1988–89 John Player Special Trophy

1988–89 John Player Special Trophy
1988–89 John Player Special Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Widnes
	← 1987–88 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	Notes

1	Sun 30 Oct 1988	Featherstone Rovers	46-2	Hunslet	Post Office Road	1972
2	Sun 30 Oct 1988	Wigan St Patricks	36-2	Elland (Halifax)	Central Park	2510	1, 2
3	Sun 30 Oct 1988	Workington Town	2-28	Castleford	Derwent Park	1502
4	Sun 6 Nov 1988	Bramley	56-10	Fulham	McLaren Field	850

Round 1 - First Round

^[3] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Sat 12 Nov 1988	Leeds	12-21	Castleford	Headingley	10006
2	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Bradford Northern	34-18	Dewsbury	Odsal	2555
3	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Bramley	32-6	Mansfield Marksman	McLaren Field	1151
4	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Halifax	22-4	Salford	Thrum Hall	6661
5	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Huddersfield	4-22	Chorley Borough	Fartown	1120		^[4]
6	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Hull F.C.	26-10	Batley	Boulevard	4054		^[5]
7	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Hull Kingston Rovers	40-0	Keighley	Craven Park (1)	3319
8	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Leigh	42-14	Barrow	Hilton Park	3256
9	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Rochdale Hornets	26-20	Whitehaven	Athletic Grounds	888
10	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Runcorn Highfield	2-92	Wigan	Central Park	7233	3, 4, 5	^[2]
11	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Sheffield Eagles	80-8	Wigan St Patricks	Owlerton Stadium	621
12	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Swinton	13-16	Doncaster	Station Road	2182
13	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Wakefield Trinity	34-14	Carlisle	Belle Vue	2513		^[6]
14	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Warrington	21-14	Oldham	Wilderspool	5528		^[7]
15	Sun 13 Nov 1988	Widnes	37-12	Featherstone Rovers	Naughton Park	5299	6	^[8]
16	Sun 13 Nov 1988	York	6-14	St. Helens	Clarence Street	3082		^[9]

Round 2 - Second Round

^[10] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Ref

1	Sat 26 Nov 1988	Wigan	20-16	Halifax	Central Park	10826	^[2]
2	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Castleford	18-19	Bradford Northern	Wheldon Road	7688
3	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Chorley Borough	22-36	Hull Kingston Rovers	Victory Park	983
4	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Leigh	40-8	Doncaster	Hilton Park	4321
5	Sun 27 Nov 1988	St. Helens	16-13	Hull F.C.	Knowsley Road	7485	^[5]^[9]
6	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Sheffield Eagles	9-32	Widnes	Owlerton Stadium	2716	^[8]
7	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Wakefield Trinity	38-12	Rochdale Hornets	Belle Vue	2486	^[6]
8	Sun 27 Nov 1988	Warrington	42-10	Bramley	Wilderspool	3274	^[7]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

^[11] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Ref

1	Sat 3 Dec 1988	Widnes	16-7	Warrington	Naughton Park	6449	^[7]^[8]
2	Sun 4 Dec 1988	Bradford Northern	6-0	Leigh	Odsal	3975
3	Sun 4 Dec 1988	Hull Kingston Rovers	16-16	Wigan	Craven Park (1)	7142	^[2]
4	Sun 4 Dec 1988	St. Helens	34-18	Wakefield Trinity	Knowsley Road	7602	^[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

1	Wed 7 Dec 1988	Wigan		30-0		Hull Kingston Rovers	Central Park	13278			^[9]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

^[12] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Ref

1	Sat 10 Dec 1988	Widnes	20-18	St. Helens	Wigan ??	6755	^[8]^[9]
2	Sat 17 Dec 1988	Wigan	16-5	Bradford Northern	Leeds ??	6809	^[2]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

	Saturday 7 January 1989	Wigan		12-6		Widnes	Burnden Park	20709	94874	7	^[8]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Teams and scorers

^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]

Wigan	№	Widnes

	teams
Steve Hampson	1	Alan Tait
Dean Bell	2	Rick Thackray [1]
Kevin Iro	3	Andy Currier
Joe Lydon	4	Darren Wright
Tony Iro	5	Martin "Chariots" Offiah
Ged Byrne	6	Tony Myler
Shaun Edwards	7	David Hulme
Adrian Shelford	8	Kurt Sorensen
Martin Dermott	9	Phil McKenzie
Shaun Wane	10	Joe Grima
Denis Betts	11	Mike O'Neill
Ian Potter	12	Emosi Koloto
Ellery Hanley	13	"Richie" Eyres
Andy Gregory (for Joe Lydon 51 min)	14	?? Not used
Andy Goodway (for Adrian Shelford 20 min)	15	Paul Hulme (for Emosi Koloto 44 min)
Graham Lowe	Coach	Doug Laughton

12	score	6
6	HT	6

	Scorers
	Tries
Kevin Iro (1)	T	Darren Wright (1)
Ellery Hanley (1)	T
	Goals
Joe Lydon (2)	G	Andy Currier (1)

Referee		John Holdsworth (Kippax)
Man of the match		Ellery Hanley - Wigan - loose forward
Competition Sponsor		John Player Special

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

Timeline in the final

Time	Incident	Score

incidents	incidents	score
6th Minute	Try: Kevin Iro	4-0
13th Minute	Try: Darren Wright	4-4
	Conversion: Andy Currier	4-6
21st Minute	Penalty Goal: Joe Lydon	6-6
Half Time		6-6
42nd Minute	Penalty Goal: Joe Lydon	8-6
69th Minute	Try: Ellery Hanley	12-6
Full Time		12-6

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		Semifinals		Final

Huddersfield	4

Chorley Borough	22
		Chorley Borough	22

		Hull Kingston Rovers	36
Hull Kingston Rovers	40

Keighley	0
				Hull Kingston Rovers	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

References

^ ^a ^b "Rugby League Project".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
^ ^a ^b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
^ "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
^ ^a ^b "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
^ ^a ^b ^c "Wakefield until I die".
^ ^a ^b ^c "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results".
^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".
^ ^a ^b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Final archived results". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
^ ^a ^b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
^ ^a ^b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
^ "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".
^ "Wigan St Patricks".
^ "Elland ARLFC".

External links

[RLP.orgMisc-1] "Rugby League Project".

[CherryMisc-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".

[CherryJP1Misc-3] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".

[HuddHeritageMisc-4] "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).

[HullMisc-5] "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".

[WakefieldTIDMisc-6] "Wakefield until I die".

[WiresMisc-7] "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.

[ChemicsMisc-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".

[SaintsMisc-9] "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".

[CherryJP2Misc-10] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".

[CherryJP3Misc-11] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results".

[CherryJPSFMisc-12] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".

[CherryJPFMisc-13] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Final archived results". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2014-07-13.

[Roth1990-91Misc-14] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.

[Roth1991-92Misc-15] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

[WidnesArchivesJPFMisc-16] "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".

[WiganStPMisc-17] "Wigan St Patricks".

[EllandMisc-18] "Elland ARLFC".

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