1977–78 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the seventh season for the competition, from this season the League Cup was known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1977–78 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams32
WinnersWarrington
Runners-upWidnes

Warrington won the trophy, beating Widnes in the final by the score of 9-4. The match was played at Knowsley Road, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,258 and receipts were £8429.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
This was the second successive season in which there were no drawn matches. The title of the competition was changed from the previous "Players No 6 Trophy" to the "John Player Trophy"

Competition and Results

[1][2][3]

Round 1 - First Round

[4]

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Fri 21 Oct 1977(NDLB) National Dock Labour Board4-18New Hunslet???38451, 2
2Fri 21 Oct 1977Salford27-8Rochdale HornetsThe Willows
3Sat 22 Oct 1977Leeds22-25WiganHeadingley[4]
4Sun 23 Oct 1977Featherstone Rovers25-24Hull Kingston RoversPost Office Road
5Sun 23 Oct 1977Keighley18-16Hull F.C.Lawkholme Lane[5]
6Sun 23 Oct 1977Leigh31-15DoncasterHilton Park
7Sun 23 Oct 1977Wakefield Trinity24-5BatleyBelle Vue3[6]
8Sun 23 Oct 1977Blackpool Borough10-31WarringtonBorough Park[7]
9Sun 23 Oct 1977Bradford Northern19-12BramleyOdsal
10Sun 23 Oct 1977Dewsbury0-13CastlefordCrown Flatt
11Sun 23 Oct 1977Halifax8-9CawoodsThrum Hall11684, 5
12Sun 23 Oct 1977Huddersfield33-13WhitehavenFartown[8]
13Sun 23 Oct 1977Oldham16-8BarrowWatersheddings
14Sun 23 Oct 1977Swinton11-28St. HelensStation Road3000[9]
15Sun 23 Oct 1977Widnes22-6HuytonNaughton Park6[10]
16Sun 23 Oct 1977York12-20Workington TownClarence Street

Round 2 - Second Round

[11] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 5 Nov 1977Widnes26-19CastlefordNaughton Park[10]
2Sun 6 Nov 1977Bradford Northern22-18Workington TownOdsal
3Sun 6 Nov 1977Featherstone Rovers17-10St. HelensPost Office Road5481[9]
4Sun 6 Nov 1977Huddersfield21-11OldhamFartown[8]
5Sun 6 Nov 1977Keighley5-14LeighLawkholme Lane
6Sun 6 Nov 1977Wakefield Trinity31-7CawoodsBelle Vue4[6]
7Sun 6 Nov 1977Warrington19-10SalfordWilderspool[7]
8Sun 6 Nov 1977Wigan9-7New HunsletCentral Park5447[11]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[12] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 19 Nov 1977Huddersfield0-11Bradford NorthernFartown[8]
2Sun 20 Nov 1977Featherstone Rovers11-14WarringtonPost Office Road[7]
3Sun 20 Nov 1977Wakefield Trinity12-9LeighBelle Vue[6]
4Sun 20 Nov 1977Widnes25-0WiganNaughton Park[10][12]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[12] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 26 Nov 1977Wakefield Trinity5-15WarringtonBelle Vue7[6][7]
2Sat 3 Dec 1977Widnes14-10Bradford NorthernNaughton Park[10]

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 28 January 1978Warrington9-4WidnesKnowsley Road1025884298[7][10][13][14]

Teams and Scorers

[13][14][15]

Warrington № Widnes
teams
Derek Finnegan/Derek Finnigan1David Eckersley
Steve Hesford2Stuart Wright
Billy Benyon3Mal Aspey
Frank Wilson4Derek "Mick" George
John Bevan5Paul Woods
Ken Kelly6Eric Hughes
Parry Gordon7Reg Bowden
Roy Lester8Bill Ramsey
John Dalgreen9Keith Elwell
Mike Nicholas10Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw
Tommy Martyn11Mick Adams
Barry Philbin12David Hull
Ian Potter13Doug Laughton
? Not used14? Not used
? Not used15Alan Dearden (for Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw)
Coach
9score4
4HT0
Scorers
Tries
John Bevan (1)T
Goals
Steve Hesford (3)G
Drop Goals
DGPaul Woods (2)
RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the matchSteve Hesford - Warrington - Wing
Competition SponsorPlayer's №6

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

Prize Money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-

Finish Position Cash Prize No. receiving prize Total Cash
Winner?1?
Runner-up?1?
semi-finalist?2?
loser in Rd 3?4?
loser in Rd 2?8?
Loser in Rd 1?16?
Grand Total

Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First Round Second Round Third Round Semi Finals Final
               
Wakefield Trinity 24
Batley 5
Wakefield Trinity 31
Cawoods 7
Halifax 8
Cawoods 9
Wakefield Trinity 12
Leigh 9
Keighley 18
Hull F.C. 16
Keighley 5
Leigh 14
Leigh 31
Doncaster 15
Wakefield Trinity 5
Warrington 15
Featherstone Rovers 25
Hull Kingston Rovers 24
Featherstone Rovers 17
St. Helens 10
Swinton 11
St. Helens 28
Featherstone Rovers 11
Warrington 14
Blackpool Borough 10
Warrington 31
Warrington 19
Salford 10
Salford 27
Rochdale Hornets 8
Warrington 9
Widnes 4
Widnes 21
Huyton 6
Widnes 26
Castleford 19
Dewsbury 0
Castleford 13
Widnes 25
Wigan 0
Leeds 22
Wigan 25
Wigan 9
New Hunslet 7
(NDLB) National Dock Labour Board 4
New Hunslet 18
Widnes 14
Bradford Northern 10
Huddersfield 33
Whitehaven 13
Huddersfield 21
Oldham 11
Oldham 16
Barrow 8
Huddersfield 0
Bradford Northern 11
Bradford Northern 19
Bramley 12
Bradford Northern 22
Workington Town 18
York 12
Workington Town 20

Notes and comments

1 * (NDLB) National Dock Labour Board are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
2 * Wigan official archives[4] gives the score as 3-18 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,[1] Rothmans Yearbook 1991-92[14] and the News of the World/Empire News ANNUAL OF 1978–79[3] give it as 4-18
3 * Wigan official archives[4] gives the score as 24-3 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,[1] Wakefield until I die[6] and the News of the World/Empire News Annual 1978–79[3] give it as 24-5
4 * Cawoods were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
5 * Cawoods became the first amateur team to beat a professional team in a Rugby League cup tie since 1909
6 * Wigan official archives[4] gives the score as 23-6 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,[1] Widnes official archives[10] and the News of the World/Empire News annual 1978–79[3] give it as 22-6
7 * Wigan First Team Players continued with their strike over a bonus payment for the JP second round win over New Hunslet. Wigan chairman Ken Broome issued a statement[12] saying "The situation is bordering on ridiculous. It's beyond money now, it's become a question of whether the players are going to run the club or we are." The actual dispute was over just £5 a man, the club having increased the bonus offer from £55 to £70 but the players wanted £75.
8 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens R.F.C. from 1890 until its closure in 2010. The final capacity was 17,500 although the record attendance was 35,695 set on 26 December 1949 for a league game between St Helens and Wigan.

General information for those unfamiliar

The council of the Rugby Football League voted to introduce a new competition, to be similar to The Football Association and Scottish Football Association's "League Cup". It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. As this was being formulated, sports sponsorship was becoming more prevalent and as a result John Player and Sons, a division of Imperial Tobacco Company, became sponsors, and the competition never became widely known as the "League Cup". The competition ran from 1971–72 until 1995–96 and was initially intended for the professional clubs plus the two amateur BARLA National Cup finalists. In later seasons the entries were expanded to take in other amateur and French teams. The competition was dropped due to "fixture congestion" when Rugby League became a summer sport. The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the autumn, with the final usually taking place in late January. The competition was variably known, by its sponsorship name, as the Player's No.6 Trophy (1971–1977), the John Player Trophy (1977–1983), the John Player Special Trophy (1983–1989), and the Regal Trophy in 1989.

See also

References
  1. "Rugby League Project".
  2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. Frank Butler & Harold Mayes (1979). News Of The World Football Annual 1978-9. News of the World Ltd. ISBN 0 855 43 011 7.
  4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
  5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. "Wakefield until I die".
  7. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
  8. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  9. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  10. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  11. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
  12. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 onwards results".
  13. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  14. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  15. "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".
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