The league season was reduced to twenty-eight rounds in the hope of organising a European tournament. However, this failed to materialise so the league arranged a new cup competition to meet the shortfall in fixtures.[1] With the sponsorship of the Daily Express newspaper the Express Cup was launched.
Ayr Scottish Eagles won a Grand Slam of all available trophies.
Benson & Hedges Cup
The Benson & Hedges Cup consisted of the teams from the ISL and the top teams from the British National League. In the 1997–98 season, twelve teams in total were split into two regional groups playing each team in their group once at home and once away. The top four teams of each group then progressed to the quarter-finals where the teams were paired off and the winning team on aggregate (after playing home and away) progressed to the semi-finals. Again the winning team on aggregate progressed to the one-off final game held at Sheffield Arena.
All eight teams in the league competed in the new competition for the Express Cup. The first round was a round-robin league with each team playing their opponents once at home and once away. The top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. The semi finals were home and away games with the winner on aggregate progressing to the one off final game.
All eight teams in the league took part in the playoffs. Group A consisted of Ayr, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield while Group B consisted of Basingstoke, Bracknell, Cardiff and Manchester. The top two teams from each playoff group qualified for the semi-finals, which was a home and away series with the winners on games progressing to the final and the losers progressing to the third place playoff.
