| 1995–96 Regal Trophy | |
| Pixels: | 200px |
| Structure: | National knockout championship |
| Season Champs: | Wigan |
| Season Champ Name: | Winners |
| Runner-Up Name: | Runner-up |
| Second Place: | St. Helens |
| Prevseason Link: | 1994–95 Regal Trophy |
| Prevseason Year: | 1994–95 |
| No Of Teams: | 42 |
The 1995–96 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 25th and final season that the competition was held, and was the seventh staging of the competition since it was renamed the Regal Trophy.
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.
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
Involved 10 matches and 20 clubs with 22 byes
| width=10 abbr="No" | Game No | width=110 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=20 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Rec" | Rec | width=20 abbr="Notes" | Notes | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sat 30 Sep 1995 | Leigh | 16-19 | AS Saint Estève | Hilton Park | 1543 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Sat 30 Sep 1995 | York | 24-22 | SM Pia XIII | 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 Chieftains | 92-0 | Nottingham City | Victory Park | 425 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Sun 1 Oct 1995 | Highfield | 48-18 | Hemel Hempstead | 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 |
Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs. The 10 winners of the first round were joined by the 11 Championship clubs and 11 First Division clubs in the second round.
| width=10 abbr="No" | Game No | width=110 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=40 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Rec" | Rec | width=20 abbr="Notes" | Notes | width=30 abbr="Ref" | 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 | 1,376 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Batley | 21–14 | Wakefield Trinity | Mount Pleasant | 1,522 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Bradford Bulls | 22–0 | Sheffield Eagles | Odsal | 3,353 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Bramley | 4–22 | Hunslet Hawks | Clarence Field | 650 | 10 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Carlisle | 19–18 | Castleford | Gifford Park | 850 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Chorley Chieftains | 10–68 | Warrington | Victory Park | 1,236 | [4] | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Dewsbury | 17–6 | Barrow | Crown Flatt | 662 | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Halifax | 20–18 | Swinton | Thrum Hall | 2,994 | |||||||||||||
| 10 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Huddersfield | 22–21 | Featherstone Rovers | Alfred McAlpine Stadium | 2,337 | |||||||||||||
| 11 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Hull F.C. | 56–18 | York | Boulevard | 2,411 | [5] | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10–14 | Rochdale Hornets | Craven Park | 1,548 | |||||||||||||
| 13 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Leeds | 46–22 | Salford | Headingley | 7,589 | |||||||||||||
| 14 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | London Broncos | 82–0 | Highfield | Barnet Copthall | 512 | |||||||||||||
| 15 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Widnes | 32–8 | Oldham Bears | Naughton Park | 3,472 | [6] | ||||||||||||
| 16 | Sun 12 Nov 1995 | Wigan | 68–26 | Whitehaven | Central Park | 6,133 |
Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs
| width=10 abbr="No" | Game No | width=110 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=20 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Rec" | Rec | width=20 abbr="Notes" | Notes | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sat 25 Nov 1995 | London Broncos | 18-22 | Halifax | Barnet Copthall | 800 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Sun 26 Nov 1995 | Batley | 22-35 | Warrington | Mount Pleasant | 1754 | |||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Sun 26 Nov 1995 | Hull F.C. | 26-38 | St. Helens | Boulevard | 4180 | 11 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Sun 26 Nov 1995 | Hunslet Hawks | 17-22 | Carlisle | South Leeds Stadium | 1355 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Sun 26 Nov 1995 | Leeds | 42-28 | Bradford Bulls | Headingley | 10093 | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Sun 26 Nov 1995 | Workington Town | 8-32 | Widnes | Derwent Park | 2500 |
Wigan won their tie against Widnes after extra time.[7]
| width=10 abbr="No" | Game No | width=110 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=40 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=40 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sat 9 Dec 1995 | Widnes | 23–28 | Wigan | Naughton Park | 3,771 | |||||||||
| 2 | Sun 10 Dec 1995 | Leeds | 44–22 | Carlisle | Headingley | 5,130 | |||||||||
| 3 | Sun 10 Dec 1995 | St. Helens | 46–18 | Halifax | Knowsley Road | 7,419 | |||||||||
| 4 | Sun 10 Dec 1995 | Warrington | 38–20 | Rochdale Hornets | Wilderspool | 2,731 |
The semi-final between St Helens and Warrington was originally scheduled to take place on 30 December 1995, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch.[8] The result in the rescheduled fixture was a record defeat for Warrington.[9]
| width=280 abbr=winner | Wigan | width=60 abbr="Number" | No. | width=280 abbr=runner-up | 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 (c) | 7 | Bobbie Goulding (c) | |||
| Neil Cowie | 8 | Apollo Perelini | |||
| Martin Hall | 9 | Keiron Cunningham | |||
| Terry O'Connor | 10 | Ian Pickavance | |||
| Scott Quinnell | 11 | Chris Joynt | |||
| Mick Cassidy | 12 | Simon Booth | |||
| Simon Haughton | 13 | Dean Busby | |||
| Rob Smyth | 14 | Andy Northey (for Anthony Sullivan 47-mins) | |||
| Martin Dermott (for Scott Quinnell 59-mins) | 15 | Vila Matautia (for Ian Pickavance 25-mins) - Ian Pickavance (returned to replace Dean Busby 58-mins) | |||
| Graeme West | Coach | Eric Hughes |
As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-
| width=100 abbr="Finish Position" | Finish Position | width=110 abbr="Cash Prize" | Cash Prize | width=50 abbr="No. receiving prize" | No. receiving prize | width=100 abbr="Total Cash" | 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 |
This tree excludes any First round fixtures
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 [12] [13]
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)[14]
8 * Ellenborough Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from the Ellenborough suburb of Maryport, Cumbria[15]
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
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.
| width=100 abbr="Rec" | Record | width=140 abbr="winners" | No. | width=60 abbr="winners" | No. | width=130 abbr="Years" | cup winner | width=190 abbr="Years" | 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 | |||||||