1987 World Club Challenge

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Manly Sea Eagles	Position	Wigan RLFC
Dale Shearer	1. FB	Steve Hampson
David Ronson	2. WG	Richard Russell
Darrell Williams	3. CE	David Stephenson
Michael O'Connor	4. CE	Joe Lydon
Stuart Davies	5. WG	Henderson Gill
Cliff Lyons	6. FE	Shaun Edwards
Des Hasler	7. HB	Andy Gregory
Paul Vautin (c)	8. PR	Brian Case
Mal Cochrane	9. HK	Nicky Kiss
Ian Gately	10. PR	Shaun Wane
Ron Gibbs	11. SR	Andy Goodway
Owen Cunningham	12. SR	Ian Potter
Phil Daley	13. LF	Ellery Hanley (c)
Paul Shaw	14. Bench	Ian Lucas
Jeremy Ticehurst	15. Bench	Ged Byrne
Mark Brokenshire	16. Bench	Graeme West
Mark Pocock	17. Bench	Ian Gildart
Bob Fulton	Coach	Graeme Lowe

The 1987 Fosters World Club Challenge was only the second game of its kind to be played. 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 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; a group of Wigan defenders, after taking Paul Vautin over the touchline, went on to take him over the fence; later Shearer brought down Lydon in defence and 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 made an official annual feature on the rugby league calendar.