1987–88 John Player Special Trophy

1987–88 John Player Special Trophy
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams36
WinnersSt. Helens
Runners-upLeeds

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

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
1 Sat 31 Oct 1987 Heworth 5-32 Swinton Clarence Street 1063 1
2 Sun 1 Nov 1987 Featherstone Rovers 34-16 Thatto Heath Post Office Road 1045 2
3 Sun 1 Nov 1987 York 38-2 Bramley Clarence Street 1174 3
4 Sun 8 Nov 1987 Oldham 36-8 Fulham Watersheddings 3197

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
1 Fri 13 Nov 1987 Springfield Borough 14-2 Barrow Springfield Park 629 [4]
2 Sat 14 Nov 1987 Oldham 22-6 Bradford Northern Watersheddings 4858
3 Sat 14 Nov 1987 St. Helens 12-10 Widnes Knowsley Road 7322 [5][6]
4 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Batley 18-16 Hunslet Mount Pleasant 1117
5 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Carlisle 16-22 Warrington Brunton Park 1055 [7]
6 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Dewsbury 14-12 Doncaster Crown Flatt 1081
7 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Featherstone Rovers 12-34 Castleford Post Office Road 3376
8 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Keighley 6-32 Halifax Thrum Hall 5236 4
9 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Hull F.C. 42-6 Workington Town Boulevard 2447 [8]
10 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Hull Kingston Rovers 30-12 Rochdale Hornets Craven Park (1) 2308
11 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Leigh 28-12 Huddersfield Barracudas Hilton Park 2082 [9]
12 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Runcorn Highfield 4-6 Mansfield Marksman Canal Street 514
13 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Swinton 12-18 Salford Station Road 3459
14 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Wakefield Trinity 22-22 York Belle Vue 1864 [10]
15 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Whitehaven 14-18 Leeds Recreation Ground 3663
16 Sun 15 Nov 1987 Wigan 34-8 Sheffield Eagles Central Park 7484 [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
1 Wed 18 Nov 1987 York 6-30 Wakefield Trinity Clarence Street 1467 [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
1 Sat 21 Nov 1987 Wigan 26-16 Castleford Central Park 9613 [2]
2 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Batley 0-44 Oldham Mount Pleasant 2808
3 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Hull F.C. 19-7 Leigh Boulevard 3982 [8]
4 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Leeds 20-10 Halifax Headingley 13498
5 Sun 22 Nov 1987 St. Helens 40-0 Mansfield Marksman Knowsley Road 4966 [6]
6 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Salford 14-5 Dewsbury The Willows 2129
7 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Springfield Borough 14-8 Wakefield Trinity Springfield Park 1265 [4][10]
8 Sun 22 Nov 1987 Warrington 12-8 Hull Kingston Rovers Wilderspool 4550 [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
1 Sat 28 Nov 1987 Warrington 10-14 Oldham Wilderspool 5152 [7]
2 Sun 29 Nov 1987 St. Helens 20-16 Hull F.C. Knowsley Road 7400 [6][8]
3 Sun 29 Nov 1987 Salford 12-16 Wigan The Willows 7986 [2]
4 Sun 29 Nov 1987 Springfield Borough 12-22 Leeds Springfield Park 3894 [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
1 Sat 12 Dec 1987 Leeds 19-6 Wigan Burnden Park 13538 [2]
2 Sat 19 Dec 1987 St. Helens 18-8 Oldham Knowsley Road 8136 [6]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 9 January 1988 St. Helens 15-14 Leeds Central Park 16669 62232 5 [6][13][14][15]

Teams and scorers

[14][15][16]

St. Helens № Leeds
teams
Phil Veivers 1 Marty Gurr
Dave Tanner 2 Steve Morris
Paul Loughlin 3 Garry Schofield
Mark Elia 4 Peter Jackson
Les Quirk 5 John Basnett
Shane Cooper 6 David Creasser
Neil Holding 7 Ray Ashton
Tony Burke 8 Peter Tunks
Paul Groves 9 Colin Maskill
Peter Souto 10 Kevin Rayne
Paul Forber 11 Roy Powell
Roy Haggerty 12 Paul Medley
Andy Platt 13 David Heron
David Large (for ?) 14 Carl Gibson (for John Basnett)
Stuart Evans (for Peter Souto) 15 xJohn Fairbank (for Kevin Rayne)
Alex Murphy Coach Maurice Bamford
15 score 14
9 HT 14
Scorers
Tries
Paul Loughlin (2) T Peter Jackson (1)
T David Creasser (1)
Goals
Paul Loughlin (3) G David Creasser (3)
Drop Goals
Neil Holding (1) DG
Referee G. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)
Man of the match Paul Loughlin - St Helens - Centre
Competition Sponsor John Player Special

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

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. ^ a b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
  4. ^ a b c "Springfield Borough archives".
  5. ^ "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  6. ^ a b c d e "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  7. ^ a b c "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  8. ^ a b c "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  9. ^ "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  10. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".
  14. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  15. ^ a b 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.