1995–96 League Cup (rugby league)

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.

1995–96 League Cup
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	42
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	St. Helens
← 1994–95

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

• 1995-96 Rugby Football League season
• Regal Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
3. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
4. . Archived from the original on 2010-07-06.
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results 1896/1897".
6. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
7. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player S-F archived results".
8. . Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
9. "St Helens Heritage archived results".
10. . Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
11. . Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
12. . Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
13. . 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

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• Huddersfield R L Heritage
• Wakefield until I die