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.
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 and an additional junior clubThis 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
Competition and Results
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 | |||||
| 3 | Sun 19 Nov 1989 | Crossfields | 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 | 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 |
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 | ||||
| 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 | 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 | |||||
| 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 | |||||
| 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 | |||||
| 16 | Sun 3 Dec 1989 | Workington Town | 4-28 | Huddersfield | Derwent Park | 571 |
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 | 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 | |||||
| 6 | Sun 10 Dec 1989 | St. Helens | 12-12 | Dewsbury | Knowsley Road | 5847 | |||||
| 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 |
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 |
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 | 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 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 17 Dec 1989 | Sheffield Eagles | 2-18 | Castleford | Saltergate, Chesterfield | 3014 | 11 |
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 |
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 | |||||
| 2 | Sat 30 Dec 1989 | Wigan | 24-10 | Castleford | Headingley | 10193 |
Final
Teams and Scorers
Scoring - Try = four points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one pointTimeline 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 fixturesGeneral 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 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, the John Player Trophy, the John Player Special Trophy, and the Regal Trophy in 1989.