1989–90 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the nineteenth season for the competition, known from this season onwards as the Regal Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1989–90 League Cup
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	38
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Halifax

Wigan won the final, beating Halifax by the score of 24-12 in the match was played at Headingley, Leeds. The attendance was 17,810 and receipts were £73688

Background

This season saw two changes in the existing members, and two new members, a new Chorley Borough (2) and an additional (now three in total) junior club
This brought the number of entrants up to thirty-eight
The changes in details are :-
1 Mansfield Marksman changed their name to Nottingham City and moved to a new Harvey Hadden Stadium in Nottingham
2 York had been renamed as Ryedale-York and moved to the new Ryedale Stadium on the outskirts of the city
3 Chorley Borough re-formed, this time as Trafford Borough and moved out of Chorley and to Moss Lane the home ground of Altrincham F.C.
4 and this left a vacancy in Chorley which was filled by a newly formed club using the name of the recently departed club, yet another Chorley Borough (2)

Competition and Results

[1][2][3]

Preliminary Round

Involved 6 matches and 12 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 8 Nov 1989	Leeds		32-2		Ryedale-York	Headingley	4979
2	Wed 8 Nov 1989	Warrington		4-12		Sheffield Eagles	Wilderspool	2507			[4]
3	Sun 19 Nov 1989	Crossfields (Warrington)		14-19		Workington Town	Wilderspool	942		1, 2
4	Sun 19 Nov 1989	Batley		28-14		West Hull	Mount Pleasant	844		3, 4
5	Sun 19 Nov 1989	Kells (Whitehaven)		2-28		Doncaster	Recreation Ground	2127		5, 6, 7
6	Sun 19 Nov 1989	Wakefield Trinity		12-19		Hull F.C.	Belle Vue	4731		8	[5][6]

[7]

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 1 Dec 1989	Sheffield Eagles		36-22		Rochdale Hornets	Thrum Hall	2307		9	[8]
2	Sat 2 Dec 1989	St. Helens		40-26		Hull Kingston Rovers	Knowsley Road	4888
3	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Bradford Northern		38-10		Keighley	Odsal	3260
4	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Bramley		16-48		Oldham	McLaren Field	1632
5	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Chorley Borough (2)		18-42		Castleford	Victory Park	1256
6	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Dewsbury		14-4		Carlisle	Crown Flatt	631
7	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Fulham		18-32		Halifax	Chiswick Poly *	1549		10
8	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Hull F.C.		18-21		Salford	Boulevard	4587			[5]
9	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Hunslet		10-6		Barrow	Elland Road	537
10	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Leeds		26-12		Leigh	Headingley	7712
11	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Nottingham City		18-48		Widnes	Harvey Hadden Stadium	2246			[9]
12	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Swinton		18-16		Batley	Station Road	1359
13	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Trafford Borough		18-36		Featherstone Rovers	Moss Lane Altrincham	934
14	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Whitehaven		20-10		Runcorn Highfield	Recreation Ground	603
15	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Wigan		62-4		Doncaster	Central Park	7854			[2]
16	Sun 3 Dec 1989	Workington Town		4-28		Huddersfield	Derwent Park	571			[10]

[7]

Round 2 - Second Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 9 Dec 1989	Wigan		18-0		Widnes	Central Park	12398			[2][9]
2	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Halifax		20-6		Salford	Thrum Hall	6005
3	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Hunslet		4-34		Featherstone Rovers	Elland Road	2031
4	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Leeds		27-8		Bradford Northern	Headingley	14459
5	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Oldham		22-8		Huddersfield	Watersheddings	5292			[10]
6	Sun 10 Dec 1989	St. Helens		12-12		Dewsbury	Knowsley Road	5847			[8]
7	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Swinton		6-28		Sheffield Eagles	Station Road	1925
8	Sun 10 Dec 1989	Whitehaven		2-62		Castleford	Recreation Ground	1838

[11]

Round 2 - Second Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 13 Dec 1989	Dewsbury		0-14		St. Helens	Crown Flatt	1981			[8]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 16 Dec 1989	Leeds		10-10		Wigan	Headingley	9310			[2]
2	Sun 17 Dec 1989	Halifax		23-10		Featherstone Rovers	Thrum Hall	6075
3	Sun 17 Dec 1989	St. Helens		32-18		Oldham	Knowsley Road	7742			[8]
4	Sun 17 Dec 1989	Sheffield Eagles		2-18		Castleford	Saltergate, Chesterfield	3014		11

[12]

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	Thu 21 Dec 1989	Wigan		8-0		Leeds	Central Park	20111			[2]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 23 Dec 1989	Halifax		10-9		St. Helens	Central Park	6085			[8]
2	Sat 30 Dec 1989	Wigan		24-10		Castleford	Headingley	10193			[2]

[13]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 13 January 1990	Wigan		24-12		Halifax	Headingley	17810	73688	12	[3][14][15]

Teams and Scorers

Wigan	№	Halifax
	teams
Joe Lydon	1	Colin Whitfield
David Marshall	2	Eddie Riddlesden
Kevin Iro	3	Tony Anderson
Dean Bell	4	Brian Hetherington
Mark Preston	5	Wilf George
Shaun Edwards	6	John Dorahy (c)
Andy Gregory	7	John Lyons
Ian Lucas	8	Brendan Hill
Martin Dermott	9	Seamus McCallion
Andy Platt	10	Lindsey Johnston
Denis Betts	11	Peter Bell
Ian Gildart	12	Richard Milner
Ellery Hanley	13	Les Holliday
Andy Goodway (for Ian Gildart 21 min)	14	Steve Smith (rugby league, Halifax) (for Colin Whitfield 17 min)
Shaun Wane (for Ian Lucas 21 min)	15	Mick Scott (for Steve Smith 66 min)
	Coach
24	score	12
8	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Shaun Edwards (1)	T	Brendan Hill (1)
Andy Goodway (1)	T
Ellery Hanley (3)	T
	Goals
Joe Lydon (2)	G	Les Holliday (4)
Referee		D. Gerald "Gerry" Kershaw (Easingwold (York))
Man of the match		Ellery Hanley - Wigan - loose forward
Competition Sponsor		Regal

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

[3][15][16]

Timeline in the final

Time	Incident	Score
5 min	try: Shaun Edwards	4-0
15 min	penalty goal: Les Holliday	4-2
31 min	penalty goal: Les Holliday	4-4
38 min	sin bin - punching: Lindsey Johnson
38 min	cut nose - left field: Martin Dermott
39 min	try: Ellery Hanley	8-4
Half Time	:	8-4
45 min	try: Ellery Hanley	12-4
	conversion: Joe Lydon	14-4
approx 52 min	penalty goal: Les Holliday	14-6
53 min	sin bin brawling: Brendan Hill
53 min	sin bin brawling: Andy Platt
59 min	try: Ellery Hanley	18-6
	conversion: Joe Lydon	20-6
71 min	try: Andy Goodway	24-6
76 min	try: Brendan Hill	24-10
	conversion: Les Holliday	24-12
FT	:	24-12

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	28000	1	28000
Runner-up	15500	1	15500
losing semi-finalist	8250	2	16500
Losers in Rd 3	4800	4	19200
Losers in Rd 2	2750	8	22000
Losers in Rd 1	1745	16	27920
Appearance in Prelim Round	1740	12	20880
			150000
to capital development fund			100000
Grand Total			250000

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First Round					Second Round					Third Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Leeds		26
	Leigh		12
						Leeds		27
						Bradford Northern		8
	Bradford Northern		38
	Keighley		10
											Leeds		10 (0)
											Wigan		10 (8)
	Wigan		62
	Doncaster		4
						Wigan		18
						Widnes		0
	Nottingham City		18
	Widnes		48
																Wigan		24
																Castleford		10
	Swinton		18
	Batley		16
						Swinton		6
						Sheffield Eagles		28
	Sheffield Eagles		36
	Rochdale Hornets		22
											Sheffield Eagles		2
											Castleford		18
	Whitehaven		20
	Runcorn Highfield		10
						Whitehaven		2
						Castleford		62
	Chorley Borough (2)		18
	Castleford		42
																					Wigan		24
																					Halifax		12
	Fulham		18
	Halifax		32
						Halifax		20
						Salford		6
	Hull F.C.		18
	Salford		21
											Halifax		23
											Featherstone Rovers		10
	Hunslet		10
	Barrow		6
						Hunslet		4
						Featherstone Rovers		34
	Trafford Borough		18
	Featherstone Rovers		36
																Halifax		10
																St. Helens		9
	St. Helens		40
	Hull Kingston Rovers		26
						St. Helens		12 (14)
						Dewsbury		12(0)
	Dewsbury		14
	Carlisle		4
											St. Helens		32
											Oldham		18
	Bramley		16
	Oldham		48
						Oldham		22
						Huddersfield		8
	Workington Town		4
	Huddersfield		28

Notes and comments

1 * Crossfields are a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington
2 * Score at half time was 8-8
3 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
4 * Rothmans Yearbooks 1991–92[3] and 1991–92[15] and RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give score as 28-14 but Wigan official archives[7] gives it as 27-14
5 * Kells are a Junior (amateur) club from Cumbria[17]
6 * The score at half time was 0-2
7 * The game was played at Whitehaven's ground
8 * This result is missing from the details given in RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1]
9 * This match played at Thrum Hall, home of Halifax - NOTE After the Hillsborough Stadium disaster Sheffield Eagles were unable to play at their home ground and during this season used 7 different venues as temporary "home" grounds
10 * At this time Fulham were a bit nomadic, using a collection of grounds as their "home", but the likelihood was that this match was probably played at Chiswick Polytechnic Sports Ground
11 * This match played at Saltergate, the home of Chesterfield F.C. - NOTE After the Hillsborough Stadium disaster Sheffield Eagles were unable to play at their home ground and during this season used 7 different venues as temporary "home" grounds
12 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.

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

• 1989–90 Rugby Football League season
• 1989 Lancashire Cup
• 1989 Yorkshire Cup
• Regal Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
3. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
4. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. "Wakefield until I die".
7. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
8. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896–97".
9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896–97".
10. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
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. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player F archived results".
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".
17. "Kells". Archived from the original on 2011-09-19.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896–97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
• Huddersfield R L Heritage
• Wakefield until I die