A lucrative TV deal with Sky Sports meant massive changes for Rugby League in 1996. The sport moved from winter to summer with the season now running from early spring to early autumn. Sky increased broadcast coverage to two games a week, one on a Friday and the other on Saturday Night. The Video Referee was introduced to help the referee with difficult try scoring decisions in all televised matches
with decisions being relayed on a "Big Screen". The "Salary Cap" was
introduced which meant every team had the same amount of money to spend on wages. This led to a more even competition. 1996
also saw the introduction of squad numbers and names on the back of shirts although Wigan had done this for a couple of cup finals previously. Wigan also played a competitive match outside the UK for the first time in July 1996 when they travelled to play Paris St Germain, the newly introduced French Super League team.
Wigan Final
League Position: 2nd (Coach: Graeme West) Stones Bitter Super League Champions: St Helens Silk Cut Challenge Cup Winners: St Helens (40-32 v Bradford) Stones Bitter Premiership Trophy Winners:
Wigan Warriors (5 - 44-14 v St Helens) 1st Division Champions:
Salford Reds 2nd Division Champions: Hull Kingston Rovers
*Daryl Cardiss was an unused sub in the 34-13
win over London on 17th August. *Craig Murdock & Andy Johnson were unused
subs in the Premiership Trophy Semi Final v Bradford on 31st August.
Paris St Germain entered the competition, being admitted directly to the
Super League. South Wales joined the second division but only lasted a year.
Some felt that South Wales should also have been allowed entry to the Super
League. Highfield changed their name to Prescot Panthers. Halifax added Blue Sox
to their name. Castleford added Tigers to their name. Huddersfield added Giants
to their name. Batley added Bulldogs to their name. Swinton added Lions to their
name.
1996 Stones Bitter Super League I Final Table
-
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Diff
Pts
1
St Helens
22
20
0
2
950
455
+495
40
2
Wigan
Warriors
22
19
1
2
902
326
+576
39
3
Bradford Bulls
22
17
0
5
767
409
+358
34
4
London Broncos
22
12
1
9
611
462
+149
25
5
Warrington
Wolves
22
12
0
10
569
565
+4
24
6
Halifax Blue Sox
22
10
1
11
667
567
+100
21
7
Sheffield Eagles
22
10
0
12
599
730
-131
20
8
Oldham Bears
22
9
1
12
473
681
-208
19
9
Castleford Tigers
22
9
0
13
548
599
-51
18
10
Leeds Rhinos
22
6
0
16
555
745
-190
12
11
Paris St Germain
22
3
1
18
398
795
-397
7
12
Workington Town
22
2
1
19
325
1021
-696
5
Workington Town were demoted to First Division.
First Division
Championship
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Salford Reds
20
18
0
2
733
298
36
Keighley Cougars
20
14
2
4
558
333
30
Hull
20
14
0
6
565
392
28
Featherstone Rovers
20
12
2
6
557
371
26
Huddersfield Giants
20
12
0
8
557
308
24
Wakefield Trinity
20
10
1
9
485
455
21
Widnes
20
9
1
10
413
447
19
Dewsbury
20
6
1
13
264
618
13
Whitehaven
20
5
1
14
328
546
11
Rochdale Hornets
20
2
2
16
348
602
6
Batley Bulldogs
20
2
2
16
230
668
6
Salford Reds were promoted to the Super League. Rochdale Hornets and Batley
Bulldogs were demoted to Second Division.
Second Division
Championship
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Hull Kingston Rovers
22
21
0
1
1009
294
42
Swinton Lions
22
18
0
4
785
295
36
Hunslet Hawks
22
18
0
4
730
326
36
Carlisle
22
13
0
9
654
486
26
Doncaster Dragons
22
13
0
9
500
540
26
South Wales
22
12
0
10
528
548
24
Leigh Centurions
22
10
0
12
594
510
20
York
22
9
0
13
449
603
18
Chorley Chieftains
22
6
0
16
354
723
12
Barrow Braves
22
5
0
17
354
651
10
Bramley
22
5
0
17
360
759
10
Prescot Panthers
22
2
0
20
301
883
4
Hull Kingston Rovers and Swinton Lions were promoted to the First Division.
Two months after the shock Challenge Cup defeat to 1st Division Salford, a
defeat which had ended our long 9 year unbeaten cup run Wigan played their first
ever match in the new era of the summer Super League on Saturday 30th March
1996. The new competition had been launched a night earlier when new French side
Paris St Germain defeated Sheffield Eagles at the Charlety Stadium in Paris. The
new era was launched with great razmatazz. All clubs had become professional and
with the new era most sides attached nicknames to themselves. Wigan became the
Wigan Warriors and still under the leadership of coach Graeme West they
travelled to Boundary Park in Oldham for their first historic match. They
comfortably beat the Oldham Bears 56-16, watched by 7,709. The tries scorers in
that first historic match were Gary Connolly (3), Shaun Edwards, Henry Paul,
Kris Radlinski and Martin Offiah.
The new competition had launched during a
period of time in which Wigan had dominated the game. At the start of the year
everyone expected Wigan to simply go on winning everything but this was a
faster, tougher league which was wide open for anyone to win.
In Round 2 Wigan travelled to St Helens for the traditional Good Friday
match. With the switch to summer the Boxing Day match could no longer be played
but the Good Friday tradition was kept in place. In recent seasons Saints had
been so near but yet so far from beating Wigan, we always found an extra gear to
overcome them. Not this time though as Saints won 41-26, a result which would
prove crucial come the end of the year. Wigan bounced back from the loss in good
form, winning their next eight league matches.
May 1996 saw Wigan take part in a unique "cross code challenge" series with
Rugby Union side Bath. Basically the two sides played each other twice, once
under league rules and once under union rules. The fixture was a "necessity in
financial terms" for Wigan who needed to fill a financial hole created by
Wigan's Challenge Cup failure earlier in the season.
The league match took place on
May 8th at Maine Road, the former home of Manchester City Football Club. Wigan
showed little mercy to their union opponents, winning 82-6.
Martin Offiah led the way with six tries, while Jason Robinson (2), Terry
O'Connor (2), Andy Johnson (2), Henry Paul, Scott Quinnell, Craig Murdock and
Mick Cassidy all grabbed touchdowns in the scoring spree. Andy Farrell added
four goals and Martin Hall five. Bath's cosolation try and goal, much to the
delight of the crowd, came through Jonathan Callard when he darted over in the
48th minute.
In between the two clashes Wigan took part in the Rugby Union Middlesex 7s at
Twickenham, winning it with absolute ease. Wigan demolished all-comers -
including three of England's top four union clubs. Harlequins, Leicester and
Wasps, in the final, vanished in a torrent of tries, Wigan scoring 25 to add to
the 16 they hammered in against Bath in the full league game last Wednesday.
A week later they returned to Twickenham for the second leg of the cross code
challenge played under 15 a side rules. Wigan lost 19-44 but scored a memorable
length of the field try which was finished off by Craig Murdock.
In June Wigan drew with London Broncos at Central Park, having held an 18-4
lead after 41 minutes. London fought back to snatch a draw as Terry Matterson
kicked a conversion off the touchline. Former player Joe Lydon, who at the time
was Central Park "football manager", admitted: "Losing a point could cost us the
championship. The result would play a big part in the eventual destiny of the
title.
Two weeks later Wigan met title rivals St Helens in a must win match at
Central Park. Saints came into the game with a five point lead over Wigan in the
table, but by the end of the night that was cut to three as Wigan won 35-19
Another fortnight later and former Wigan player Frano Botica almost dashed
our title hopes. Now playing Castleford he had given them a 25-24 lead with not
long to go at Central Park. But a late penalty from Andy Farrell gave us the two
points. On the same weekend St Helens lost away to Bradford Bulls at Odsal. This
left the title race in Wigan's destiny. Win all their remain games, the
championship was theres!
But Wigan's next match was also a trip to Odsal and Bradford repeated what
they had done to Saints. Wigan had taken a 10-0 lead very early on but despite
being reduced to 12 men for 55 minutes, Bradford managed to recover from 10-0
down and win 20-12.
That result meant Wigan had to win all their remaining five matches and hope
St Helens slipped up somewhere along the line. Wigan were winning their matches
but so were Saints.
It went down to the final weekend of the season and amazingly the two sides
last fixtures were played on different days. Wigan met Workington on the
Saturday Night and recorded their biggest win of the season in winning 78-4.
This left Wigan hanging on to the hope that Warrington could upset St Helens
two nights later on the Monday. It didn't happen, Saints crushed Warrington
66-14 to take the championship away from Central Park for the first time in
seven years.
Wigan did gain some revenge by beating Saints 44-14 in the Premiership Final
at Old Trafford but it was nothing more for than a token gesture.
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