1987–88 John Player Special Trophy

{{Infobox rugby football league season

| title = 1987–88 John Player Special Trophy

| structure = National knockout championship

| season_champs = St. Helens

| season_champ_name = Winners

| runner-up_name = Runner-up

| second_place = Leeds

| prevseason_link = 1986–87 John Player Special Trophy

| prevseason_year = 1986–87

| nextseason_link = 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy

| nextseason_year = 1988–89

| no_of_teams = 36

}}

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

{{cite web|title=Rugby League Project|url=http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/regal-trophy/results.html}}{{cite web|title=Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3294}}

= Preliminary round =

{{cite web|title=Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2705}}

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

width=10 abbr="No" \|Game No !width=110 abbr="Date"\|Fixture Date !width=150 abbr="Home Team"\|Home Team !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=20 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=150 abbr="Away Team" \|Away Team !width=150 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=30 abbr="Att" \|Att !width=30 abbr="Rec" \|Rec !width=20 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=30 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

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 =

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

width=10 abbr="No" \|Game No !width=110 abbr="Date"\|Fixture Date !width=150 abbr="Home Team"\|Home Team !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=20 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=150 abbr="Away Team" \|Away Team !width=150 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=30 abbr="Att" \|Att !width=30 abbr="Rec" \|Rec !width=20 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=30 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

1	Fri 13 Nov 1987	Springfield Borough	14-2	Barrow	Springfield Park	629		{{cite web\|title=Springfield Borough archives\|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=1668}}
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		{{cite web\|title=Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97\|url=http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/seasonreview.php?mid=1987&smid=1987-88&mids=1987}}{{cite web\|title=Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97\|url=http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9}}
4	Sun 15 Nov 1987	Batley	18-16	Hunslet	Mount Pleasant	1117
5	Sun 15 Nov 1987	Carlisle	16-22	Warrington	Brunton Park	1055		{{cite web\|title=Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897 \|url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1897 \|url-status=dead \|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202093910/http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1897 \|archivedate=2014-02-02 }}
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		{{cite web\|title=HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results\|url=http://www.hullfc.com/first-team/matches/1987}}
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		{{cite web\|title=Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage\|url=http://www.huddersfieldrlheritage.co.uk/Documents/Club/Players'%20Records/Huddersfield%201987-88.pdf}}
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		{{cite web\|title=Wakefield until I die\|url=http://www.wakefieldtrinity-programmes.co.uk/page_2654162.html}}
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

= Round 1 - First Round Replays =

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

width=10 abbr="No" |Game No

!width=110 abbr="Date"|Fixture Date

!width=150 abbr="Home Team"|Home Team

!width=5 abbr="space" |

!width=20 abbr="Score" |Score

!width=5 abbr="space" |

!width=150 abbr="Away Team" |Away Team

!width=150 abbr="Venue" |Venue

!width=30 abbr="Att" |Att

!width=30 abbr="Rec" |Rec

!width=20 abbr="Notes" |Notes

!width=30 abbr="Ref" |Ref

Wed 18 Nov 1987

York

6-30

Wakefield Trinity

Clarence Street

1467

= Round 2 - Second Round =

{{cite web|title=Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2706}}

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

width=10 abbr="No" \|Game No !width=110 abbr="Date"\|Fixture Date !width=150 abbr="Home Team"\|Home Team !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=20 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=150 abbr="Away Team" \|Away Team !width=150 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=30 abbr="Att" \|Att !width=30 abbr="Rec" \|Rec !width=20 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=30 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

1	Sat 21 Nov 1987	Wigan	26-16	Castleford	Central Park	9613
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
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	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
8	Sun 22 Nov 1987	Warrington	12-8	Hull Kingston Rovers	Wilderspool	4550

= Round 3 -Quarter Finals =

{{cite web|title=Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2707}}

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

width=10 abbr="No" \|Game No !width=110 abbr="Date"\|Fixture Date !width=150 abbr="Home Team"\|Home Team !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=20 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=150 abbr="Away Team" \|Away Team !width=150 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=30 abbr="Att" \|Att !width=30 abbr="Rec" \|Rec !width=20 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=30 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

1	Sat 28 Nov 1987	Warrington	10-14	Oldham	Wilderspool	5152
2	Sun 29 Nov 1987	St. Helens	20-16	Hull F.C.	Knowsley Road	7400
3	Sun 29 Nov 1987	Salford	12-16	Wigan	The Willows	7986
4	Sun 29 Nov 1987	Springfield Borough	12-22	Leeds	Springfield Park	3894

= Round 4 – Semi-Finals =

{{cite web|title=Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2710}}

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

width=10 abbr="No" \|Game No !width=110 abbr="Date"\|Fixture Date !width=150 abbr="Home Team"\|Home Team !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=20 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=5 abbr="space" \| !width=150 abbr="Away Team" \|Away Team !width=150 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=30 abbr="Att" \|Att !width=30 abbr="Rec" \|Rec !width=20 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=30 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

1	Sat 12 Dec 1987	Leeds	19-6	Wigan	Burnden Park	13538
2	Sat 19 Dec 1987	St. Helens	18-8	Oldham	Knowsley Road	8136

= Final =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

width=10 abbr="No" |Game No

!width=110 abbr="Date"|Fixture Date

!width=150 abbr="Home Team"|Home Team

!width=5 abbr="space" |

!width=20 abbr="Score" |Score

!width=5 abbr="space" |

!width=150 abbr="Away Team" |Away Team

!width=150 abbr="Venue" |Venue

!width=45 abbr="Att" |Att

!width=60 abbr="Rec" |Rec

!width=20 abbr="Notes" |Notes

!width=30 abbr="Ref" |Ref

Saturday 9 January 1988

St. Helens

15-14

Leeds

Central Park

16669

62232

{{cite book|last=Raymond Fletcher and David Howes|title=Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991|year=1990|publisher=Queen Anne Press|isbn=0 35617851 X}}{{cite book|last=Raymond Fletcher and David Howes|title=Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100|year=1991|publisher=Queen Anne Press|isbn=0 35617852 8}}

== Teams and scorers ==

{{cite web|title=St Helens Heritage archived results|url=http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=7&seq=4115&season=1987~88}}

width=280 abbr=winner\|St. Helens !width=60 abbr="Number"\|№ !width=280 abbr=runner-up\|Leeds
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

	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 - {{rlp\|CE}}
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 :-

width=100 abbr="Finish Position" \|Finish Position !width=110 abbr="Cash Prize"\|Cash Prize !width=50 abbr="No. receiving prize"\|No. receiving prize !width=100 abbr="Total Cash"\|Total Cash
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
			\|
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

{{32TeamBracket

| RD1=First round

| RD2=Second round

| RD3=Third round

| RD4=Semifinals

| RD5=Final

| RD1-seed01=

| RD1-team01=St. Helens

| RD1-score01=12

| RD1-seed02=

| RD1-team02=Widnes

| RD1-score02=10

| RD1-seed03=

| RD1-team03=Runcorn Highfield

| RD1-score03=4

| RD1-seed04=

| RD1-team04=Mansfield Marksman

| RD1-score04=6

| RD1-seed05=

| RD1-team05=Hull F.C.

| RD1-score05=42

| RD1-seed06=

| RD1-team06=Workington Town

| RD1-score06=6

| RD1-seed07=

| RD1-team07=Leigh

| RD1-score07=28

| RD1-seed08=

| RD1-team08=Huddersfield Barracudas

| RD1-score08=12

| RD1-seed09=

| RD1-team09=Carlisle

| RD1-score09=16

| RD1-seed10=

| RD1-team10=Warrington

| RD1-score10=22

| RD1-seed11=

| RD1-team11= {{nowrap|Hull Kingston Rovers}}

| RD1-score11=30

| RD1-seed12=

| RD1-team12=Rochdale Hornets

| RD1-score12=12

| RD1-seed13=

| RD1-team13=Batley

| RD1-score13=18

| RD1-seed14=

| RD1-team14=Hunslet

| RD1-score14=16

| RD1-seed15=

| RD1-team15=Oldham

| RD1-score15=22

| RD1-seed16=

| RD1-team16=Bradford Northern

| RD1-score16=6

| RD1-seed17=

| RD1-team17=Springfield Borough

| RD1-score17=14

| RD1-seed18=

| RD1-team18=Barrow

| RD1-score18=2

| RD1-seed19=

| RD1-team19=Wakefield Trinity

| RD1-score19=22 (30)

| RD1-seed20=

| RD1-team20=York

| RD1-score20=22 (6)

| RD1-seed21=

| RD1-team21=Whitehaven

| RD1-score21=14

| RD1-seed22=

| RD1-team22=Leeds

| RD1-score22=18

| RD1-seed23=

| RD1-team23=Keighley

| RD1-score23=6

| RD1-seed24=

| RD1-team24=Halifax

| RD1-score24=32

| RD1-seed25=

| RD1-team25=Swinton

| RD1-score25=12

| RD1-seed26=

| RD1-team26=Salford

| RD1-score26=18

| RD1-seed27=

| RD1-team27=Dewsbury

| RD1-score27=14

| RD1-seed28=

| RD1-team28=Doncaster

| RD1-score28=12

| RD1-seed29=

| RD1-team29=Wigan

| RD1-score29=34

| RD1-seed30=

| RD1-team30=Sheffield Eagles

| RD1-score30=8

| RD1-seed31=

| RD1-team31=Featherstone Rovers

| RD1-score31=12

| RD1-seed32=

| RD1-team32=Castleford

| RD1-score32=34

| RD2-seed01=

| RD2-team01=St. Helens

| RD2-score01=40

| RD2-seed02=

| RD2-team02=Mansfield Marksman

| RD2-score02=0

| RD2-seed03=

| RD2-team03=Hull F.C.

| RD2-score03=19

| RD2-seed04=

| RD2-team04=Leigh

| RD2-score04=7

| RD2-seed05=

| RD2-team05=Warrington

| RD2-score05=12

| RD2-seed06=

| RD2-team06= {{nowrap|Hull Kingston Rovers}}

| RD2-score06=8

| RD2-seed07=

| RD2-team07=Batley

| RD2-score07=0

| RD2-seed08=

| RD2-team08=Oldham

| RD2-score08=44

| RD2-seed09=

| RD2-team09=Springfield Borough

| RD2-score09=14

| RD2-seed10=

| RD2-team10=Wakefield Trinity

| RD2-score10=8

| RD2-seed11=

| RD2-team11=Leeds

| RD2-score11=20

| RD2-seed12=

| RD2-team12=Halifax

| RD2-score12=10

| RD2-seed13=

| RD2-team13=Salford

| RD2-score13=14

| RD2-seed14=

| RD2-team14=Dewsbury

| RD2-score14=5

| RD2-seed15=

| RD2-team15=Wigan

| RD2-score15=26

| RD2-seed16=

| RD2-team16=Castleford

| RD2-score16=16

| RD3-seed01=

| RD3-team01=St. Helens

| RD3-score01=20

| RD3-seed02=

| RD3-team02=Hull F.C.

| RD3-score02=16

| RD3-seed03=

| RD3-team03=Warrington

| RD3-score03=10

| RD3-seed04=

| RD3-team04=Oldham

| RD3-score04=14

| RD3-seed05=

| RD3-team05=Springfield Borough

| RD3-score05=12

| RD3-seed06=

| RD3-team06=Leeds

| RD3-score06=22

| RD3-seed07=

| RD3-team07=Salford

| RD3-score07=12

| RD3-seed08=

| RD3-team08=Wigan

| RD3-score08=16

| RD4-seed01=

| RD4-team01=St. Helens

| RD4-score01=18

| RD4-seed02=

| RD4-team02=Oldham

| RD4-score02=8

| RD4-seed03=

| RD4-team03=Leeds

| RD4-score03=19

| RD4-seed04=

| RD4-team04=Wigan

| RD4-score04=6

| RD5-seed01=

| RD5-team01=St. Helens

| RD5-score01=15

| RD5-seed02=

| RD5-team02=Leeds

| RD5-score02=14

}}

Notes and comments

1 * Heworth are a Junior (amateur) club from York{{cite web|title=Heworth ARLFC|url=http://www.heworth-arlfc.co.uk/frameset.html|access-date=2014-07-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827220344/http://www.heworth-arlfc.co.uk/frameset.html|archive-date=2013-08-27|url-status=dead}}

2 * Thatto Heath are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens{{cite web|title=Thatto Heath|url=http://www.thattoheathcrusaders.org/historyandhonours.html|access-date=2014-07-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714110345/http://www.thattoheathcrusaders.org/historyandhonours.html|archive-date=2014-07-14|url-status=dead}}

3 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give score as 38-2 but Wigan official archives gives it as 37-2

4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give Halifax at home but Wigan official archives 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

References

External links

[http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 Saints Heritage Society]
[http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=319 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202123900/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=319 |date=2014-02-02 }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120302024838/http://www.hullfc.com/FixturesAndResults.aspx?sg=12&gi=3 Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897]
[http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/seasonreview.php?mid=1896&smid=1896-97&mids=1896 Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080828182311/http://www.warringtonwolves.org/HistoryB.ink The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org]
[http://www.huddersfieldrlheritage.co.uk/Archive/Written/Players'%20Records.html Huddersfield R L Heritage]
[http://www.wakefieldtrinity-programmes.co.uk/page_2654162.html Wakefield until I die]

Category:1987 in English rugby league

Category:1988 in English rugby league

Category:Regal Trophy

1987–88 John Player Special Trophy

Background

Competition and results

= Preliminary round =

= Round 1 - First Round =

= Round 1 - First Round Replays =

= Round 2 - Second Round =

= Round 3 -Quarter Finals =

= Round 4 – Semi-Finals =

= Final =

== Teams and scorers ==

= Prize money =

= The road to success =

Notes and comments

See also

References

External links