1987 World Club Challenge

The 1987 Foster's World Club Challenge was only the second game of its kind to be played between Britain's and Australia's respective domestic rugby league champions. 1986-87 Rugby Football League Championship winners, Wigan RLFC played against NSWRL season 1987 premiers, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. The match was played at 7:45pm on a dry Wednesday night, the 7th of October at Central Park, Wigan. A crowd of 36,895 was in attendance for the game which was refereed by John Holdsworth (Kippax). Graham Eadie was on hand as a match commentator.

No tries were scored in what was a closely-fought and, at times, spiteful encounter. Michael O'Connor opened the scoring for Manly with a successful penalty kick in only the second minute. Tempers flared as the match went on, punctuated by more penalties and a few unsavoury incidents:
*Manly forward Ron Gibbs became the first person to be sent off in a WCC match for illegal use of the elbow when taking out Joe Lydon high after he attempted a drop-goal;
*an all-in brawl erupted after Dale Shearer was lifted in a tackle then started a punch-up in the ruck with Brian Case;
*after taking Paul Vautin over the touchline, a group of Wigan defenders went on to take him over the fence;
*later, when Shearer brought down Lydon in defence, he appeared to step on his opponent's head as he got up after making the tackle. Amongst all of these incidents Wigan's David Stephenson kicked four penalties, which in the end would prove decisive. The score was 8 - 2 in favour of the home side as the final whistle blew, prompting the overjoyed Wigan supporters to flood onto the field to celebrate with the players.

After this memorable match, the World Club Challenge was decided to be made an official annual feature on the rugby league calendar.

ources

* [http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=452 1987 World Club Challenge at wigan.rlfans.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/matches/World_Club_Challenge_1987/Wigan_Warriors-vs-Manly_Warringah_Sea_Eagles.html 1987 World Club Challenge at rugbyleagueproject.com]