1988–89 League Cup (rugby league)


The 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy was the eighteenth season for the competition.
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

Preliminary Round

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
1Sun 30 Oct 1988Featherstone Rovers46-2HunsletPost Office Road1972
2Sun 30 Oct 1988Wigan St Patricks36-2Elland Central Park25101, 2
3Sun 30 Oct 1988Workington Town2-28CastlefordDerwent Park1502
4Sun 6 Nov 1988Bramley56-10FulhamMcLaren Field850

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
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
6Sun 13 Nov 1988Hull F.C.26-10BatleyBoulevard4054
7Sun 13 Nov 1988Hull Kingston Rovers40-0KeighleyCraven Park 3319
8Sun 13 Nov 1988Leigh42-14BarrowHilton Park3256
9Sun 13 Nov 1988Rochdale Hornets26-20WhitehavenAthletic Grounds888
10Sun 13 Nov 1988Runcorn Highfield2-92WiganCentral Park72333, 4, 5
11Sun 13 Nov 1988Sheffield Eagles80-8Wigan St PatricksOwlerton Stadium621
12Sun 13 Nov 1988Swinton13-16DoncasterStation Road2182
13Sun 13 Nov 1988Wakefield Trinity34-14CarlisleBelle Vue2513
14Sun 13 Nov 1988Warrington21-14OldhamWilderspool5528
15Sun 13 Nov 1988Widnes37-12Featherstone RoversNaughton Park52996
16Sun 13 Nov 1988York6-14St. HelensClarence Street3082

Round 2 - Second Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
1Sat 26 Nov 1988Wigan20-16HalifaxCentral Park10826
2Sun 27 Nov 1988Castleford18-19Bradford NorthernWheldon Road7688
3Sun 27 Nov 1988Chorley Borough22-36Hull Kingston RoversVictory Park983
4Sun 27 Nov 1988Leigh40-8DoncasterHilton Park4321
5Sun 27 Nov 1988St. Helens16-13Hull F.C.Knowsley Road7485
6Sun 27 Nov 1988Sheffield Eagles9-32WidnesOwlerton Stadium2716
7Sun 27 Nov 1988Wakefield Trinity38-12Rochdale HornetsBelle Vue2486
8Sun 27 Nov 1988Warrington42-10BramleyWilderspool3274

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
-
1Sat 3 Dec 1988Widnes16-7WarringtonNaughton Park6449
2Sun 4 Dec 1988Bradford Northern6-0LeighOdsal3975
3Sun 4 Dec 1988Hull Kingston Rovers16-16WiganCraven Park 7142
4Sun 4 Dec 1988St. Helens34-18Wakefield TrinityKnowsley Road7602

Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays

Involved 1 match with 2 clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
-
1Wed 7 Dec 1988Wigan30-0Hull Kingston RoversCentral Park13278

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
-
1Sat 10 Dec 1988Widnes20-18St. HelensWigan ??6755
2Sat 17 Dec 1988Wigan16-5Bradford NorthernLeeds ??6809

Final

Teams and Scorers

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 14?? Not used
Andy Goodway 15Paul Hulme
Graham LoweCoachDoug Laughton
-
12score6
6HT6
Scorers
Tries
Kevin Iro TDarren Wright
Ellery Hanley T
Goals
Joe Lydon GAndy Currier
RefereeJohn Holdsworth
Man of the matchEllery Hanley - Wigan -
Competition SponsorJohn Player Special

Scoring - Try = four points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

Timeline in the final

TimeIncidentScore
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 PositionCash PrizeNo. receiving prizeTotal 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

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 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, the John Player Trophy, the John Player Special Trophy, and the Regal Trophy in 1989.