Other names Good Friday Derby First meeting 16 November 1895 | Locale North West England Next meeting 14 April 2017 | |
Teams St. Helens
Wigan Warriors Latest meeting Wigan 25 – 0 St. Helens
(19 August 2016) | ||
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.
Contents
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.
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.
Over the years the two clubs have become very successful. Wigan are the most successful club in British rugby league, having won 20 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.
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 in the Super 8's on August 19, 2016 when Wigan beat St Helens 25-0 at the DW Stadium, the Warriors holding the Saints scoreless for the first time since their famous 27-0 Challenge Cup Final win at Wembley in 1989.
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.
Overall record
In all competitions, competitive and uncompetitive: