1987–88 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the seventeenth season for the League Cup, known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship purposes.

1987–88 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams36
WinnersSt. Helens
Runners-upLeeds

St. Helens won the final, beating Leeds by the score of 15-14. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan. The attendance was 16,669 and receipts were £62232.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-six
Blackpool Borough moved to Springfield Park in Wigan and renamed as Springfield Borough

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
1Sat 31 Oct 1987Heworth5-32SwintonClarence Street10631
2Sun 1 Nov 1987Featherstone Rovers34-16Thatto HeathPost Office Road10452
3Sun 1 Nov 1987York38-2BramleyClarence Street11743
4Sun 8 Nov 1987Oldham36-8FulhamWatersheddings3197

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
1Fri 13 Nov 1987Springfield Borough14-2BarrowSpringfield Park629[4]
2Sat 14 Nov 1987Oldham22-6Bradford NorthernWatersheddings4858
3Sat 14 Nov 1987St. Helens12-10WidnesKnowsley Road7322[5][6]
4Sun 15 Nov 1987Batley18-16HunsletMount Pleasant1117
5Sun 15 Nov 1987Carlisle16-22WarringtonBrunton Park1055[7]
6Sun 15 Nov 1987Dewsbury14-12DoncasterCrown Flatt1081
7Sun 15 Nov 1987Featherstone Rovers12-34CastlefordPost Office Road3376
8Sun 15 Nov 1987Keighley6-32HalifaxThrum Hall52364
9Sun 15 Nov 1987Hull F.C.42-6Workington TownBoulevard2447[8]
10Sun 15 Nov 1987Hull Kingston Rovers30-12Rochdale HornetsCraven Park (1)2308
11Sun 15 Nov 1987Leigh28-12Huddersfield BarracudasHilton Park2082[9]
12Sun 15 Nov 1987Runcorn Highfield4-6Mansfield MarksmanCanal Street514
13Sun 15 Nov 1987Swinton12-18SalfordStation Road3459
14Sun 15 Nov 1987Wakefield Trinity22-22YorkBelle Vue1864[10]
15Sun 15 Nov 1987Whitehaven14-18LeedsRecreation Ground3663
16Sun 15 Nov 1987Wigan34-8Sheffield EaglesCentral Park7484[2]

Round 1 - First Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Wed 18 Nov 1987York6-30Wakefield TrinityClarence Street1467[10]

Round 2 - Second Round

[11] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 21 Nov 1987Wigan26-16CastlefordCentral Park9613[2]
2Sun 22 Nov 1987Batley0-44OldhamMount Pleasant2808
3Sun 22 Nov 1987Hull F.C.19-7LeighBoulevard3982[8]
4Sun 22 Nov 1987Leeds20-10HalifaxHeadingley13498
5Sun 22 Nov 1987St. Helens40-0Mansfield MarksmanKnowsley Road4966[6]
6Sun 22 Nov 1987Salford14-5DewsburyThe Willows2129
7Sun 22 Nov 1987Springfield Borough14-8Wakefield TrinitySpringfield Park1265[4][10]
8Sun 22 Nov 1987Warrington12-8Hull Kingston RoversWilderspool4550[7]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[12] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 28 Nov 1987Warrington10-14OldhamWilderspool5152[7]
2Sun 29 Nov 1987St. Helens20-16Hull F.C.Knowsley Road7400[6][8]
3Sun 29 Nov 1987Salford12-16WiganThe Willows7986[2]
4Sun 29 Nov 1987Springfield Borough12-22LeedsSpringfield Park3894[4]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[13] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 12 Dec 1987Leeds19-6WiganBurnden Park13538[2]
2Sat 19 Dec 1987St. Helens18-8OldhamKnowsley Road8136[6]

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 9 January 1988St. Helens15-14LeedsCentral Park16669622325[6][13][14][15]

Teams and Scorers

[14][15][16]

St. Helens № Leeds
teams
Phil Veivers1Marty Gurr
Dave Tanner2Steve Morris
Paul Loughlin3Garry Schofield
Mark Elia4Peter Jackson
Les Quirk5John Basnett
Shane Cooper6David Creasser
Neil Holding7Ray Ashton
Tony Burke8Peter Tunks
Paul Groves9Colin Maskill
Peter Souto10Kevin Rayne
Paul Forber11Roy Powell
Roy Haggerty12Paul Medley
Andy Platt13David Heron
David Large (for ?)14Carl Gibson (for John Basnett)
Stuart Evans (for Peter Souto)15xJohn Fairbank (for Kevin Rayne)
Alex MurphyCoach
15score14
9HT14
Scorers
Tries
Paul Loughlin (2)TPeter Jackson (1)
TDavid Creasser (1)
Goals
Paul Loughlin (3)GDavid Creasser (3)
Drop Goals
Neil Holding (1)DG
RefereeG. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)
Man of the matchPaul Loughlin - St Helens - Centre
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
               
St. Helens 12
Widnes 10
St. Helens 40
Mansfield Marksman 0
Runcorn Highfield 4
Mansfield Marksman 6
St. Helens 20
Hull F.C. 16
Hull F.C. 42
Workington Town 6
Hull F.C. 19
Leigh 7
Leigh 28
Huddersfield Barracudas 12
St. Helens 18
Oldham 8
Carlisle 16
Warrington 22
Warrington 12
Hull Kingston Rovers 8
Hull Kingston Rovers 30
Rochdale Hornets 12
Warrington 10
Oldham 14
Batley 18
Hunslet 16
Batley 0
Oldham 44
Oldham 22
Bradford Northern 6
St. Helens 15
Leeds 14
Springfield Borough 14
Barrow 2
Springfield Borough 14
Wakefield Trinity 8
Wakefield Trinity 22 (30)
York 22 (6)
Springfield Borough 12
Leeds 22
Whitehaven 14
Leeds 18
Leeds 20
Halifax 10
Keighley 6
Halifax 32
Leeds 19
Wigan 6
Swinton 12
Salford 18
Salford 14
Dewsbury 5
Dewsbury 14
Doncaster 12
Salford 12
Wigan 16
Wigan 34
Sheffield Eagles 8
Wigan 26
Castleford 16
Featherstone Rovers 12
Castleford 34

Notes and comments

1 * Heworth are a Junior (amateur) club from York[17]
2 * Thatto Heath are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens[18]
3 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give score as 38-2 but Wigan official archives[2] gives it as 37-2
4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give Halifax at home but Wigan official archives[2] gives Keighley at home but with a reference that the game was played at Thrum Hall, the home of Halifax
5 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

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. "Springfield Borough archives".
  5. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  6. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  7. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  8. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  9. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  10. "Wakefield until I die".
  11. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
  12. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results".
  13. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F 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. "St Helens Heritage archived results".
  17. "Heworth ARLFC". Archived from the original on 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  18. "Thatto Heath". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
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