1986–87 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the sixteenth season of the rugby league League Cup, again known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship purposes.

1986–87 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams36
WinnersWigan
Runners-upWarrington

Wigan won the trophy, beating Warrington 18-4 in the final. The match was played at Burnden Park, Bolton, Greater Manchester. The attendance was 22,144 and receipts were £86041.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-six.

There were no drawn matches in this seasons tournament

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
1Wed 12 Nov 1986Halifax38-23YorkThrum Hall2962
2Sat 15 Nov 1986Millom4-18Wakefield TrinityCoronation Field, Millom20001[4]
3Sun 16 Nov 1986Batley2-8Myson (Hull)Mount Pleasant6872
4Sun 16 Nov 1986Workington Town16-6Huddersfield BarracudasDerwent Park420[5]

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 29 Nov 1986Wigan32-10LeedsCentral Park9112[2]
2Sun 30 Nov 1986Barrow36-10Runcorn HighfieldCraven Park17713
3Sun 30 Nov 1986Blackpool Borough42-12Mansfield MarksmanBorough Park376
4Sun 30 Nov 1986Doncaster18-14Hull Kingston RoversBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield3084
5Sun 30 Nov 1986Featherstone Rovers22-18Workington TownPost Office Road1521
6Sun 30 Nov 1986Fulham24-34CastlefordChiswick Poly Sports Grd1374
7Sun 30 Nov 1986Halifax36-22Wakefield TrinityThrum Hall4076[4]
8Sun 30 Nov 1986Leigh32-10Rochdale HornetsHilton Park2754
9Sun 30 Nov 1986Myson (Hull)11-18SwintonCraven Park (1)16482
10Sun 30 Nov 1986Oldham12-22Bradford NorthernWatersheddings5642
11Sun 30 Nov 1986Salford12-27Hull F.C.The Willows2100[6]
12Sun 30 Nov 1986Sheffield Eagles14-6BramleyOwlerton Stadium415
13Sun 30 Nov 1986Warrington11-10HunsletWilderspool3680[7]
14Sun 30 Nov 1986Whitehaven8-10St. HelensRecreation Ground3678[8]
15Sun 30 Nov 1986Widnes82-0DewsburyNaughton Park21384[9]
16Thu 04 Dec 1986Carlisle8-2KeighleyPenrith FC300

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 6 Dec 1986Castleford22-26St. HelensWheldon Road4808[8]
2Sun 7 Dec 1986Blackpool Borough22-48Hull F.C.Borough Park37235[6]
3Sun 7 Dec 1986Featherstone Rovers12-19Bradford NorthernPost Office Road3907
4Sun 7 Dec 1986Leigh26-14DoncasterHilton Park3363
5Sun 7 Dec 1986Sheffield Eagles8-14BarrowOwlerton Stadium5136
6Sun 7 Dec 1986Warrington44-10HalifaxWilderspool5804[7]
7Sun 7 Dec 1986Wigan20-14SwintonCentral Park9874[2]
8Mon 8 Dec 1986Widnes36-6CarlisleNaughton Park2016[9]

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 13 Dec 1986Bradford Northern8-20Hull F.C.Odsal3545[6]
2Sun 14 Dec 1986Barrow6-16WidnesCraven Park3199[9]
3Sun 14 Dec 1986St. Helens20-22WarringtonKnowsley Road11571[7][8]
4Sun 14 Dec 1986Wigan6-2LeighCentral Park11573[2]

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 20 Dec 1986Wigan12-11Hull F.C.Headingley5245[2][6]
2Sat 27 Dec 1986Warrington35-4WidnesCentral Park6409[7][9]

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 10 January 1987Wigan18-4WarringtonBurnden Park Bolton22144860417, 8[7][13][14][15]

Teams and Scorers

[14][15][16]

Wigan № Warrington
teams
Steve Hampson1Brian Johnson
David Stephenson2Kevin Meadows
Joe Lydon3Paul Cullen
Dean Bell4Joe Ropati
Henderson Gill5Mark Forster
Ellery Hanley6Ken Kelly
Shaun Edwards7Steve Peters
Graeme West8Les Boyd
Martin Dermott9Kevin Tamati
Brian Case10Bob Jackson
Ian Roberts11Gary Sanderson
Ian Potter12Mark Roberts
Andy Goodway13Mike Gregory
? Not used14Ronnie Duane (for Steve Peters 63-minutes)
? Not used15Alan Rathbone (for Kevin Tamati half-time)
Graham LoweCoachTony Barrow
18score4
4HT4
Scorers
Tries
Dean Bell (1)TMark Forster (1)
Henderson Gill (2)T
Andy Goodway (1)T
Goals
Henderson Gill (1)G
RefereeJohn Holdsworth (Kippax)
Man of the matchAndy Goodway - Wigan - loose forward
Competition SponsorJohn Player Special

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

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
               
Wigan 32
Leeds 10
Wigan 20
Swinton 14
Myson (Hull) 11
Swinton 18
Wigan 6
Leigh 2
Leigh 32
Rochdale Hornets 10
Leigh 26
Doncaster 14
Doncaster 18
Hull Kingston Rovers 14
Wigan 12
Hull F.C. 11
Featherstone Rovers 22
Workington Town 18
Featherstone Rovers 12
Bradford Northern 19
Oldham 12
Bradford Northern 22
Bradford Northern 8
Hull F.C. 20
Blackpool Borough 42
Mansfield Marksman 12
Blackpool Borough 22
Hull F.C. 48
Salford 12
Hull F.C. 27
Wigan 18
Warrington 4
Fulham 24
Castleford 34
Castleford 22
St. Helens 26
Whitehaven 8
St. Helens 10
St. Helens 20
Warrington 22
Warrington 11
Hunslet 11
Warrington 44
Halifax 10
Halifax 36
Wakefield Trinity 22
Warrington 35
Widnes 4
Sheffield Eagles 14
Bramley 6
Sheffield Eagles 8
Barrow 14
Barrow 36
Runcorn Highfield 10
Barrow 6
Widnes 16
Widnes 62
Dewsbury 0
Widnes 36
Carlisle 6
Carlisle 8
Keighley 2

Notes and comments

1 * Millom are a Junior (amateur) club from Cumbria, current home ground is the Coronation Field ground.
2 * Myson are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
3 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives score as 36-10 but Wigan official archives[2] gives it as 3-10 (which must be incorrect as Barrow progressed to Round 1)
4 * The highest score, highest score by home team, and highest winning margin between professional clubs, to date
5 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and Wigan official archives[2] gives the venue as Borough Park, the home of Blackpool Borough but Hull F.C. official archives[6] give the venue as Boulevard, home of Hull F.C.
6 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the score as 8-14 but Wigan official archives[2] gives it as 6-14
7 * The Rugby League Authorities were very unhappy with the television coverage of this final offered by the BBC. The broadcaster missed the first six minutes of the second half televising a horse race from Ireland. They also ignored the trophy presentation entirely and disrupted the pre match entertainment to interview Great Britain coach Malcolm Reilly, yet didn't show that interview anyway!
8 * 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. "Rugby League Project".
  2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. "Wigan "Cherry and White" j Player Rd 1 archived results".
  4. "Wakefield until I die".
  5. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  6. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  8. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 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. "Wigan "Cherry and White" j Player Final archived results".
  14. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  15. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  16. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
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