1985–86 John Player Special Trophy

This was the fifteenth season of the competition. The League Cup was again known as the John Player Special Trophy this season for sponsorship reasons.

Wigan won the final, beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 11-8. The match was played at Elland Road, Leeds. The attendance was 17,573 and receipts were £66714.

Background
This season saw several changes in the entrants :-

1 Bridgend Blue Dragons and Southend Invicta both folded

2 and the invitation to two junior clubs continued

This involved a decrease in entrants to thirty-six, in turn resulting in a 4 match, 8 club preliminary round to reduce the number of clubs taking part in the first round proper to thirty-two

There were no drawn matches throughout the tournament

Preliminary round
Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Round 2 - Second Round
Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Prize money
As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :- Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success
This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

Notes and comments
1 * Jubilee Hotel are a Junior (amateur) club from Featherstone

2 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull

3 * highest score, highest score by away team, and highest winning margin - all between professional clubs, to date

4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Huddersfield Heritage give the  score as 20-10 but Wigan official archives gives it as 20-18

5 * Mansfield Marksman have moved from Mansfield and are now playing at North Street, Alfreston

6 * Elland Road,  Leeds,  is the home ground of Leeds United A.F.C. with a capacity of 37,914 (The record attendance was 57,892 set on 15 March 1967 for a cup match Leeds v Sunderland). The ground was originally established in 1897 by Holbeck RLFC who played there until their demise after the conclusion of the 1903-04 season