The St Helens R.F.C. – Wigan Warriors rivalry is a historic local rivalry between the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

clubs St Helens and the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

, 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. 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 Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end ...

Stanley family The Stanley family (or Audley-Stanley family) is an English family with many notable members, including the Earls of Derby and the Barons Audley who descended from the early holders of Audley and Stanley, Staffordshire. The two branches of the Au ...

. 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

St Helens and Wigan are two of the original twenty-two northern rugby clubs that broke away from the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

to form the Northern Union in 1895, which gave birth to the modern day sport of

. The two clubs first encounter in the newly formed league was in the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

season of the new code. The fixture was played at St Helens'

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

ground and ended in a 0-0 draw. 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 19

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

s. St Helens are the second most successful team with 16 league titles and 12 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 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

) to Wigan's one grand final success over Saints in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Traditional dates

In keeping with tradition, derby fixtures within the RFL have usually been played on

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

and

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

. Since the move to summer seasons in 1996, Boxing Day games have no longer been competitive and has seen events like

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

's and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Festive Challenge A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

emerge in keeping with the Boxing Day tradition. The

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

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.

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 Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

and the Rugby League Fixtures between

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

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.

Head to Head

:''Statistics correct as of 29/1/21'' In all competitions, competitive and uncompetitive:

Matches by competition

Meetings in major finals

1953–54 Lancashire Cup The 1953–54 Lancashire Cup was the forty-first occasion on which the RFL Lancashire Cup competition was held. St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens won the trophy by beating Wigan Warriors, Wigan by the score of 16–8. The match was played at Station ...

Final: St Helens 16–8 Wigan * 1960–61 Challenge Cup Final: St Helens 12–6 Wigan * 1965–66 Challenge Cup Final: St Helens 21–2 Wigan * 1970–71 NFRL Division One Championship Final: St Helens 16–12 Wigan * 1984–85 Lancashire Cup Final: St Helens 26–18 Wigan * 1988–89 Challenge Cup Final: Wigan 27–0 St Helens * 1990–91 Challenge Cup Final: Wigan 13–8 St Helens * 1991–92 Premiership Final: Wigan 48–16 St Helens *1992–93 Charity Shield: St Helens 17–0 Wigan *

1992–93 Lancashire Cup The 1992 Lancashire Cup was the 80th and last occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion was held. Wigan won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 5-4 in the final. Background The failure of London Crusaders to enter, due p ...

Final: Wigan 5–4 St Helens * 1992–93 Premiership Final: St Helens 10–4 Wigan * 1995–96 League Cup Final: Wigan 48–16 St Helens * 1996 Premiership Final: Wigan 25–16 St Helens * 1997 Premiership Final: Wigan 32–20 St Helens *

2000 Super League Grand Final The 2000 Super League Grand Final was the third official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 2000's Super League V. Held on Saturday 14 October 2000 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens ...

: St Helens 29–16 Wigan * 2002 Challenge Cup Final: Wigan 21–12 St Helens *

2004 Challenge Cup The 2004 Challenge Cup, known as the Powergen Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 103rd staging of the Challenge Cup, a European rugby league cup competition. The competition began in November 2003, and ended with the final in May 2004 ...

Final: St Helens 32–16 Wigan *

2010 Super League Grand Final The 2010 Super League Grand Final was the 13th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League XV. Held on Saturday 2 October 2010, at Manchester's Old Trafford stadium, the match was contested by English club ...

: Wigan 22–10 St Helens *

2014 Super League Grand Final The 2014 Super League Grand Final was the 17th official Grand Final and conclusive and deciding match of Super League XIX. It was held on Saturday 11 October 2014, at Old Trafford, Manchester with a 6pm kick-off time. The game was played between ...

: St Helens 14–6 Wigan *

2020 Super League Grand Final The 2020 Super League Grand Final was the 23rd official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXV. The game was won 8–4 by St Helens R.F.C., St Helens over their local rivals Wigan Warriors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in ...

: St Helens 8–4 Wigan

Collective Honours

:''As of the 2022 regular season''

Notes

References

;General
http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=1824
;Inline {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helens R.F.C.-Wigan Warriors rivalry St Helens R.F.C. Wigan Warriors Rugby league rivalries Sports rivalries in the United Kingdom