1994–95 League Cup (rugby league)

1994–95 League Cup

Structure	National knockout championship
Number of teams	48
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Warrington
< 1993–94 Seasons 1995–96 >

This was the twenty-fourth season of the League Cup, rugby league's secondary cup competition known as the Regal Trophy due to sponsorship.

Wigan won the final, beating Warrington 40-10 at the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield. The attendance was 19,636.

Background

This season saw no changes from last season's re-vamping, with no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at forty-eight.
The entrants still included two French clubs and eleven junior clubs
The sixteen First Round winners added to the sixteen clubs given byes, gave a total of entrants into the second round as thirty-two.

Competition and Results^[1][2]

Round 1 - First Round - (a Preliminary Round)

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs, with 16 byes

Round 2 Second Round^[3]

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Round 3 - Third Round^[9]

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Round 3 - Third Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Round 4 -Quarter Finals^[10]

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Round 5 – Semi-Finals^[11]

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Final

Teams and Scorers^[12]

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 :-

Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success

This tree excludes the First Round fixtures

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 * XIII Catalan were a French rugby league team from Perpignan, founded in 1935, founding members of the French rugby league championship. In 2000 they merged with AS Saint Estève to form Union Treiziste Catalane (or Catalans Dragons)
3 * The highest score and the highest winning margin, at the time. The record stood for approximately two days before it was beaten. This record includes club records of (1) joint highest try scorer in a match by Steve Rowan with 6 tries, (2) highest number of goals kicked in a match by Darren Carter with 17, and (3) the highest number of points in a match also by Darren Carter with 17 goalds and 2 tries making a total of 42
4 * This beat the record for the highest score, and equalled the at of the highest aggregate win, set two days earlier. This record included the all time British record of most tries by a centre in a match when Greg Austin scored 9 tries
5 * Queens are a Junior (amateur) club from Leeds
6 * Myson are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
7 * Bradford Dudley Hill are a Junior (amateur) club from Bradford
8 * Ovenden are a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
9 * Hensingham are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh^[13]
10 * Leigh Miners' Welfare are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh (formed by merger of Astley & Tyldesley and Hope Rangers - and now Leigh Miners Rangers)^[14]
11 * Hemel Stags are a semi professional club based in Hemel Hempstead and playing at the Pennine Way stadium (capacity 2000)^[15]
12 * 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 ^[16][17]
13 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
14 * Saddleworth Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from Oldham
15 * Thatto Heath are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens^[18]
16 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] gives the attendance as 4,807 but Widnes official archives^[4] gives it as 4,831
17 * 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 as The John Smith's Stadium, originally the Alfred McAlpine Stadium and more lately the Galpharm Stadium, is a multi-use sports stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England

General information

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

• 1994-95 Rugby Football League season
• Regal Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
• Huddersfield R L Heritage
• Wakefield until I die