play rugby league,' and what happened was there was a sevens competition, which you would call illegal. It wasn't insured, if you like in the normal way, that Army Sport would be.
“A chap called Major Martin Morris (pictured below, far left), a Wiganer, was the organiser. A signal was sent out, went to all the army units in the world I think, saying 'there's a Sevens Rugby League competition come to Chepstow.' I recall with the regiment I was at that time, I was in the royal engineers. I had to go and ask for a minibus because I got a group of people who wanted to play.
And, you know, they said, 'yes, sure.' And I said, it's not rugby union, it's rugby league. They went 'oh.' And the answer was okay, but don't do anything daft. Don't get caught, don't you know - So all we did that was a bit daft, was win the competition, which brought a load of attention to us,” Martin delightfully describes.
“So that was the first thing, but we were still playing without authority until from memory 24th, maybe 29th of April 1994, when Jeremy Hanley who was the armed forces minister, made an announcement that rugby league was now permitted in the armed forces. It was a great occasion.”
A great occasion it was. And 28 years later, on the 29th of January 2022, Army Rugby League and the Royal Navy will face off in the Challenge Cup for the very first time, live and exclusive on The Sportsman Rugby League.
The tie will be played at the home of Army Rugby League in Aldershot and kicks off at 2pm. If you’re heading down to watch history unfold be sure to get there early as queues are expected ahead of kick-off. Entry is free, meaning you’ll have more change for a half-time pie!
Matt Horton and Andrew Henderson will again provide the commentary with a scheduled go-live time of 1:45pm as we meet the beach coaches and bring you a special short film commemorating this historic event, so make sure to be tuned in early.
If seeing the Army vs Navy isn’t enough to cleanse your palette this weekend, you’ll be pleased to know there’s a full set of fixtures in both the Betfred Challenge Cup and the return of the Betfred Championship to tickle your tastebuds, with Premier Sports first live game taking place on Monday as Featherstone Rovers repeat the 1895 Cup final against York City Knights at 7:45pm.
Challenge Cup Fixtures this weekend (29th/30th January 2022)
York Acorn v Wests Warriors, Saturday 29th, 1.30pm
British Army v Royal Navy , Saturday 29th, 2pm (Live on The Sportsman Rugby League)
West Hull v Rochdale Mayfield , Saturday 29th , 2pm
Hunslet Club Parkside v Stanningley , Saturday 29th , 2pm
Pilkington Recs v Siddal , Saturday 29th , 2.30pm
Leigh Miners Rangers v North Wales Crusaders , Saturday 29th, 2.30pm
London Skolars v London Chargers , Saturday 29th, 3.30pm
Rochdale Hornets v Midlands Hurricanes , Sunday 30th, 1pm (Live on BBC )
Doncaster v Thornhill , Sunday 30th , January, 3pm
Hunslet v Keighley Cougars , Sunday 30th , 3pm
West Wales Raiders v Swinton Lions , Sunday 30th, 3pm
Oldham v Lock Lane , Sunday 30th, 6pm (Live on Our League)
