1990–91 Regal Trophy

The 1990–91 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 20th season that the competition was held, and was the second staging of the competition since it was re-named the Regal Trophy.

1990–91 Regal Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	38
Winners	Warrington
Runners-up	Bradford Northern
← 1989–90 1991–92 →

The final was won by Warrington, who beat Bradford Northern 12-2 in the match played at Headingley, Leeds. The attendance was 11,154 and receipts were £57662.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-eight.

The preliminary round involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers to entrants to the first round proper to thirty-two.

Competition and results

^[1][2][3]

Preliminary round

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 14 Nov 1990	Doncaster		14-12		Ryedale-York	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield	1165
2	Sat 17 Nov 1990	Bradford Dudley Hill		18-24		Dewsbury	Neil Hunt Ground, Bradford	970		1
3	Sat 17 Nov 1990	Saddleworth		35-18		Egremont (Cumbria)	Watersheddings	900		2,3
4	Sun 18 Nov 1990	Carlisle		10-28		Wakefield Trinity	Gifford Park	1479			[4]
5	Sun 18 Nov 1990	Leeds		58-6		Halifax	Headingley	9761
6	Sun 18 Nov 1990	Sheffield Eagles		8-12		Bradford Northern	Don Valley Stadium	2788

^[5]

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 30 Nov 1990	Rochdale Hornets		30-10		Saddleworth (Oldham)	Spotland	2434		2
2	Sat 1 Dec 1990	Widnes		24-16		Hull F.C.	Naughton Park	4940			[6][7]
3	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Barrow		16-54		Featherstone Rovers	Craven Park	1200
4	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Bradford Northern		12-11		Workington Town	Odsal	2850
5	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Bramley		30-16		Dewsbury	McLaren Field	680
6	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Fulham		8-14		Castleford	Chiswick Poly *	831		4
7	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Huddersfield		13-15		Keighley	Fartown	1256			[8]
8	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Leeds		26-22		Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley	9753
9	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Leigh		66-5		Chorley Borough (2)	Hilton Park	1313
10	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Nottingham City		6-35		Batley	Harvey Hadden Stadium	367		5
11	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Oldham		26-6		Salford	Watersheddings	4932
12	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Swinton		7-31		St. Helens	Station Road	3385			[9]
13	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Trafford Borough		10-10		Doncaster	Moss Lane Altrincham	409
14	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Wakefield Trinity		40-8		Hunslet	Belle Vue	3531			[4]
15	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Warrington		33-7		Runcorn Highfield	Wilderspool	2712			[10]
16	Sun 2 Dec 1990	Whitehaven		6-24		Wigan	Recreation Ground	3459			[2]

^[5]

Round 1 - First Round replays

Involved xx matches and xx Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Thu 5 Dec 1990	Doncaster		19-7		Trafford Borough	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield	1195

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 8 Dec 1990	Widnes		22-6		Leeds	Naughton Park	3465			[6]
2	Sun 9 Dec 1990	Batley		20-16		Oldham	Mount Pleasant	2054
3	Sun 9 Dec 1990	Wakefield Trinity		4-20		Castleford	Belle Vue	7031			[4]
4	Sun 9 Dec 1990	Warrington		11-6		Leigh	Wilderspool	3588			[10]
5	Sun 9 Dec 1990	Wigan		36-16		Keighley	Central Park	5955			[2]
6	Tue 11 Dec 1990	Bradford Northern		28-0		Bramley	Odsal	1815
7	Tue 11 Dec 1990	Featherstone Rovers		16-33		St. Helens	Post Office Road	3343			[9]
8	Wed 12 Dec 1990	Doncaster		10-14		Rochdale Hornets	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield	1341

^[11]

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 15 Dec 1990	Wigan		6-12		Bradford Northern	Central Park	5285			[2]
2	Sun 16 Dec 1990	Castleford		14-19		Rochdale Hornets	Wheldon Road	4017
3	Sun 16 Dec 1990	Warrington		18-12		St. Helens	Wilderspool	7390			[9][10]
4	Sun 16 Dec 1990	Widnes		56-6		Batley	Naughton Park	6656			[6]

^[12]

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 22 Dec 1990	Bradford Northern		13-2		Rochdale Hornets	Headingley	3788
2	Sat 29 Dec 1990	Warrington		8-4		Widnes	Central Park	7874			[6][10]

^[12]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 12 January 1991	Warrington		12-2		Bradford Northern	Headingley	11154	57662	6	[3][10][12]

Teams and scorers

Warrington	№	Bradford Northern
	teams
David Lyon	1	Ian Wilkinson
Des Drummond (c)	2	Gerald Cordle
Allan Bateman	3	Darrall Shelford
Tony Thorniley	4	Roger Simpson
Mark Forster	5	Tony Marchant
Chris O'Sullivan	6	Neil Summers
Kevin Ellis	7	Brett Iti
Neil Harmon	8	David Hobbs
Duane Mann	9	Brian Noble
Gary Chambers	10	John Hamer
Gary Mercer	11	Paul Medley
Billy McGinty	12	David Croft
Paul Cullen	13	John Pendlebury (c)
Mark Thomas (for Gary Chambers 41 mins)	14	Phil Hellewell (for Tony Marchant 41 mins)
Rowland Phillips (for Neil Harmon 79 min)	15	Craig Richards (not used)
Brian Johnson	Coach	David Hobbs
12	score	2
4	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Mark Thomas (1)	T
	Goals
David Lyon (4)	G	David Hobbs (1)
Referee		Jim Smith (Halifax)
Man of the match		Billy McGinty - Warrington - Second-row
Competition Sponsor		Regal

Scoring - Try = four points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

^[3]

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	30000	1	30000
Runner-up	16000	1	16000
semi-finalist	8500	2	17000
loser in Rd 3	5000	4	20000
loser in Rd 2	3250	8	26000
Loser in Rd 1	2000	16	32000
Loser in Prelim Round	2000	12	24000
Grand Total			165000
plus to capital development fund			110000
Grand Total			275000

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semi-finals					Final
	Warrington		33
	Runcorn Highfield		7
						Warrington		11
						Leigh		6
	Leigh		66
	Chorley Borough (2)		5
											Warrington		18
											St. Helens		12
	Barrow		16
	Featherstone Rovers		64
						Featherstone Rovers		16
						St. Helens		33
	Swinton		7
	St. Helens		31
																Warrington		8
																Widnes		4
	Widnes		24
	Hull F.C.		6
						Widnes		22
						Leeds		6
	Leeds		26
	Hull Kingston Rovers		22
											Widnes		56
											Batley		6
	Nottingham City		6
	Batley		35
						Batley		20
						Oldham		16
	Oldham		26
	Salford		6
																					Warrington		12
																					Bradford Northern		2
	Whitehaven		6
	Wigan		24
						Wigan		36
						Keighley		16
	Huddersfield		13
	Keighley		15
											Wigan		6
											Bradford Northern		12
	Bradford Northern		12
	Workington Town		11
						Bradford Northern		28
						Bramley		0
	Bramley		30
	Dewsbury		16
																Bradford Northern		13
																Rochdale Hornets		2
	Wakefield Trinity		40
	Hunslet		8
						Wakefield Trinity		4
						Castleford		12
	Fulham		8
	Castleford		14
											Castleford		14
											Rochdale Hornets		19
	Trafford Borough		10 (7)
	Doncaster		10 (19)
						Doncaster		10
						Rochdale Hornets		14
	Rochdale Hornets		30
	Saddleworth (Oldham)		10

Notes and comments

1 * Bradford Dudley Hill are a Junior (amateur) club from Bradford
2 * Saddleworth Rangers are a Junior (amateur) club from Oldham
3 * Egremont are a Junior (amateur) club from Cumbria
4 * At this time Fulham were a bit nomadic, using a collection of grounds as their "home", but the likelihood was that this match was probably played at Chiswick Polytechnic Sports Ground
5 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] and Rothmans yearbook 1991-92^[3] give the score as 6-35 but Wigan official archives^[5] gives it as 6-5, which must be a misprint as Batley were the team progressing to the next round
6 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.

See also

• 1990-91 Rugby Football League season
• 1990 Lancashire Cup
• 1990 Yorkshire Cup
• John Player Special Trophy
• Rugby league county cups