1990-91 season: In stats

After concluding our rewind to the 1990-91 season where Wigan had a remarkable run-in of playing eight games in just 19 days to win the Championship title, Club Historian Keith Sutch provides all the key stats and facts from that year.

General facts

  • John Monie was the Head Coach
  • Ellery Hanley was the Club Captain
  • Wigan played two Lancashire Cup matches before the start of the league season (beat Barrow 70-8 – Shaun Edwards scored four tries, and then they played Widnes and got beat 24-22
  • Wigan’s first league game came against Sheffield on 9th September
  • Due to other other competitions, test matches and bad weather, four league were postponed during January and February and a Challenge Cup Semi Final draw for Wigan brought on a further headache – it meant they had to play eight league games in just 19 days to complete the season
  • Coach Monie, famously, deemed the run-in as “mission impossible”
  • Wigan were seven points off the top of the table with four games in hand
  • Wigan won seven of the last eight games in 19 days to win the Championship title with 42 points – for a full in depth look at the final eight games, click HERE
  • There were five hat-tricks during the season – Shaun Edwards vs Barrow in the Lancashire Cup, Kevin Iro vs Keighley in the Regal Trophy, Ellery Hanley vs Widnes in the league, Hanley scored six against Rochdale in a 72-4 Challenge Cup win, Botica vs Hull in the league
  • After the Championship title win, Wigan lost the opening Premiership Trophy match against Featherstone 31-26
  • Wigan went on to win the Challenge Cup at Wembley against St Helens – a 13-8 victory – the Lance Todd Trophy winner was Denis Betts
  • 1990 was the year the Aussies toured England – Wigan played them on 14th October at Central Park and lost 6-34 in front of 24,814 fans

League stats

  • 26 games
  • Won 20
  • Drew 2
  • Lost 4
  • Points For: 652 (best attack in the league)
  • Points Against: 313 (best defence in the league)
  • Point Difference: 339
  • Points: 42

1990-91 Championship final standings

  1. Wigan (league winners)
  2. Widnes
  3. Hull
  4. Castleford
  5. Leeds
  6. St Helens
  7. Bradford
  8. Featherstone
  9. Warrington
  10. Wakefield
  11. Hull KR
  12. Oldham (relegated)
  13. Sheffield (relegated)
  14. Rochdale (relegated)

Wigan’s 25-man league squad

(In alphabetical order):

  • Dean Bell
  • Denis Betts
  • Frano Botica
  • Ged Byrne
  • Phil Clarke
  • Martin Dermott
  • Shaun Edwards
  • Mike Forshaw
  • Ian Gildart (father to first team centre Oliver Gildart)
  • Andy Goodway
  • Bobbie Goulding
  • Andy Gregory
  • Steve Hampson
  • Ellery Hanley (father to current Wigan reserves player Umyla Hanley)
  • Kevin Iro
  • Ian Lucas
  • Joe Lydon
  • David Marshall (father to first team winger Liam Marshall)
  • David Myers
  • Andy Platt
  • Mark Preston
  • Kelvin Skerrett
  • Ged Stazicker
  • Sean Tyrer
  • Graeme West (father to former Wigan player Dwayne West)

Debutants

  • Six players made their Wigan debut throughout the season
  • Frano Botica (scored on debut), Russell Bridge, David Myers and Kelvin Skerrett all made their first appearance vs Widnes in the Charity Shield game on 19th August 1990 (lost 24-8 at Swansea City’s old football ground, Vetch Field)
  • Paul Gartland and Steve Blakeley made their debuts against Featherstone on 21st April 1991 – Blakeley scored a try

Stand-outs

  • Denis Betts and Dean Bell played in all 26 league games
  • Wigan’s top try scorer was Ellery Hanley with 21 in 24 league games
  • The top goal kicker was Frano Botica with 80 converted kicks in 21 league games (in all competitions he kicked 126 goals)
  • Joe Lydon scored 11 tries and converted 14 goals, accumulating to 72 points
  • David Myers scored 15 tries in 25 league games

Attendances

  • The highest attended game at Central Park came against Widnes on 9th April 1991 as 29,763 were packed in to see if Wigan could leapfrog their opponents at the top of the table
Sunday 26 April 2020