1988–89 Rugby Football League season

Leigh
Barrow
Sheffield Eagles

Relegated to Second Division

Oldham
Halifax
Hull Kingston Rovers

Second DivisionChampions

LeighTop point-scorer(s)

Mark Aston 307Top try-scorer(s)

Derek Bate 34

← 1987–88

1989–90 →

The 1988–89 Rugby Football League season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Fourteen teams competed from August, 1988 until May, 1989 for the Stones Bitter Championship, Premiership Trophy and Silk Cut Challenge Cup.

Season summary

Springfield Borough (previously Blackpool Borough) relocated were renamed Chorley Borough.

Huddersfield Barracudas reverted to their original name Huddersfield.

Wigan beat Salford 22–17 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Leeds beat Castleford 33–12 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

League Tables

Championship final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Widnes	26	20	1	5	726	345	+381	41
2	Wigan	26	19	0	7	543	434	+109	38
3	Leeds	26	18	0	8	530	380	+150	36
4	Hull	26	17	0	9	427	355	+72	34
5	Castleford	26	15	2	9	601	480	+121	32
6	Featherstone Rovers	26	13	1	12	482	545	-63	27
7	St. Helens	26	12	1	13	513	529	-16	25
8	Bradford Northern	26	11	1	14	545	518	+27	23
9	Wakefield Trinity	26	11	1	14	413	540	-37	23
10	Salford	26	11	0	15	469	526	-57	22
11	Warrington	26	10	0	16	456	455	+1	20
12	Oldham	26	8	1	17	462	632	-170	17
13	Halifax	26	6	1	19	335	535	-200	13
14	Hull Kingston Rovers	26	6	1	19	408	636	-228	13

Champions

Relegated

Second Division Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Leigh	28	26	0	2	925	338	+587	52
2	Barrow	28	21	1	6	726	326	+400	43
3	Sheffield Eagles	28	19	1	8	669	362	+307	39
4	York	28	17	1	10	585	383	+202	35
5	Swinton	28	16	2	10	621	482	+139	34
6	Doncaster	28	17	0	11	599	464	+135	34
7	Whitehaven	28	15	2	11	522	378	+144	32
8	Keighley	28	16	0	12	551	525	+26	32
9	Rochdale Hornets	28	15	0	13	655	677	-22	30
10	Bramley	28	14	1	13	600	514	+86	29
11	Carlisle	28	14	1	13	512	441	+71	29
12	Batley	28	13	3	12	461	416	+45	29
13	Dewsbury	28	13	0	15	518	626	-108	26
14	Hunslet	28	12	1	15	473	540	-67	25
15	Fulham	28	10	0	18	464	650	-186	20
16	Chorley Borough	28	9	1	18	408	533	-125	19
17	Workington Town	28	9	1	18	365	549	-184	19
18	Huddersfield	28	9	1	18	400	615	-215	19
19	Mansfield Marksman	28	4	1	23	308	769	-461	9
20	Runcorn Highfield	28	2	1	25	224	998	-774	5

Promoted

Premiership

Challenge Cup

Wigan defeated St. Helens 27-0 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 78,000.^[1] Ellery Hanley, Wigan's loose forward, was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance.^[2] This was the first time a side had been held scoreless in a Challenge Cup final.

Lancashire Cup

First round		Second round		Semi-finals		Final

Barrow	10

Wigan	14
		Wigan	36

		Rochdale Hornets	4
Rochdale Hornets	25

Fulham	14
				Wigan	14

				Widnes	10
Widnes	32

St. Helens	24
		Widnes	38

		Swinton	4
Swinton	24

Leigh	14
						Wigan	22

						Salford	17
Oldham	64

Workington Town	2
		Oldham	2

		Salford	18
Salford	42

Whitehaven	8
				Salford	15

				Warrington	2
Runcorn Highfield	4

Warrington	42
		Warrington	34

		Carlisle	18
Carlisle	17

Chorley Borough	7

Yorkshire Cup

The following chart excludes any preliminary round fixtures/results

First round		Second round		Semi-finals		Final

Leeds	24

Bradford Northern	21
		Leeds	15

		Wakefield Trinity	10
Wakefield Trinity	46

Dewsbury	20
				Leeds	12

				Hull F.C.	8
Hull F.C.	53

Hunslet	0
		Hull F.C.	18

		Featherstone Rovers	0
Featherstone Rovers	38

Doncaster	8
						Leeds	33

						Castleford	12
Halifax	36

Batley	14
		Halifax	24

		Hull Kingston Rovers	2
Keighley	22

Hull Kingston Rovers	28
				Halifax	8

				Castleford	12
Castleford	94

Huddersfield	12
		Castleford	40

		York	14
York	25

Mansfield Marksman	4

John Player Special Trophy

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round		Second round		Third round		Semi-finals		Final

Huddersfield	4

Chorley Borough	22
		Chorley Borough	22

		Hull Kingston Rovers	36
Hull Kingston Rovers	40

Keighley	0
				Hull Kingston Rovers	16(0)

				Wigan	16 (30)
Runcorn Highfield	2

Wigan	92
		Wigan	20

		Halifax	16
Halifax	22

Salford	4
						Wigan	16

						Bradford Northern	5
Leeds	12

Castleford	21
		Castleford	18

		Bradford Northern	19
Bradford Northern	34

Dewsbury	18
				Bradford Northern	6

				Leigh	0
Leigh	42

Barrow	14
		Leigh	40

		Doncaster	18
Swinton	13

Doncaster	16
								Wigan	12

								Widnes	6
Sheffield Eagles	80

Wigan St Patricks	8
		Sheffield Eagles	9

		Widnes	34
Widnes	37

Featherstone Rovers	12
				Widnes	16

				Warrington	7
Warrington	21

Oldham	14
		Warrington	42

		Bramley	10
Bramley	32

Mansfield Marksman	6
						Widnes	20

						St. Helens	15
York	6

St. Helens	14
		St. Helens	16

		Hull F.C.	13
Hull F.C.	26

Batley	10
				St. Helens	34

				Wakefield Trinity	18
Wakefield Trinity	34

Carlisle	14
		Wakefield Trinity	38

		Rochdale Hornets	12
Rochdale Hornets	26

Whitehaven	20

References

^ Winners 1897 - present Archived 2010-09-10 at the Wayback Machine at carnegiechallengecup.co.uk
^ Lance Todd Trophy Winners Archived 2010-11-28 at the Wayback Machine at therfl.co.uk

Sources

1988-89 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
Great Britain Competitions 1988-1989 at hunterlink.net.au

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(1895–1996)

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