1987–88 John Player Special Trophy

This was the seventeenth season for the League Cup, known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship purposes.

St. Helens won the final, beating Leeds by the score of 15-14. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan. The attendance was 16,669 and receipts were £62232.

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

Blackpool Borough moved to Springfield Park in Wigan and renamed as Springfield Borough

Preliminary round
Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 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

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

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 * Heworth are a Junior (amateur) club from York

2 * Thatto Heath are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens

3 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give score as 38-2 but Wigan official archives gives it as 37-2

4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give Halifax at home but Wigan official archives gives Keighley at home but with a reference that the game was played at Thrum Hall, the  home of Halifax

5 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was  47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959