St Helens R.F.C.–Wigan Warriors rivalry

The St Helens R.F.C. – Wigan Warriors rivalry is a historic local rivalry between the rugby league clubs St Helens and the Wigan Warriors, based in North West England. The rivalry is born out of relative proximity of the two towns, but as two of the most successful clubs in British rugby it has become a marquee event in the calendar.

St Helens R.F.C. – Wigan Warriors rivalry
St Helens vs Wigan Warriors during the Super League XIV Semi-finals
Other namesWigan Saints Derby
The Good Friday Derby
The Boxing Day Derby
The Original Derby
The Derby
LocationNorth West England
Teams St. Helens
Wigan Warriors
First meeting16 November 1895
Latest meetingSuper League XXVII Wigan Warriors 30–10 St Helens
StadiumsTotally Wicked Stadium
DW Stadium
Statistics
Meetings total377
Most winsWigan (216)
All-time series (RFL-1 and SL only)257
Regular season series243
Largest victorySt. Helens 75 – 0 Wigan[1]

The sporting term of "Derby" or "Derbies" as used in all other sporting rivalries originates from this sporting fixture as a result of its early association with the Earl of Derby Stanley family.[2]

Initially at least one fixture was played on Boxing Day annually and was known as the Boxing Day Derby, later the second fixture settled on Good Friday. Following the leagues decision to move the competition from winter to the summer the Good Friday Derby remains the one traditionally fixed game in the calendar.

History
The Totally Wicked Stadium (left) and the DW Stadium (right) are the homes of The Saints and The Warriors.
See also: History of St Helens R.F.C. and History of Wigan Warriors

St Helens and Wigan are two of the original twenty-two northern rugby clubs that broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Union in 1895, which gave birth to the modern day sport of rugby league.[3] The two clubs first encounter in the newly formed league was in the first season of the new code. The fixture was played at St Helens' Knowsley Road ground and ended in a 0-0 draw.[4] The clubs have since faced each other over 300 times in all competitions, and the rivalry has grown to become rugby league's biggest derby encounter.

Over the years the two clubs have become very successful. Wigan are the most successful club in British rugby league, having won 22 league titles and 20 Challenge Cups. St Helens are the second most successful team with 17 league titles and 13 Challenge Cup wins. In rugby league grand finals, the clubs have contested four league championship matches with St Helens claiming the title at Wigan's expense on three occasions (1971, 2000 and 2014) to Wigan's one grand final success over Saints in 2010.
Locations of St Helens and Wigan on maps of Merseyside (left) and Greater Manchester (right).

Traditional dates

In keeping with tradition, derby fixtures within the RFL have usually been played on Boxing Day and Good Friday.[5] Since the move to summer seasons in 1996, Boxing Day games have no longer been competitive and has seen events like Leeds's and Wakefield's Festive Challenge emerge in keeping with the Boxing Day tradition. The Super League however has kept to the tradition of having derbies on Good Friday with St Helens and Wigan not competing a Good Friday Derby on only three occasions since the summer switch.[6]

The Original Sporting Derby

The term "Derby" applied to only two sporting events originally. The 19th Earl of Derby, confirmed that his family had lent their name to two sporting events - the horserace at Epsom and the Rugby League Fixtures between Wigan and St Helens. With the town of Wigan at one end of their Knowsley estate and the town of St Helens at the other, he named the fixture "The Derby". This fixture then became widely known as "The Derby" with other games between local rivals in various sports adopting the term. The Epsom Derby Horse race was named after Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby. The Wigan v Saints match 'Derby' was named after the Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. The Stanley Cup, awarded to the National Hockey League playoff Champions is named after Lord Stanley of Preston.[7]

Head to Head
Statistics correct as of 29/1/21[lower-alpha 1]

In all competitions, competitive and uncompetitive:

Played St Helens Drawn Wigan
376[lower-alpha 2] 141 18 215

Matches by competition
Competition Played
League (Inc. RFL-1 and SL) 257[lower-alpha 3]
Challenge Cup 28
League Cup 2
Charity Shield 1
Premiership 11
Lancashire League 17
Lancashire Cup 17
Yorkshire Cup 4
BBC2 Floodlit Trophy 6
Wartime Emergency League 14
Lancashire Wartime Emergency League 4
Friendlies 15

Meetings in major finals

Collective Honours
See also: List of St Helens R.F.C. seasons and List of Wigan Warriors seasons
As of the 2022 regular season
St Helens Honour Wigan Warriors
Rank No. No. Rank
2nd 16 League Championships 22 1st
2nd 16 League Leaders 22 1st
3rd 13 Challenge Cup 20 1st
3rd 4 Premiership 6 1st[lower-alpha 4]
6th 1 League Cup 8 1st
3rd 1 Charity Shield 4 1st
6th 2 World Club Challenge 4 2nd
2nd 8 Lancashire League 18 1st
2nd 11 Lancashire Cup 21 1st
2nd[lower-alpha 5] 2 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy 1 5th
Both teams have also received the BBC Sports Team of the Year Award once.

See also

Notes
  1. Source for matches played up to 27/9/19.[8]
  2. Two of these fixtures were abandoned
  3. Regular Season: 243; Playoffs: 14
  4. Join first with Widnes Vikings
  5. Joint second with Salford Red Devils and Leigh Centurions.

References
General
Inline
  1. "Rugby league: St Helens 75 - 0 Wigan". TheGuardian.com. 27 June 2005.
  2. Wilson, Andy (2014-10-10). "Wigan and St Helens grow own products for Super League Grand Final". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  3. "Rugby Football History".
  4. "Wigan Warriors Rugby League Fan Site - www.cherryandwhite.co.uk".
  5. "Rugby League on Christmas Day". 25 December 2017.
  6. "A Good Friday tradition - Wigan v Saints".
  7. "Lord Stanley (of Preston)". Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  8. "Wigan Warriors Rugby League Fan Site - www.cherryandwhite.co.uk".


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