Article Archive



  •

    0 1989 World Club Challenge - A Curious Affair

    0.00 of 0 votes

    After Widnes' 30-18 victory over Canberra in the first official World Club Challenge match, the Chemics faced a trip to Yorkshire just 4 days later to face the Sheffield Eagles.After such an heroic performance against their Australian contemporaries to lift the title, it might have been expected, the next performance, given the closeness between the games, would produce a jaded performance. And so it transpired. All due credit to the Eagles who only did what you need to do in a game and beat the side in front of you.Now, let's play a little imaginary game with these results. If we go with the 'theory' that Sheffield, having beaten Widnes then became 'unofficially' the best team in World Rugby league, surely the next team to beat Sheffield would then take on this 'unofficial' title, and so on and so forth.Running this theory out until the end of the 1989-90 season gives us a final "World Club Champions" of..... yes.... you guessed it... Widnes!Below is a summary of how these games finished and how the 'title' went full circle.     Date Match Result Title   04/10/1989 Widnes v Canberra Widnes win 30-18 Widnes   08/10/1989 Sheffield v Widnes Sheffield win 31-6 Sheffield   15/10/1989 Castleford v Sheffield Castleford win 24-22 Castleford   22/10/1989 Castleford v Featherstone Featherstone win 28-26 Featherstone   29/10/1989 Featherstone v Barrow Barrow win 29-22 Barrow   05/11/1989 Barrow v Wakefield Wakefield win 26-10 Wakefield   12/11/1989 Wakefield v Castleford Wakefield win 22-14 Wakefield   19/11/1989 Wakefield v Hull Hull win 19-12 Hull   21/11/1989 Hull v St. Helens St. Helens win 34-24 St. Helens   26/11/1989 Featherstone v St. Helens St. Helens win 24-23 St. Helens   02/12/1989 St. Helens v Hull KR St. Helens win 40-26 St. Helens   10/12/1989 St. Helens v Dewsbury 12 All Draw -   13/12/1989 Dewsbury v St. Helens St. Helens win 14-0 St. Helens   17/12/1989 St. Helens v Oldham St. Helens win 32-18 St. Helens   23/12/1989 St. Helens v Halifax Halifax win 10-9 Halifax   26/12/1989 Halifax v Huddersfield Halifax win 28-4 Halifax   31/12/1989 Halifax v Bramley Halifax win 30-10 Halifax   05/01/1990 Rydale-York v Halifax Rydale York win 18-14 Rydale York   14/01/1990 Rydale-York v Carlisle Rydale York win 52-14 Rydale York   21/01/1990 Runcorn Highfield v Ryedale York Rydale York win 27-24 Rydale York   28/01/1990 Fulham v Rydale York 14 All Draw -   31/01/1990 Rydale York v Fulham Fulham win 16-12 Fulham   04/02/1990 Oldham v Fulham Oldham win 52-4 Oldham   11/02/1990 Salford v Oldham Oldham win 18-7 Oldham   18/02/1990 Oldham v Chorley Oldham win 66-16 Oldham   25/02/1990 Widnes v Oldham Oldham win 16-4 Oldham   04/03/1990 Oldham v Huddersfield Oldham win 23-8 Oldham   07/03/1990 Keighley v Oldham Oldham win 30-10 Oldham   11/03/1990 Batley v Oldham Oldham win 30-14 Oldham   18/03/1990 Oldham v Runcorn Highfield Oldham win 60-2 Oldham   21/03/1990 Hunslet v Oldham Oldham win 42-14 Oldham   24/03/1990 Huddersfield v Oldham Odham win 22-14 Oldham   31/03/1990 Oldham v Warrington Warrington win 10-6 Warrington   08/04/1990 Hull v Warrington Hull win 44-16 Hull   15/04/1990 Sheffield v Hull Hull win 32-4 Hull   22/04/1990 Widnes v Hull Widnes win 18-8 Widnes   06/05/1990 Leeds v Widnes Widnes win 27-7 Widnes   13/05/1990 Widnes v Bradford Widnes win 28-6 Widnes