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

St Helens–Wigan Derby
Statistics
Other names	Good Friday Derby
Locale	North West England
Teams	St. Helens Wigan Warriors
First meeting	16 November 1895
Latest meeting	Wigan 29 – 18 St. Helens (14 April 2017)
Next meeting	25 May 2017 at St Helens^[1]
Meetings total	324
Most wins	Wigan (184)

The Rugby league matches between St. Helens and Wigan are local derbies with the two clubs being fierce rivals, both on and off the pitch.^[2]

History

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 met in the very first season of the new code and drew the first ever encounter at St Helens' Knowsley Road ground nil points a piece.^[4]

Over the years the two clubs have become very successful. Wigan are the most successful club in British rugby league, having won 21 league championships and 19 Challenge Cup titles. St Helens are the second most successful team with 13 league titles and 12 Challenge Cup wins. In all competitions, the clubs have played each other over 300 times and the rivalry has grown to become rugby leagues biggest derby encounter with fans of each club passionately disliking their derby rivals. Although, unlike in football rivalries, crowd trouble at the games is rare.

Since the start of the summer era in British rugby league, the two clubs have played each other every Good Friday, leading to these encounters being known as the Good Friday derby.^[5]

In finals rugby league, 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.

In total, Wigan have defeated St Helens in competitive rugby league 183 times with St Helens winning 123 of the clubs encounters. There has also been 17 draws in matches between the clubs.

The last meeting was on Good Friday, April 14 2017, when Wigan beat St Helens 29-18 at the DW Stadium after Saints were reduced to 12 men early in the contest but despite a valiant effort they were eventually beaten by Wigan as the Warriors made it 8 Good Friday wins in a row over Saints.

Head to Head

Competitive matches

Played	St Helens	Drawn	Wigan
325	123	17	185

Friendlies

Played	St Helens	Drawn	Wigan
15	6	0	9

War Emergency League matches

The Rugby league Wartime Emergency League meetings during the first and second World Wars did not count as competitive matches and thus, no league titles were officially awarded during this time.

Played	St Helens	Drawn	Wigan
20	2	1	17

Overall record

In all competitions, competitive and uncompetitive:

Played	St Helens	Drawn	Wigan
360	131	18	211

Sources

http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=1824

References

St Helens
Est. 1873 in St Helens, England
The Club	History Records Honours Players International representatives Coaches Hall of Fame
Home grounds	City Ground Knowsley Road (1890-2010) Halton Stadium (2011) Totally Wicked Stadium (2012-Present)
Hall of Fame	Alex Murphy Vince Karalius Tom van Vollenhoven
League	Super League
World Club Challenge (2)	2001 2007
Championships (13)	1931–32 1952–53 1958–59 1965–66 1969–70 1970–71 1974–75 1996 1999 2000 2002 2006 2014
Challenge Cup (12)	1955–56 1960–61 1965–66 1971–72 1975–76 1996 1997 2001 2004 2006 2007 2008
Other honours	4—time Premiership Champions 1—time Western Division Champions 1—time Regal Trophy Champions 2—time BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Champions 11—time Lancashire County Cup Champions 11—time Lancashire League Champions 1—time Charity Shield Champions BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award (2006)
Seasons (120)	1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
Culture	NRFU Founder Super League Founding Member Rivalry with Wigan Testimonials
Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1895)

Wigan Warriors
Est. 1872 in Wigan, England
The Club	History Players Seasons Internationals Hall of Fame
Home grounds	Folly Field (1872–1877; 1879–1886) Prescott Street (1877–1879; 1886–1901) Springfield Park (1901–1902) Central Park (1902–1999) DW Stadium (1999–present)
League	Rugby Football Union Rugby Football League Super League
Titles	RFL/Super League Championship: 1908–09 1921–22 1925–26 1933–34 1945–46 1946–47 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1995–96 1998 2010 2013 World Club Challenge (3): 1987 1991 1994 Challenge Cup: 1924 1929 1944 1948 1951 1958 1959 1965 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 2002 2011 2013
Seasons	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Culture	NRFU Founder Super League Founding Member Rivalry with St Helens
Affiliation	Rugby Football League (1895)

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