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1987–88 Rugby Football League season
1987–88 Rugby Football League season
League	Stones Bitter Championship
1987–88 Season
Champions	Widnes
Premiership	Widnes
Man of Steel Award	Martin Offiah
Top point-scorer(s)	John Woods 351
Top try-scorer(s)	Martin Offiah 44
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Oldham; Featherstone Rovers; Wakefield Trinity;
Relegated to Second Division	Leigh; Swinton; Hunslet;
Second Division
Champions	Oldham
Top point-scorer(s)	Kevin Pape (Carlisle) 23
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 Rugby Football League season was the 93rd season of rugby league football in Britain.

Season summary

During the summer of 1987, freedom of contract was introduced, replacing the retain and transfer system used in previous seasons. Players could now negotiate a move to another club at the end of their contract, with the new club paying compensation to the player's former club. An independent tribunal was created to rule on transfers where the two clubs were unable to agree on a fee.^[1] The first case decided by the new tribunal was on 27 August 1987, setting a £40,000 fee for Ged Byrne's transfer from Salford to Wigan.^[2]

During the season, defending champions Wigan hosted NSWRL champions, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the 1987 World Club Challenge match. Wigan were World Club Champions for the first time when they beat Manly-Warringah 8–2 at Central Park, Wigan on 7 Oct 1987 before a crowd of 36,895 ^[3]

The Stones Bitter League Champions were Widnes for the second time in their history, exactly ten years after their first. Leigh, Swinton and Hunslet were relegated.

The Challenge Cup winners were Wigan who beat Halifax 32–12 in the final.

John Player Special Trophy winners were St. Helens who beat Leeds 15–14 in the final.

Rugby League Premiership Trophy Winners were Widnes who beat St. Helens 38–14 in the final.

2nd Division Champions were Oldham. Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity were also promoted. Blackpool Borough changed their name to Springfield Borough.

Wigan beat Warrington 28–16 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Bradford Northern beat Castleford 12–12 (replay 11–2) to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

At the end of the season players from the League were selected to go on the 1988 Great Britain Lions tour.

League Tables

Championship final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Widnes	26	20	0	6	641	311	40
2	St. Helens	26	18	0	8	672	337	36
3	Wigan	26	17	2	7	621	327	36
4	Bradford Northern	26	18	0	8	528	304	36
5	Leeds	26	15	3	8	577	450	33
6	Warrington	26	14	2	10	531	416	30
7	Castleford	26	13	0	13	505	559	26
8	Halifax	26	12	0	14	499	437	24
9	Hull Kingston Rovers	26	11	1	14	420	480	23
10	Hull	26	11	0	15	364	595	22
11	Salford	26	10	0	16	368	561	20
12	Leigh	26	9	0	17	416	559	18
13	Swinton	26	4	2	20	390	780	10
14	Hunslet	26	4	2	20	363	779	10

	Champions		Play-offs		Relegated

Second Division

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	Oldham	28	23	1	4	771	335	47
2	Featherstone Rovers	28	21	2	5	712	353	44
3	Wakefield Trinity	28	20	1	7	666	315	41
4	Springfield Borough	28	18	0	10	448	356	36
5	Sheffield Eagles	28	16	1	11	490	429	33
6	York	28	15	1	12	558	526	31
7	Mansfield Marksman	28	15	1	12	439	412	31
8	Keighley	28	15	0	13	497	428	30
9	Barrow	28	14	2	12	382	397	30
10	Workington Town	28	15	0	13	380	441	30
11	Carlisle	28	14	1	13	388	444	29
12	Runcorn Highfield	28	14	0	14	420	469	28
13	Whitehaven	28	10	1	17	417	452	21
14	Bramley	28	10	1	17	400	600	21
15	Dewsbury	28	10	0	18	417	519	20
16	Doncaster	28	9	2	17	406	512	20
17	Fulham	28	10	0	18	382	559	20
18	Rochdale Hornets	28	10	0	18	322	514	20
19	Huddersfield Barracudas	28	7	1	20	383	597	15
20	Batley	28	6	1	21	305	523	13

	Promoted

Challenge Cup

Wigan had reached the final by beating Bradford Northern 2–0 in Round One at home on 30 Jan; Leeds 30–14 in Round Two at home on 14 Feb; Widnes 10–1 in the Quarter Final at home on 27 Feb and Salford 34–4 in the semi-final played at Bolton on 12 Mar.

Wigan beat Halifax 32–12 in the final played at Wembley before a crowd of 94,273.^[4]

This was Wigan's ninth Challenge Cup Final win in eighteen Final appearances. It was the start of their record breaking eight Challenge Cup Final wins in a row.

The Wigan scrum half, Andy Gregory, won the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance.

John Player Special Trophy

County cups

Premiership

References

^ Fitzpatrick, Paul (27 June 1987). "Freedon from the murkier depths". The Guardian. London. p. 17. ProQuest 186698335.
^ "Sport In Brief". The Guardian. London. 28 August 1987. p. 21. ProQuest 186860056.
^ "1987-88 Season summary". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-08-07.