1988–89 League Cup

1988–89 League Cup
Structure National knockout championship
Number of teams 18
Winners Wigan
Runners-up Widnes
< 1987–88 Seasons 1989–90 >

The 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy was the eighteenth season for the competition (named as such due to sponsorship from John Player & Sons).

Wigan won the final, beating Widnes by the score of 12-6. The match was played at Burnden Park, Bolton, Greater Manchester. The attendance was 20,709 and receipts were £94874.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-six
Huddersfield dropped the "Barracuda" suffix and the ground reverted to the traditional Fartown name, much to the relief of most of the fans - and - Springfield Borough moved to Chorley after only one season and re-branded themselves Chorley Borough, playing at Victory Park, the home of Chorley FC

Competition and Results[1][2]

Preliminary Round[3]

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sun 30 Oct 1988Featherstone Rovers46-2HunsletPost Office Road1972
2Sun 30 Oct 1988Wigan St Patricks36-2Elland (Halifax)Central Park25101, 2
3Sun 30 Oct 1988Workington Town2-28CastlefordDerwent Park1502
4Sun 6 Nov 1988Bramley56-10FulhamMcLaren Field850

Round 1 - First Round[3]

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 12 Nov 1988Leeds12-21CastlefordHeadingley10006
2Sun 13 Nov 1988Bradford Northern34-18DewsburyOdsal2555
3Sun 13 Nov 1988Bramley32-6Mansfield MarksmanMcLaren Field1151
4Sun 13 Nov 1988Halifax22-4SalfordThrum Hall6661
5Sun 13 Nov 1988Huddersfield4-22Chorley BoroughFartown1120[4]
6Sun 13 Nov 1988Hull F.C.26-10BatleyBoulevard4054[5]
7Sun 13 Nov 1988Hull KR40-0KeighleyCraven Park (1)3319
8Sun 13 Nov 1988Leigh42-14BarrowHilton Park3256
9Sun 13 Nov 1988Rochdale Hornets26-20WhitehavenAthletic Grounds888
10Sun 13 Nov 1988Runcorn Highfield2-92WiganCentral Park72333, 4, 5[2]
11Sun 13 Nov 1988Sheffield Eagles80-8Wigan St PatricksOwlerton Stadium621
12Sun 13 Nov 1988Swinton13-16DoncasterStation Road2182
13Sun 13 Nov 1988Wakefield Trinity34-14CarlisleBelle Vue2513[6]
14Sun 13 Nov 1988Warrington21-14OldhamWilderspool5528[7]
15Sun 13 Nov 1988Widnes37-12Featherstone RoversNaughton Park52996[8]
16Sun 13 Nov 1988York6-14St HelensClarence Street3082[9]

Round 2 - Second Round[10]

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 26 Nov 1988Wigan20-16HalifaxCentral Park10826[2]
2Sun 27 Nov 1988Castleford18-19Bradford NorthernWheldon Road 7688
3Sun 27 Nov 1988Chorley Borough22-36Hull KRVictory Park983
4Sun 27 Nov 1988Leigh40-8DoncasterHilton Park4321
5Sun 27 Nov 1988St Helens16-13Hull F.C.Knowsley Road7485[5][9]
6Sun 27 Nov 1988Sheffield Eagles9-32WidnesOwlerton Stadium2716[8]
7Sun 27 Nov 1988Wakefield Trinity38-12Rochdale HornetsBelle Vue2486[6]
8Sun 27 Nov 1988Warrington42-10BramleyWilderspool3274[7]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals[11]

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 3 Dec 1988Widnes16-7WarringtonNaughton Park6449[7][8]
2Sun 4 Dec 1988Bradford Northern6-0LeighOdsal3975
3Sun 4 Dec 1988Hull KR16-16WiganCraven Park (1)7142[2]
4Sun 4 Dec 1988St Helens34-18Wakefield TrinityKnowsley Road7602[6][9]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays

Involved 1 match with 2 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Wed 7 Dec 1988Wigan30-0Hull KRCentral Park13278[9]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals[12]

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 10 Dec 1988Widnes20-18St HelensWigan ??6755[8][9]
2Sat 17 Dec 1988Wigan16-5Bradford NorthernLeeds ??6809[2]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 7 January 1989Wigan12-6WidnesBurnden Park20709948747[8][13][14][15]

Teams and Scorers[13][14][15][16][16]

Wigan № Widnes
teams
Steve Hampson1Alan Tait
Dean Bell2Rick Thackray
Kevin Iro3Andy Currier
Joe Lydon4Darren Wright
Tony Iro5Martin "Chariots" Offiah
Ged Byrne6Tony Myler
Shaun Edwards7David Hulme
Adrian Shelford8Kurt Sorensen
Martin Dermott9Phil McKenzie
Shaun Wane10Joe Grima
Denis Betts11Mike O'Neill
Ian Potter12Emosi Koloto
Ellery Hanley13"Richie" Eyres
Andy Gregory (for Joe Lydon 51 min)14?? Not used
Andy Goodway (for Adrian Shelford 20 min)15Paul Hulme (for Emosi Koloto 44 min)
Graham LoweCoachDoug Laughton
12score6
6HT6
Scorers
Tries
Kevin Iro (1)TDarren Wright (1)
Ellery Hanley (1)T
Goals
Joe Lydon (2)GAndy Currier (1)
RefereeJohn Holdsworth (Kippax)
Man of the matchEllery Hanley - Wigan - Loose forward/Lock
Competition SponsorJohn Player Special

Scoring - Try = four (4) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

Timeline in the final

Time Incident Score
incidentsincidentsscore
6th MinuteTry: Kevin Iro4-0
13th MinuteTry: Darren Wright4-4
Conversion: Andy Currier4-6
21st MinutePenalty Goal: Joe Lydon6-6
Half Time6-6
42nd MinutePenalty Goal: Joe Lydon8-6
69th MinuteTry: Ellery Hanley12-6
Full Time12-6

Prize Money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-

Finish Position Cash Prize No. receiving prize Total Cash
Winner?1?
Runner-up?1?
semi-finalist?2?
loser in Rd 3?4?
loser in Rd 2?8?
Loser in Rd 1?16?
Loser in Prelim Round???
Grand Total

Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First Round Second Round Third Round Semi Finals Final
               
Huddersfield 4
Chorley Borough 22
Chorley Borough 22
Hull KR 36
Hull KR 40
Keighley 0
Hull KR 16(0)
Wigan 16 (30)
Runcorn Highfield 2
Wigan 92
Wigan 20
Halifax 16
Halifax 22
Salford 4
Wigan 16
Bradford Northern 5
Leeds 12
Castleford 21
Castleford 18
Bradford Northern 19
Bradford Northern 34
Dewsbury 18
Bradford Northern 6
Leigh 0
Leigh 42
Barrow 14
Leigh 40
Doncaster 18
Swinton 13
Doncaster 16
Wigan 12
Widnes 6
Sheffield Eagles 80
Wigan St Patricks 8
Sheffield Eagles 9
Widnes 34
Widnes 37
Featherstone Rovers 12
Widnes 16
Warrington 7
Warrington 21
Oldham 14
Warrington 42
Bramley 10
Bramley 32
Mansfield Marksman 6
Widnes 20
St Helens 15
York 6
St Helens 14
St Helens 16
Hull F.C. 13
Hull F.C. 26
Batley 10
St Helens 34
Wakefield Trinity 18
Wakefield Trinity 34
Carlisle 14
Wakefield Trinity 38
Rochdale Hornets 12
Rochdale Hornets 26
Whitehaven 20

Notes and comments

1 * Wigan St Patricks are a Junior (amateur) club from Wigan[17]
2 * Elland are a Junior (amateur) club from the Halifax area of Yorkshire[18]
3 * Runcorn Highfield forfeited home advantage for a larger gate. Runcorn Players were also in dispute and the club fielded a very reduced strength team comprised a number of trialists and reserves (and coach Bill Ashurst, (an ex Wigan player) who came out of retirement especially to play, and was disappointedly sent off 12 minutes after coming off the subs bench)
4 * A Wigan record victory in this tournament
5 * The highest score, highest score by home team and highest winning margin in the competition, between all clubs to date
6 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and Widnes official archives[8] give the score as 37-12 but Wigan official archives[2] gives it as 37-2
7 * Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers from 1895 to 1997. It hosted the 1900-01 FA Cup Final replay in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3.1. The record attendance was for a 6th round F A Cup match with Stoke City (Stanley Matthews played for Stoke at the time) at which, although the ground capacity was set at 70,000, an estimated 85,000 fans crowded in, and when two crush barriers broke, the result was 33 fans killed and another 400 injured. The capacity at closure was a mere 25,000

General information for those unfamiliar

The council of the Rugby Football League voted to introduce a new competition, to be similar to The Football Association and Scottish Football Association's "League Cup". It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. As this was being formulated, sports sponsorship was becoming more prevalent and as a result John Player and Sons, a division of Imperial Tobacco Company, became sponsors, and the competition never became widely known as the "League Cup"
The competition ran from 1971-72 until 1995-96 and was initially intended for the professional clubs plus the two amateur BARLA National Cup finalists. In later seasons the entries were expanded to take in other amateur and French teams. The competition was dropped due to "fixture congestion" when Rugby League became a summer sport The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final usually taking place in late January
The competition was variably known, by its sponsorship name, as the Player's No.6 Trophy (1971–1977), the John Player Trophy (1977–1983), the John Player Special Trophy (1983–1989), and the Regal Trophy in 1989.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Rugby League Project".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. 1 2 "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
  4. ↑ "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  5. 1 2 "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. 1 2 3 "Wakefield until I die".
  7. 1 2 3 "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  10. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
  11. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results".
  12. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".
  13. 1 2 "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Final archived results".
  14. 1 2 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  15. 1 2 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  16. 1 2 "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".
  17. ↑ "Wigan St Patricks".
  18. ↑ "Elland ARLFC".

External links

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