1995–96 League Cup (rugby league)

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1995–96 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams42
WinnersWigan
Runners-upSt. Helens
 

The 1995–96 League Cup was the twenty-fifth and final season of the rugby league League Cup, known for sponsorship purposes as the Regal Trophy.

The last final was won by Wigan, who beat local rivals St. Helens 25-16 at the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield. The attendance was 17,590.

Background

This season saw a reduction in the number of entrants, the number decreasing to forty-two.

The inclusion of two French clubs continued, but the number of invitations to the top junior clubs was reduced by six from eleven last season, to just five this season.

The ten first round winners added to the twenty-two clubs given byes, gave a total of entrants into the second round of thirty-two. There were no drawn matches during this season's competition

Competition and results

[1][2]

Round 1 (a preliminary round)

Involved 10 matches and 20 clubs with 22 byes

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 30 Sep 1995 Leigh 16-19 AS Saint Estève Hilton Park 1543 1
2 Sat 30 Sep 1995 Ryedale-York 24-22 Pia Ryedale Stadium 531 2
3 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Barrow 29-11 Park Amateurs Craven Park 520 3
4 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Bramley 20-17 Woolston Rovers Clarence Field, Kirkstall (or York) see note 350 4, 5
5 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Carlisle 38-10 Doncaster Dragons Gifford Park 435 6
6 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Chorley Borough (2) 92-0 Nottingham City Victory Park 425
7 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Highfield 48-18 Hemel Stags Valerie Park, Prescott 220 7
8 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Hull Kingston Rovers 72-6 Blackpool Gladiators Craven Park (2) 1087
9 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Hunslet Hawks 34-24 Ellenborough Rangers Elland Road 247 8
10 Sun 1 Oct 1995 Swinton 44-20 West Hull Gigg Lane 500 9
Batley bye
Bradford Northern bye
Castleford bye
Dewsbury bye
Featherstone Rovers bye
Halifax bye
Huddersfield bye
Hull F.C. bye
Keighley Cougars bye
Leeds bye
London Crusaders bye
Oldham Bears bye
Rochdale Hornets bye
St. Helens bye
Salford bye
Sheffield Eagles bye
Wakefield Trinity bye
Warrington bye
Whitehaven bye
Widnes bye
Wigan bye
Workington Town bye

Round 2

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 11 Nov 1995 Keighley Cougars 14-42 St. Helens Cougar Park 3737 [3]
2 Sat 11 Nov 1995 Workington Town 30-14 AS Saint Estève Derwent Park 1376 1
3 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Batley 21-14 Wakefield Trinity Mount Pleasant 1522
4 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Bradford Northern 22-0 Sheffield Eagles Odsal 3353
5 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Bramley 4-22 Hunslet Hawks Clarence Field, Kirkstall (or York) see note 650 10
6 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Carlisle 19-18 Castleford Gifford Park 850
7 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Chorley Borough (2) 10-68 Warrington Victory Park 1236 [4]
8 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Dewsbury 17-6 Barrow Crown Flatt 662
9 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Halifax 20-18 Swinton Thrum Hall 2994
10 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Huddersfield 22-21 Featherstone Rovers Alfred McAlpine Stadium 2337
11 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Hull F.C. 56-18 Ryedale-York Boulevard 2411 [5]
12 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Hull Kingston Rovers 10-14 Rochdale Hornets Craven Park (2) 1548
13 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Leeds 46-22 Salford Headingley 7589
14 Sun 12 Nov 1995 London Crusaders 82-0 Highfield Barnet Copthall 512
15 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Widnes 32-8 Oldham Bears Naughton Park 3472 [6]
16 Sun 12 Nov 1995 Wigan 68-26 Whitehaven Central Park 6133 [2]

Round 3

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 25 Nov 1995 London Crusaders 18-22 Halifax Barnet Copthall 800
2 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Batley 22-35 Warrington Mount Pleasant 1754 [4]
3 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Dewsbury 14-26 Rochdale Hornets Crown Flatt 927
4 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Huddersfield 0-32 Wigan Alfred McAlpine Stadium 6026 [2]
5 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Hull F.C. 26-38 St. Helens Boulevard 4180 11 [3][5]
6 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Hunslet Hawks 17-22 Carlisle South Leeds Stadium 1355
7 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Leeds 42-28 Bradford Northern Headingley 10093
8 Sun 26 Nov 1995 Workington Town 8-32 Widnes Derwent Park 2500 [6]

Round 4 - Quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 9 Dec 1995 Widnes 23-28 Wigan Naughton Park 3771 12 [2][6]
2 Sun 10 Dec 1995 Leeds 44-22 Carlisle Headingley 5130
3 Sun 10 Dec 1995 St. Helens 46-18 Halifax Knowsley Road 7419 [3]
4 Sun 10 Dec 1995 Warrington 38-20 Rochdale Hornets Wilderspool 2731 [4]

Round 5 – Semifinals

[7] Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 30 Dec 1995 St. Helens P Warrington Knowsley Road 13 [2]"
2 Sat 6 Jan 1996 Wigan 38-18 Leeds Central Park 10075 [2]

Round 5 – Semifinal replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Thu 4 Jan 1996 St. Helens 80-0 Warrington Knowsley Road 10647 14 [3][4]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 13 January 1996 Wigan 25-16 St. Helens Alfred McAlpine Stadium 17590 15, 16, 21 [3][8]

Teams and scorers

[8][9]

Wigan № St. Helens
Gary Connolly 1 Steve Prescott
Jason Robinson 2 Joey Hayes
Va'aiga Tuigamala 3 Scott Gibbs
Kris Radlinski 4 Paul Newlove
Martin Offiah 5 Anthony Sullivan
Henry Paul 6 Karle Hammond
Shaun Edwards 7 Bobbie Goulding
Neil Cowie 8 Apollo Perelini
Martin Hall 9 Keiron Cunningham
Terry O'Connor 10 Ian Pickavance
Scott Quinnell 11 Chris Joynt (note 17)
Mick Cassidy 12 Simon Booth (note 18)
Simon Haughton 13 Dean Busby
?? Not used 14 Vila Matautia (for Ian Pickavance 25-mins) - Ian Pickavance (returned to replace Dean Busby 58-mins) (note 19)
Barrie McDermott (for Scott Quinnell 59-mins) 15 Andy Northey (for Anthony Sullivan 47-mins) (note 20)
Graeme West Coach Eric Hughes
25 score 16
Scorers
Tries
Henry Paul (2) T Joey Hayes (1)
Va'aiga Tuigamala (1) T Paul Newlove (1)
Kris Radlinski (1) T Keiron Cunningham (1)
Goals
Henry Paul (4) G Bobbie Goulding (2)
Drop Goals
Shaun Edwards (1) DG
Referee Russell Smith (Castleford)
Man of the match ? - ? - ?
Competition Sponsor Regal

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

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 ? 10 ?
Grand Total

The road to success

This tree excludes any First Round fixtures

Second Round Third Round Fourth Round Semi Finals Final
               
Workington Town 30
AS Saint Estève 14
Workington Town 8
Widnes 32
Widnes 32
Oldham Bears 8
Widnes 23
Wigan 28
Huddersfield 22
Featherstone Rovers 21
Huddersfield 0
Wigan 32
Wigan 68
Whitehaven 26
Wigan 7
Leeds 15
Leeds 46
Salford 22
Leeds 42
Bradford Northern 28
Bradford Northern 22
Sheffield Eagles 0
Leeds 44
Carlisle 22
Bramley 4
Hunslet Hawks 22
Hunslet Hawks 17
Carlisle 22
Carlisle 19
Castleford 18
Wigan 25
St. Helens 16
Hull F.C. 56
Ryedale-York 18
Hull F.C. 26
St. Helens 38
Keighley Cougars 14
St. Helens 42
St. Helens 46
Halifax 18
London Crusaders 82
Highfield 0
London Crusaders 18
Halifax 22
Halifax 20
Swinton 18
St. Helens 14
Warrington 9
Batley 21
Wakefield Trinity 14
Batley 22
Warrington 35
Chorley Borough (2) 10
Warrington 68
Warrington 38
Rochdale Hornets 20
Dewsbury 17
Barrow 6
Dewsbury 14
Rochdale Hornets 26
Hull Kingston Rovers 10
Rochdale Hornets 14

Notes and comments

1 * AS Saint Estève was a French rugby league team from Perpignan, which in 2000 it merged with nearby neighbours XIII Catalan to form Union Treiziste Catalaneto compete in the Super Leagueas the Catalans Dragons.
2 * Pia are a French League Club playing at Stade Daniel-Ambert
3 * Park Amateurs were a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
4 * Woolston Rovers are a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington, becoming Warrington Woolston Rovers in 2003 and Warrington Wizards in 2002. the ground is the old Warrington Home Ground of Wilderspool [10][11]
5 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the venue as Clarence Street, York. At the time Bramley were playing their home matches at Clarence Field, Kirkstall, Leeds
6 * Doncaster Dragons were now playing at Belle Vue
7 * Hemel Stags are a semi professional club based in Hemel Hempstead and playing at the Pennine Way stadium (capacity 2000)[12]
8 * Ellenborough Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from the Ellenborough suburb of Maryport, Cumbria[13]
9 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
10 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the venue as Clarence Street, York. At the time Bramley were playing their home matches at Clarence Field, Kirkstall, Leeds
11 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the attendance as 4,180, but Hull official archives[5] gives 4,180 and St Helens official archives[3] give 5,102
12 * after extra time - 16-16 at full time
13 * Postponed due to heavy frost. This match would have been televised by BBC but the replayed game wasn't shown
14 * Warrington record defeat, at the time
15 * This was the last Regal Trophy Final.
16 * St. Helens sacked their coach Eric Hughes following this loss.
17 * St Helens Heritage archives[9] shows Chris Joynt as numbered position 12, whereas Wigan official archives[8] shows the player as No 11
18 * St Helens Heritage archives[9] shows Simon Booth as numbered position 11, whereas Wigan official archives shows the player as No 12
19 * St Helens Heritage archives[9] shows Vila Matautia as numbered position 15, whereas Wigan official archives[8] shows the player as No 14
20 * St Helens Heritage archives[9] shows Andy Northey (for Anthony Sullivan 47 min) as numbered position 14, whereas Wigan official archives[8] shows the player as No 15
21 * The McAlpine Stadium is the home ground of Huddersfield Town and Super League side, Huddersfield Giants. The stadium is 40% owned by Kirklees Metropolitan Council and 60% by the two clubs, hosted its first match in August 1994 and seats 24,499 people along with hospitality boxes and conference rooms. Since opening the stadium has been sponsored by/known as the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, and more lately the Galpharm Stadium/John Smith's Stadium, and is a multi-use sports stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England.

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.

Postscript

To date, this was the last season for the John Player sponsored trophy competitions, which had taken place annually since its inauguration in the 1971-72 for a period of 25 seasons.
It was unfortunately such a short period for what was intended to be the "League Cup" and that very few of the professional clubs managed to have their name inscribed on the trophy, or even reach the semi-final stage
The reasons given by the ruling body, the Rugby Football League for the competition's demise, were that it was deemed the trophy was adding to fixture congestion for more successful sides and a clean sweep was needed to herald the "Summer Rugby" image of the game.

Records from the John Player trophy competition

[14][15][16]

Record No. No. cup winner runner-up
In Final Record
Most appearances 9 Wigan
8 Widnes
7 Warrington
Most wins 8 Wigan
4 Warrington
Most consecutive wins 2 Wigan (3 times) 85-86, 86-87, 88-89, 89-90, 94-95, 95-96
Most consecutive appearances 4 Wigan 92-93, 93-94, 94-95, 95-96
Highest Score 40-10 Wigan v Warrington 1994-95
Highest Agg score 40-10 as last
Lowest Agg score 3-2 Bradford Northern v Widnes 1974-75
Widest margin 33-2 Castleford v Wigan 1993-94
Biggest Attendance 25,326 - Boothferry Park Hull Kingston Rovers v Hull F.C. 1981-82
Smallest Attendance 4,512 - The Willows Castleford v Blackpool Borough 1976-77
Highest Receipts unknown - but possibly £94,874 - Widnes v Wigan 1988-89
Individual in a final
Most tries 3 Ellery Hanley Wigan v Halifax 1989-90
Most goals 8 Frano Botica Wigan v Warrington 1994-95
6 Derek Whitehead Warrington v Rochdale Hornets 1973-74
Most points 16 (8g) Frano Botica Wigan v Warrington 1994-95
15 (6g+1t) Derek Whitehead Warrington v Rochdale Hornets 1973-74
In competition
Highest Score 142-4 Huddersfield v Blackpool Gladiators (Sat '26-11-1994)
Other record scores at the time 138-0 Barrow v Nottingham City (Thu '24-11-1994)
2-92 Runcorn Highfield v Wigan (Sun '13-11-1988)
90-12 Wakefield Trinity v Highfield (Tue '27-10-1992)
82-0 Widnes v Dewsbury (Sun '30-11-1986)
2-70 Batley v Leigh (Sun '24-11-1985)
64-0 Whitehaven v Doncaster (Sun '18-11-1984)
17-68 Carlisle v Leigh (Sun '20-11-1983)
67-11 Hull Kingston Rovers v Oldham (Sun '24-'09-1978)
9-51 Blackpool Borough v Leeds (Sun '24-'09-1972)
Highest score v junior club 88-5 Castleford v Millom (Sun '16-'09-1973)
Highest winning margin 138 see above
Highest aggregate score 146 see above
Players Records
Most tries 9 Greg Austin Huddersfield v Blackpool Gladiators 1994-95
6 Steve Rowan Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95
6 Vincent Gribbin Whitehaven v Doncaster 1984-85
Most goals 17 Darren Carter Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95
17 Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd Castleford v Millom 1973-74
Most points 43 (17g+3t) Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd Castleford v Millom 1973-74
42 (17g+2t) Darren Carter Barrow v Nottingham City 1994-95

Entrants and number of cup wins

This table list all the semi-professional clubs which have entered the competition and reached at least the semi-final stage, the number (and dates) of their cup final wins, cup final runner-up spots, and losing semi-Final appearances.

No. cup winner No, runner-up No losing Semi-Final appearances
Barrow 1 1980-81
Blackpool Borough 1 1976-77
Bradford Northern 2 1974-75, 79-81 2 1990-91, 92-93 4 1977-78, 78-79, 88-89, 93-94
Bramley 1 1973-74
Castleford 2 1976-77, 93-94 5 1975-76, 80-81, 89-90,92-93, 94-95
Halifax 1 1971-72 1 1989-90 1 1984-85
Hull F.C. 1 1981-82 2 1975-76, 84-85 3 1980-81, 86-87, 92-93
Hull Kingston Rovers 1 1984-85 2 1981-82, 85-86 3 1972-73, 74-75, 78-79
Leeds 2 1972-73, 83-84 3 1982-83, 87-88, 91-92 3 1971-72, 84-85, 95-96
Leigh 3 1976-77, 83-84, 85-86
Oldham Bears 2 1981-82, 87-88
Rochdale Hornets 1 1973-74 1 1990-91
Salford 1 1972-73 4 1975-76, 79-80, 93-94, 91-92
St. Helens 1 1987-88 1 1995-96 8 1971-72, 72-73, 73-74, 83-84, 85-86, 88-89,89-90, 91-92
Swinton 1 1981-82
Wakefield Trinity 1 1971-72 2 1977-78, m79-80
Warrington 4 1973-74, 77-78, 80-81, 90-91 3 1978-79, 86-87, 94-95 2 1982-83, 95-96
Whitehaven 1 1974-75
Widnes 3 1975-76, 78-79, 91-92 5 1974-75, 77-78, 79-80, 83-84, 88-89 5 1976-77, 82-83, 86-87, 90-91, 94-95
Wigan 8 1982-83, 85-86, 86-87, 88-89, 89-90, 92-93, 94-95, 95-96 1 1993-94 1 1987-88

Note - several stats taken from records of the now defunct "The Rugby League Record Keepers Club" documents

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  4. ^ a b c d "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2010-07-06.
  5. ^ a b c "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results 1896/1897".
  6. ^ a b c "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  7. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".
  8. ^ a b c d e "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Final archived results". Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  9. ^ a b c d e "St Helens Heritage archived results".
  10. ^ "Woolston Rovers". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  11. ^ "Warrington Wizards". Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  12. ^ "Hemel hempstead Stags". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  13. ^ "Ellenborough Rangers". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  14. ^ Robert Gate (1991). Guinness Rugby League Fact Book. Guinness Publishing. ISBN 978-085112949 5.
  15. ^ Spotter Series. Spotter book of Rugby League Facts. Dorset Publ.
  16. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links

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