1997 saw Wigan battle many off the field problems with debts building up and the board proposing to sell Central Park. They wanted to build a new stadium in Wigan and whilst doing so move the club temporarily out of town to Bolton's Reebok Stadium in Horwich. The proposed move proved very unpopular with fans (scroll down the page for more on this).
1997 also saw the end of season Premiership Trophy being contested for the last time and the World Club Challenge was restructured to include 22 clubs from the Australasian and European Super League competitions. European sides won just 8 of 60 group stage matches, Wigan winning two of them. The whole tournament was a huge flop with it reportedly losing over $5,000,000.
Wigan Final League Position: 4th (Coach: Graeme West till 8th Feb then Eric
Hughes) Stones Bitter Super League Champions: Bradford Bulls Silk Cut Challenge Cup Winners: St Helens (32-22 v Bradford) Stones Bitter Premiership Trophy Winners:
Wigan Warriors (6 - 33-22 v St Helens) 1st Division Champions:
Hull 2nd Division Champions: Hunslet Hawks
At the end of the year, after relegation, Oldham Bears folded. Then the RFL
decided not to readmit Paris St Germain. Carlisle Border Raiders and Barrow
Braves merged. Blackpool Gladiators (non-league) and Prescott Panthers folded.
1997 Stones Bitter Super League II Final Table
-
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Diff
Pts
1
Bradford Bulls
22
20
0
2
769
397
+372
40
2
London Broncos
22
15
3
4
616
418
+198
33
3
St Helens
22
14
1
7
592
506
+86
29
4
Wigan
Warriors
22
14
0
8
683
398
+285
28
5
Leeds Rhinos
22
13
1
8
544
463
+81
27
6
Salford Reds
22
11
0
11
428
495
-67
22
7
Halifax Blue Sox
22
8
2
12
524
549
-25
22
8
Sheffield Eagles
22
9
0
13
415
574
-159
18
9
Warrington Wolves
22
8
0
14
437
647
-210
16
10
Castleford
Tigers
22
5
2
15
334
515
-181
12
11
Paris St Germain
22
6
0
16
362
572
-210
12
12
Oldham Bears
22
4
1
17
461
631
-170
9
Oldham Bears folded and Paris St Germain were ejected.
Hull and Huddersfield Giants were promoted to take their place.
First Division
Championship
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Hull
20
18
1
1
617
228
37
Huddersfield Giants
20
16
0
4
630
320
32
Keighley Cougars
20
11
1
8
428
332
23
Whitehaven Warriors
20
11
1
8
436
398
23
Wakefield Trinity
20
9
1
10
393
419
19
Dewsbury Rams
20
9
0
11
341
455
18
Featherstone Rovers
20
8
1
11
408
395
17
Hull Kingston Rovers
20
8
1
11
440
481
17
Swinton Lions
20
7
0
13
355
488
14
Widnes Vikings
20
6
0
14
282
579
12
Workington Town
20
4
0
16
320
555
8
Hull and Huddersfield Giants were promoted to the Super League. Widnes
Vikings and Workington Town were demoted to the second division. Hunslet Hawks, Rochdale Hornets, and Leigh Centurions were promoted to take their places.
Second Division
Championship
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Hunslet Hawks
20
15
0
5
682
256
30
Rochdale Hornets
20
15
0
5
680
347
30
Leigh Centurions
20
15
0
5
546
346
30
Batley Bulldogs
20
14
0
6
600
435
28
Carlisle Border Raiders
20
13
0
7
564
384
26
Lancashire Lynx
20
12
0
8
552
393
24
York Wasps
20
8
0
12
502
517
16
Barrow Braves
20
7
0
13
335
632
14
Bramley
20
5
1
14
353
513
11
Doncaster Dragons
20
3
1
16
247
668
7
Prescot Panthers
20
2
0
18
247
817
4
1997 Visa World Club Challenge European Pool A Final Table
-
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
Diff
Pts
1
Wigan
Warriors
6
2
0
4
89
212
-123
4
2
London Broncos
6
1
0
5
136
238
-102
2
3
Bradford Bulls
6
0
0
6
82
228
-146
0
4
St Helens
6
0
0
6
96
270
-174
0
5
Warrington
Wolves
6
0
0
6
78
256
-178
0
6
Halifax Blue Sox
6
0
0
6
46
286
-240
0
Top Three qualified for Quarter Finals
1997 Pre Season Friendly Results
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Thu 26 Dec
St Helens
Home
Won 32-22
Sun 12 Jan
St Helens
Away
Lost 12-44
Sun 2 Feb
Lancashire Lynx
Away
Won 52-4
Sun 2 Mar
Castleford
Tigers
Home
Won 54-14
Fri 7 Mar
Castleford
Tigers
Away
Lost 8-18
Wigan's former invincibility was dented in 1996 having lost both the title and
Challenge Cup. They entered the 1997 Super League II season hoping to reclaim it, but in truth the
invincibility was ground to dust as off the field problems were to beset the
club. This is a long story.
Wigan's finances had plummeted and with debts of
£3 million it was decided Central Park was to be sold. Local Businessman Dave
Whelan, owner of Wigan Athletic Football Club, wanted to buy Central Park and
have Latics share the ground with the Warriors. He offered £4.5m for the ground
and pledged to spend a further £12.5m to turn it into a 20,000 all seater
stadium for both clubs. Shareholders had voted for the idea but the Wigan board
had another offer to consider from the Tesco Supermarket chain, which was
rumoured to be closer to £10 million. If the Tesco offer was accepted, Wigan
would be homeless. The idea was that Wigan would share with Bolton Wanderers new
Reebok Stadium, which at the time was being built. The suggestion angered Wigan
fans as the Reebok was located four miles away from Wigan town centre.
Whilst this was going on Wigan entered the new season with Graeme West still
coach. The Challenge Cup draw was unkind as they were drawn away to St Helens.
Hope was high that they could avenge the loss of the league championship to them
in 1996, but they crashed out of the competition with a 26-12 defeat. The fall
out from the defeat was massive, Graeme West was sacked and a couple of days
later Va'aiga Tuigamala was sold for £1 million. Wigan simply could not refuse
the offer due to the massive debts they had. Wigan replaced West with Eric
Hughes who was promoted from his job as Academy coach. Hughes was not a popular
choice as he had previously been coach at St Helens. In fact he was sacked at
Saints following the 1995 Regal Trophy Final defeat to Wigan. Jack Robinson
however claimed the Saints current successes was down to the foundations Hughes
had laid there.
In mid February Rugby League sources continued to tout Wigan Warriors as
future lodgers of the new Reebok Stadium as Dave Whelan's offer to buy Central
Park had been vetoed by the board. The board was made up of four people. Jack
Robinson, Arthur Thomas, Tom Rathbone and John Martin. They had a vote over
Whelan's offer and Martin, who ran the Riverside Club at Central Park, was the
only member of the board who voted for it. The other three voted against as they
were holding out for an increased offer from Tesco and thus seeing us move out
of the town to Bolton.. Following the vote Martin resigned has he had become
frustrated by the board's apparent lack of urgency to agree the Whelan plan
despite shareholders voting in favour of the move.
In late February news emerged that Wigan were holding talks with Bolton about
a ground share. Dave Whelan responded to the news by offering to virtually wipe
out the club's debts within 48 hours. In early March Tesco increased their offer
to buy Central Park to £12.5 million news broke that the ground sale was to
"go-ahead". Fans held a protest outside Central Park ahead of a pre season
friendly against Castleford whilst other fans chose to boycott the game. Some
fans even travelled down to Tesco Headquarters and protested there! The Wigan
fans simply did not want the club to move to Bolton, even if it was for a
temporary period. They could not believe the board could sell the ground without
a permanent new home being in place.
As the month wore on over 200 disgruntled shareholders met to discuss the
controversial decision to sell Central Park to
Tesco. They also backed a petition calling for the removal of chairman Jack
Robinson and Mick Rathbone from the board immediately.
Meanwhile the league season got underway on March 16th. Wigan began with two
victories over Halifax and Castleford before a shock announcement was made on
March 27th. One of our favourite sons, the legend Shaun Edwards was to leave the
club. He asked to leave so he could be near his London-based girlfriend and
new-born son. Wigan agreed to let him go to London Broncos and immediately
signed Tony Smith for £150,000 from Castleford as his replacement.
The off field wranglings began to affect the team on the field as they lost
both Easter Fixtures with St Helens and Warrington. They then beat Leeds by a
point but that was followed by further defeats to Bradford and Salford.
Into May and shareholders had decided they wanted to oust Jack Robinson as
chairman. A shareholders action group claimed the board sold Central Park to
Tesco without consultation after previously agreeing to accept a rescue package
from millionaire Dave Whelan. Former player Phil Clarke was offered to the
shareholders as the man to lead the ousting bid. The group's next move will be a
circular to the club's 1500 shareholders seeking support for their attempt to
remove Mr Robinson and his vice-chairman Tom Rathbone at an Emergency General
Meeting on May 20. On the field Wigan restored a bit of pride with a good 38-10
win over London.
A week before the shareholders EGM, Wigan unveil details of a proposed new
super stadium. But critics of the board fear that if the team moves out of town
to Bolton Wanderers' new stadium at Horwich they will never return to Wigan.
Robinson had met the shareholders' action group that week but their spokeman
Ernie Benbow said at the time that "he was unable to give any categorical
assurances about a site in Wigan."
At the same time Dave Whelan unveiled plans to build a new 25,000 seater
stadium for Wigan Athletic at Robin Park but he refused to open ground share
negotiations with the Wigan board after the collapse of his Central Park rescue
package earlier this year.
On 20th May Wigan shareholders held the EGM and Jack Robinson survived, for
now. Robinson won a vote of confidence 484 to 400 while fellow board member,
Rathbone held on by 489 to 407. So Robinson was still chairman but Wigan were
still homeless. The wrangling was far from over.
Back on the field Wigan met St Helens at Knowsley Road. This was Eric Hughes'
return there following his sacking in 1995. He took sweet revenge as Wigan
somehow produced a thumping 65-12 win. That was a sweet, sweet win in their own
backyard! They followed this up with a victory over Paris at home.
June saw Wigan travel to Australia for 3 matches as part of an expanded World
Club Challenge which saw all ten Australian Super League clubs competing against
all twelve European clubs. The whole tournament turned out to be a bit of a joke
as the Aussie sides outclassed the Brits, winning 75 of the 83 matches. Wigan
beat Canterbury Bulldogs 22-18 in there first match but then were nilled by
Brisbane and suffered a then record 56-22 defeat to Canberra. A month later
Wigan would met the same three sides again at Central Park.
The month long trip down under had quietened the Jack Robinson saga but as
they returned he faced a new vote of confidence from the shareholders. A
newspaper reported that an associate gathered proxy votes for the original EGM
in May by fraudulent methods. The paper claimed someone was instructed to fill
in forms for shareholders who were believed to have died so they could be used
as votes in favour of the two Wigan directors. Robinson reacted by saying "(The
claims) are totally untruthful. This is just part of a smear campaign which has
been going on by a certain group of people who want me out of the club."
The wrangling was really beginning to affect the side on the field as they
suffered an heavy defeat away at London and then an embarrassing defeat away to
Paris.
Then the Australians visited for the return leg of the World Club Challenge.
Wigan lost to Brisbane 30-4 before managed to beat a Canterbury side which had
been reduced to 11 men 31-24. Canberra then repeated the hammering they had
given us over there with a 50-10 victory. Despite losing four of their six
matches, Wigan still qualified for the Quarter Finals which would be played at
the end of the league season.
The off field saga continued and so did Wigan's poor league form. More
defeats to Sheffield and Salford left Wigan with no chance of winning the league
title. Coach Eric Hughes vowed to "get on with it" despite the
problems.
On Tuesday August 19th Jack Robinson and Tom Rathbone resigned from the Wigan
board. Coach Eric Hughes revealed that they had their homes damaged and their
lives threatened. Following the resignations the Rugby Football League's
financial were called in by the club to investigate its cash flow position.
Arthur Thomas was the only remaining board member left so it was he who became
temporary chairman. With Robinson gone John Martin, who earlier had resigned
from the board, offered to ease the club's financial problems with a 750,000
interest free loan. But the offer was conditional on the Warriors staying in
Wigan and rejecting a temporary move to Bolton. He made the offer to bide the
club time to negotiate a deal to move to proposed Robin Park stadium with Wigan
Athletic on a permanent basis."
Wigan's next match was an away to bottom of the table Oldham and Wigan just
managed to scrape a 32-26 win, which put them fourth in the table. That was
followed with a much better performance in the final match of the season as they
hammered Leeds 38-4. Wigan finished the season in 4th position and ended the
difficult domestic season by winning the last ever end of season Premiership trophy with a
33-20 victory over St Helens at Old Trafford. The kept up Wigan record of
winning a trophy in every season since 1984-85.
The season didn't finish, as it normally would have done, with the
Premiership final as the World Club Challenge tournament was still to be
decided. Wigan, aiming to win it for a fourth time, met Hunter Mariners in the
Quarter Finals at Central Park. Wigan took a 14-4 lead in the match but let it
slip in controversial fashion. The match hinged on a suspiciously-looking
forward pass that put the Mariners over for the try which gave them crucial
18-14 lead with 15 minutes to go. "One wrong decision cost us the game," claimed
coach Eric Hughes. "To me, it was a long, long way forward, and it was crucial.
It was the major turning point. Hunter hung on and Wigan's season was over.
The complete the story of the off field situation. It was announced on
October 29th that Wigan would not be moving to the Reebok Stadium. Mike Nolan,
who owned finance and car leasing businesses in Wigan, took over as chairman of
the club from Arthur Thomas. He was joined on the board by John Martin who
returned after his row with the old regime. Tesco agreed to let the Warriors stay
on at Central Park until the end of 1999, when they would then join up with
Wigan Athletic at there new stadium which was about to be built Robin Park. In November the new board sacked Eric Hughes and began making sweeping
behind the scenes chances ahead of a new dawn in 1998.
Donate to Website
If you appreciate the efforts made on this site and would like to see them continue, donations are welcome to cover the increased running costs of this website. Cheers.
Copyright - Cherryandwhite.co.uk 2002-2010
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. Some articles and pictures on this website have been recovered from various sources for archive purposes. If any material on this website is subject to copyright or incorrect in any way please contact us
webmaster@cherryandwhite.co.uk
so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission. RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, the RLSA (Rugby League Supporters Association) or the 100% League Network are not responsible for the content of its sub-sites, please email the author of this sub-site if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.
Email RLFANS.COM's owners admins@rlfans.com
if further assistance is required.
(D)
