10th March the table was...

Castleford Played 21 Points 30
Widnes Played 19 Points 28
Hull Played 19 Points 28
Wigan Played 16 Points 23

Ended Up

Wigan Played 26 Points 42
Widnes Played 26 Points 40
Hull Played 26 Points 34
Castleford Played 26 Points 34

Great achievement but I was a bit confused trying to figure out how Wigan ended up playing Featherstone away on Good Friday (instead of Saints at home as scheduled) and also being away on Easter Monday away to Oldham. Anyway I found out the answer - Saints were in a Cup Semi that weekend. Must have been a weird Good Friday!

I read Wigan's backlog sparked a lot of politics with Wigan failing to have the season extended by 3 days.

That decision left Wigan playing during the final week of the season Castleford Sunday (at 6:30pm), Bradford Tuesday, Widnes Thursday and Leeds (Away) on the Saturday.

Maurice argued to get the Bradford and Widnes games swapped round meaning title rivals Widnes got less an advantage in terms of rest from the previous weekend (they had played Saturday Afternoon). Widnes were very angry at the RFL accepting that but they lost an appeal. Whatever I think about Maurice, he was one shrewd man!



For the record here is how the season panned out after March 10th for Wigan & Widnes.

=redWed 13 Mar Wigan 34 Hull 12 (Played 17 Points 25)
Sun 17 Mar Widnes 34 Bradford 14 (Played 20 Points 30)
=redSun 17 Mar Rochdale 16 Wigan 44 (Played 18 Points 27)
Wed 20 Mar Widnes 25 Warrington 6 (Played 21 Points 32)
Sun 24 Mar Featherstone Widnes 22 Widnes 27 (Played 22 Points 34)
=redTue 26 Mar Warrington 8 Wigan 26 (Played 19 Points 29)
=redGood Fri 29 Mar Featherstone 16 Wigan 24 (Played 20 Points 31)
Easter Mon 1 Apr St Helens 12 Widnes 20 (Played 23 Points 36)
=redEaster Mon 1 Apr Oldham 4 Wigan 10 (Played 21 Points 33)
=redThu 4 Apr Wigan 28 St Helens 14 (Played 22 Points 35)
Sat 6 Apr Sheffield 13 Widnes 18 (Played 24 Points 38 )
=redSun 7 Apr Wigan 24 Castleford 4 (Played 23 Points 37)
=redTue 9 Apr Wigan 26 Widnes 6 (Played 24 Points 39)
Tue 9 Apr Wigan 26 Widnes 6 (Played 25 Points 38 )
=redThu 11 Apr Wigan 18 Bradford 18 (Played 25 Points 40)
=redSat 13 Apr Leeds 8 Wigan 20 (Played 26 Points 42)
Sun 14 Apr Widnes 44 Rochdale 20 (Played 26 Points 40)

I remember the Widnes game on the tuesday, 29k inside CP gates locked 30mins from kick off and IIRC the "new" stand behind the posts was still to be open and what a performance from us....

Went to every single game.......boy was I skint after that month!!!

Why such a backlog? Was it due to us being so successful in the cup games that it meant league games being rearranged?
It can't have been a weather issue as only Wigan are affected on the above league table as at 10th March.

Can you imagine todays players bacing up so many games in such a short space of time.....

PS: we also beat the Stains at Wembley as well
The 13-8 final

And people complain about no rest for the players

That game was awesome. The closest it felt to the Manly game attendance wise.
Remember getting a good spot under the Pop Stand, then unwisely deciding to get a pint 20 minutes before kick off. No chance at all of getting back on the terracing!! Ended up underneath the scoreboard, and that was a squash as well..!!

Will we ever see crowds like that again?

Unlikely considering we play at the DW Stadium with a capacity of 25K.

I heard a comment (from a Tics fan) just after the stadium was built was that Whelan was considering developing the ground to a £40k capacity when the demand for tickets in the premier league became unprecedented.

Seems miles away now

What I mean is selling out for big games when its not saints. Say we were playing I don't know, Hull KR in a top of the table clash at the back end of the season. Something like that, you know what I mean. We only get big crowds for the big one and the saints games at home.

Sun 16th Dec (Played 23rd December)
Leeds (H) because Wigan had a Regal Trophy 1/4 Final

Sun 13 Jan (Played 11th April)
Bradford (A) - Bradford were playing in Regal Trophy Final

Sun 27 Jan (Played 13th March)
Hull (H) because Hull were drawn to play in Challenge Cup Preliminary Round. Was also GB v France 1st Test.

Sun 17 Feb (Played 29th March)
Featherstone (A) Heavy Snow had cause many cup ties to be postponed the previous week and thus their game at Sheffield was re-arranged. Wigan's cup tie at Cas had also been postponed the week before but they played that in the midweek. Was also GB v France 2nd Test.

Sun 10 Mar (Played 9th April)
Widnes (H) - Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

Sun 24 Mar (Played 26th March)
Warrington (A) - Challenge Cup Semi Final for Wigan

Fri 29 Mar (Played 4th April)
St Helens (H)- Challenge Cup Semi Final for Saints although we played Fev instead.

Wigan also opted not to re-arrange games in the midweesk prior to Challenge Cup ties or in the midweeks prior and on the weekend of the two Great Britain v France Test Matches.

Did games get called off for test calls up or did sides just play on?

If we had title deciders like that we'd easily sell out at Robin Park in my view. Especially if it was Saints. But those days are gone with the play off format.