1983–84 League Cup

This was the thirteenth season of the rugby league League Cup, which was this season known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1983–84 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams18
WinnersLeeds
Runners-upWidnes

Leeds won the trophy, beating Widnes by the score of 18-10 in the final. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan and the attendance was 9,510. The gate receipts were £19824.

Background

This season saw one change in the entrants, Kent Invicta joined the league and also the competition, the number of entrants now rising to thirty-four
The preliminary round now increased to two matches and involved four clubs, to reduce the numbers of entrants to the first round proper to thirty-two
Unfortunately, early in the season Bramley went into administration, and although they survived, during this period of administration they withdrew from this competition, leaving Hull Kingston Rovers with a bye in the first round.

Competition and Results

[1][2]

Preliminary Round

[3] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sun 23 Oct 1983Batley11-12DoncasterMount Pleasant782
2Sun 23 Oct 1983Whitehaven0-36WidnesRecreation Ground1655[4]

Round 1 - First Round

[3] Involved 15 matches with one bye and 31 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 5 11 1983CastlefordPHull F.C.1
2Sun 6 Nov 1983Blackpool Borough9-12LeedsBorough Park1351
3Sun 6 Nov 1983Cardiff City41-6Rochdale HornetsNinian Park645
4Sun 6 Nov 1983Carlisle10-5Workington TownBrunton Park1297
5Sun 6 Nov 1983Dewsbury14-17KeighleyCrown Flatt814
6Sun 6 Nov 1983Featherstone Rovers12-10FulhamPost Office Road2011
7Sun 6 Nov 1983Halifax12-29BarrowThrum Hall2699
8Sun 6 Nov 1983Kent Invicta7-40St. HelensAthletic Ground, Maidstone21072[5]
9Sun 6 Nov 1983Oldham12-20LeighWatersheddings6264
10Sun 6 Nov 1983Swinton17-16HunsletStation Road1243
11Sun 6 Nov 1983Wakefield Trinity18-32WarringtonBelle Vue2935[6][7]
12Sun 6 Nov 1983Widnes2-1Bradford NorthernNaughton Park56403[4]
13Sun 6 Nov 1983Wigan30-13YorkCentral Park6388[2]
14Sun 6 Nov 1983Doncaster11-22SalfordBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield458
15Sun 6 Nov 1983Huddersfield8-21HuytonFartown582[8]
16Hull Kingston Roversbye4

Round 1 - First Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sun 6 Nov 1983Castleford4-8Hull F.C.Wheldon Road7979[9]

Round 2 - Second Round

[10] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 19 Nov 1983Warrington10-18St. HelensWilderspool4171[5][6]
2Sun 20 Nov 1983Cardiff City38-12HuytonNinian Park1085
3Sun 20 Nov 1983Carlisle17-68LeighBrunton Park21525
4Sun 20 Nov 1983Featherstone Rovers20-14Hull F.C.Post Office Road7833[9]
5Sun 20 Nov 1983Keighley8-23SwintonLawkholme Lane1577
6Sun 20 Nov 1983Leeds12-6Hull Kingston RoversHeadingley86236
7Sun 20 Nov 1983Widnes18-6BarrowNaughton Park7030[4]
8Sun 20 Nov 1983Wigan24-15SalfordCentral Park7290[2]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[11] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 26 Nov 1983Widnes20-15WiganNaughton Park6492[2][4]
2Sun 27 Nov 1983Leigh12-8Cardiff CityHilton Park4134
3Sun 27 Nov 1983St. Helens16-12Featherstone RoversKnowsley Road5196[5]
4Sun 27 Nov 1983Swinton12-16LeedsStation Road3438

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[11] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 10 Dec 1983Leigh11-18LeedsFartown5740
2Sat 17 Dec 1983Widnes18-4St. HelensWilderspool5729[4][5]

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 14 January 1984Leeds18-10WidnesCentral Park9510198247[11][12][13]

Teams and Scorers

[12][13][14]

Leeds № Widnes
teams
Ian Wilkinson1Mick Burke
Paul Prendiville2Stuart Wright
David Creasser3Keiron O'Loughlin
Dean Bell4Joe Lydon
Andy Smith5Ralph Linton
John Holmes6Eric Hughes
Kevin Dick7Andy Gregory
Keith Rayne8Mike O'Neill
David Ward9Keith Elwell
Kevin Rayne10Kevin Tamati
Gary Moorby11Les Gorley
Mark Laurie12Fred Whitfield
Terry Webb13Mick Adams
? Not used14? Not used
Kevin Squire (for David Ward)15? Not used
Maurice BamfordCoachVince Karalius & Harry Dawson
18score10
14HT10
Scorers
Tries
John Holmes (1)TJoe Lydon (1)
Kevin Dick (1)TRalph Linton (1)
Goals
David Creasser (5)GMick Burke (1)
RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the matchMark Laurie - Leeds - Second-row
Competition SponsorJohn Player Special

Scoring - Try = four (4) 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?
Loser in Prelim Round???
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
               
Carlisle 10
Workington Town 5
Carlisle 17
Leigh 68
Oldham 12
Leigh 20
Leigh 12
Cardiff City 8
Cardiff City 41
Rochdale Hornets 6
Cardiff City 38
Huyton 12
Huddersfield 8
Huyton 21
Leigh 11
Leeds 18
Dewsbury 14
Keighley 17
Keighley 8
Swinton 23
Swinton 17
Hunslet 16
Swinton 12
Leeds 16
Blackpool Borough 9
Leeds 12
Leeds 12
Hull Kingston Rovers 6
Hull Kingston Rovers
bye
Leeds 18
Widnes 10
Widnes 2
Bradford Northern 1
Widnes 18
Barrow 6
Halifax 12
Barrow 29
Widnes 20
Wigan 15
Wigan 30
York 13
Wigan 24
Salford 15
Doncaster 11
Salford 22
Widnes 18
St. Helens 4
Wakefield Trinity 18
Warrington 32
Warrington 10
St. Helens 18
Kent Invicta 7
St. Helens 40
St. Helens 16
Featherstone Rovers 12
Featherstone Rovers 12
Fulham 10
Featherstone Rovers 20
Hull F.C. 14
Castleford 4
Hull F.C. 8

Notes and comments

1 * This match had been chosen for Saturday BBC coverage but was cancelled and moved to Sunday at two days notice due to Industrial Action at the BBC[2]
2 * Kent Invicta's record crowd
3 * 3 dropped goals
4 * Bramley withdrew from this competition while in liquidation[12][13]
5 * highest score (and highest away score) o date between two professional clubs
6 * Wigan official archives[10] state the home team are Leigh, an obvious printing error as earlier in the same fixture list Leigh are away at CarlisleCarlisle
7 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

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. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
  4. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  5. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  6. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  7. "Wakefield until I die".
  8. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  9. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  10. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
  11. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 onwards archived results".
  12. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  13. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  14. "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".
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