1985–86 League Cup (rugby league)

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1985–86 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams36
WinnersWigan
Runners-upHull Kingston Rovers

This was the fifteenth season of the competition. The League Cup was again known as the John Player Special Trophy this season for sponsorship reasons.

Wigan won the final, beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 11-8. The match was played at Elland Road, Leeds. The attendance was 17,573 and receipts were £66714.

Background[]

This season saw several changes in the entrants :-
1 Bridgend Blue Dragons and Southend Invicta both folded
2 and the invitation to two junior clubs continued
This involved a decrease in entrants to thirty-six, in turn resulting in a 4 match, 8 club preliminary round to reduce the number of clubs taking part in the first round proper to thirty-two
There were no drawn matches throughout the tournament

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 Rec Notes Ref
1 Sun 10 Nov 1985 Carlisle 6-24 Rochdale Hornets Brunton Park 752
2 Sun 10 Nov 1985 Featherstone Rovers 10-14 Warrington Post Office Road 1803 [4]
3 Sun 10 Nov 1985 Keighley 24-6 Jubilee Hotel (Featherstone) Lawkholme Lane 1007 1
4 Sun 10 Nov 1985 West Hull 10-24 Castleford Boulevard 2500 2

Round 1 - First Round[]

[3] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 23 Nov 1985 Halifax 2-11 Hull Kingston Rovers Thrum Hall 4147
2 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Barrow 5-2 Leeds Craven Park 4886
3 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Batley 2-70 Leigh Mount Pleasant 1543 3
4 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Blackpool Borough 22-24 Wakefield Trinity Borough Park 683 [5]
5 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Bramley 8-46 Oldham McLaren Field 2738
6 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Doncaster 22-20 Runcorn Highfield Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield 375
7 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Fulham 13-20 Warrington Chiswick Poly Sports Grd 1493 [4]
8 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Hunslet 20-12 Workington Town Elland Road 726
9 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Keighley 20-10 Huddersfield Barracudas Lawkholme Lane 1264 4 [6]
10 Sun 24 Nov 1985 St. Helens 42-6 Dewsbury Knowsley Road 5364 [7]
11 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Salford 18-12 Rochdale Hornets The Willows 2844
12 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Sheffield Eagles 16-24 Bradford Northern Owlerton Stadium 1342
13 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Whitehaven 7-12 Widnes Recreation Ground 3097 [2]
14 Sun 24 Nov 1985 Wigan 26-0 Mansfield Marksman Central Park 10040 5 [2]
15 Sun 24 Nov 1985 York 12-10 Castleford Clarence Street 3765
16 Sun 27 Nov 1985 Hull F.C. 44-0 Swinton Boulevard 3797 [8]

Round 2 - Second Round[]

[9] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 30 Nov 1985 Widnes 30-6 Bradford Northern Naughton Park 2222 [10]
2 Sun 1 Dec 1985 Hull F.C. 30-10 Salford Boulevard 5659 [8]
3 Sun 1 Dec 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 8-7 Oldham Craven Park (1) 7069
4 Sun 1 Dec 1985 Leigh 48-6 Hunslet Hilton Park 3267
5 Sun 1 Dec 1985 St. Helens 36-20 Doncaster Knowsley Road 4092 [7]
6 Sun 1 Dec 1985 Wakefield Trinity 21-30 Wigan Belle Vue 7360 [2][5]
7 Sun 1 Dec 1985 Warrington 34-14 Barrow Wilderspool 3705 [4]
8 Sun 1 Dec 1985 York 21-16 Keighley Clarence Street 2511

Round 3 -Quarter Finals[]

[11] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 7 Dec 1985 Warrington 22-26 Wigan Wilderspool 6737 [2][4]
2 Sun 8 Dec 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 24-16 York Craven Park (1) 6228
3 Sun 8 Dec 1985 Widnes 31-35 Leigh Naughton Park 6153 [10]
4 Wed 11 Dec 1985 St. Helens 57-14 Hull Knowsley Road 7536 [7][8]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals[]

[12] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 14 Dec 1985 Wigan 36-8 Leigh Knowsley Road 10509 [2]
2 Sat 21 Dec 1985 Hull Kingston Rovers 22-4 St. Helens Headingley 3856 [7]

Final[]

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 11 January 1986 Wigan 11-8 Hull Kingston Rovers Elland Road 17573 66714 6 [8][13][14][15]

Teams and scorers[]

[14][15][16]

Wigan № Hull Kingston Rovers
teams
Steve Hampson 1
Ray Mordt 2 Garry Clark
David Stephenson 3 Mike Smith
Ellery Hanley 4 John Dorahy
Henderson Gill 5 David Laws
Steve Ella 6 Gordon Smith
Mike Ford 7 Paul Harkin
Greg Dowling 8 Peter Johnston
Nicky Kiss 9 David Watkinson
Shaun Wane 10
Graeme West 11 Chris Burton
Andy Goodway 12 Andy Kelly
Ian Potter 13 Gavin Miller
Shaun Edwards (for Henderson Gill on 74th minute) 14 Ian Robinson (for Peter Johnston 74 min)
(for Ian Potter Half Time) 15 ? Not used
Colin Clarke and Coach Roger Millward
11 score 8
7 HT 4
Scorers
Tries
Mike Ford (1) T John Lydiat (1)
Shaun Wane (1) T David Laws (1)
Goals
David Stephenson (1) G
Drop Goals
Greg Dowling (1) DG
Referee John Holdsworth (Kippax)
Man of the match Paul Harkin - Hull KR - scrum-half
Competition Sponsor John Player Special

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

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
               
Fulham 13
Warrington 20
Warrington 34
Barrow 14
Barrow 5
Leeds 2
Warrington 22
Wigan 26
Blackpool Borough 22
Wakefield Trinity 24
Wakefield Trinity 21
Wigan 30
Wigan 26
Mansfield Marksman 0
Wigan 36
Leigh 8
Whitehaven 7
Widnes 12
Widnes 30
Bradford Northern 6
Sheffield Eagles 16
Bradford Northern 24
Widnes 31
Leigh 35
Batley 2
Leigh 70
Leigh 48
Hunslet 6
Hunslet 22
Workington Town 12
Wigan 11
Hull Kingston Rovers 8
Halifax 2
Hull Kingston Rovers 11
Hull Kingston Rovers 8
Oldham 7
Bramley 8
Oldham 46
Hull Kingston Rovers 24
York 16
York 12
Castleford 10
York 21
Keighley 16
Keighley 20
Huddersfield Barracudas 10
Hull Kingston Rovers 22
St. Helens 4
St. Helens 42
Dewsbury 6
St. Helens 36
Doncaster 20
Doncaster 22
Runcorn Highfield 20
St. Helens 57
Hull 14
Hull 44
Swinton 0
Hull 30
Salford 10
Salford 18
Rochdale Hornets 12

Notes and comments[]

1 * Jubilee Hotel are a Junior (amateur) club from Featherstone
2 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
3 * highest score, highest score by away team, and highest winning margin - all between professional clubs, to date
4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and Huddersfield Heritage[6] give the score as 20-10 but Wigan official archives[2] gives it as 20-18
5 * Mansfield Marksman have moved from Mansfield and are now playing at North Street, Alfreston
6 * Elland Road, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds United A.F.C. with a capacity of 37,914 (The record attendance was 57,892 set on 15 March 1967 for a cup match Leeds v Sunderland). The ground was originally established in 1897 by Holbeck RLFC who played there until their demise after the conclusion of the 1903-04 season

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[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. ^ a b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
  4. ^ a b c d "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  5. ^ a b "Wakefield until I die".
  6. ^ a b "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  7. ^ a b c d "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  8. ^ a b c d "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  9. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
  10. ^ a b "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  11. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 archived results".
  12. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player SF archived results".
  13. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Final archived results".
  14. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  15. ^ a b 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".

External links[]

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