User:The C of E/boe

Bank Lane Rugby Football Club, formerly known as Bank of England Rugby Football Club, is an English rugby union club based in Roehampton, London. They were founded in 1906 as the rugby club for the Bank of England's staff until 2022 when the Bank of England rescinded the affiliation.

History
Rugby teams representing the Bank of England had played as early as 1886 and 1890 but reportedly found it difficult to field teams owing to the bank staff being unable to leave work in time for 3pm kick-offs. However by 1906, they were able to formally form Bank of England RFC. Due to the success of the rugby club, the Bank of England purchased a ground in Roehampton which would become the Bank of England Sports Club in 1908. For a time, Bank of England RFC allowed non-Bank employees to freely play for the club until 1991 when the Bank insisted that the playing team must have at least 8 Bank employees in the starting lineup due to concern too many non-employees were using their facilities. Chris Oti briefly trained with the club when he worked for the Bank of England. The club became fully open to non-bank staff in 1995. The England national rugby union team occasionally used the Bank of England ground for training. In 2017, they played against London Welsh in their first match under that name since their parent club had been liquidated.

In 2022, during a tour to Belgium, Bank of England players were photographed engaging in stripping on a Eurostar train. When these images came to light, the Bank of England announced that the rugby club no longer represented the Bank and could no longer use the Bank of England name. The club then renamed themselves as Bank Lane, after the road that the Bank of England Sports Club was located on.