1973–74 League Cup (rugby league)

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1973–74 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams32
WinnersWarrington
Runners-upRochdale Hornets

This was the third season of rugby league's League Cup competition, which for sponsorship reasons was known as the Players No.6 Trophy.

Warrington won the final, beating Rochdale Hornets by the score of 27-16 in the match played at Central Park, Wigan. The attendance was 9,347 and receipts were £4380.

Background[]

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-two.

Competition and results[]

[1][2][3][4]

Round 1 - First Round[]

[5] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 15 Sep 1973 Bramley 20-12 Hull F.C. McLaren Field 750 [6]
2 Sat 15 Sep 1973 Keighley 30-10 Huyton Lawkholme Lane 595 1
3 Sat 15 Sep 1973 St. Helens 34-16 Featherstone Rovers Knowsley Road 3000 2 [7]
4 Sat 15 Sep 1973 Whitehaven 26-3 Dewsbury Celtic Recreation Ground 1276 3, 4
5 Sat 15 Sep 1973 Wigan 34-0 Batley Central Park 4149 [4]
6 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Bradford Northern 12-34 Leeds Odsal 9028
7 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Castleford 88-5 Millom Wheldon Road 1031 5, 6
8 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Dewsbury 33-24 Widnes Crown Flatt 2508 7 [8]
9 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Halifax 20-5 Barrow Thrum Hall 1281 8
10 Sun 16 Sep 1973 New Hunslet 11-26 Leigh Elland Road Greyhound Stadium 2000
11 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Rochdale Hornets 18-2 Huddersfield Athletic Grounds 1952 [9]
12 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Salford 47-17 Doncaster The Willows 4122
13 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Wakefield Trinity 47-13 Blackpool Borough Belle Vue 2462 [10]
14 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Warrington 31-14 Oldham Wilderspool 5238 [11]
15 Sun 16 Sep 1973 Workington Town 20-9 Hull Kingston Rovers Derwent Park 1503
16 Sun 16 Sep 1973 York 32-13 Swinton Clarence Street 2509

Round 2 - Second Round[]

[12] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs
NOTE - Matches in this round kicked off earlier to make maximum use of the daylight
Use of Floodlights in sporting events was banned by government order from 15 November 1973 due to mining strikes

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 15 Dec 1973 Bramley 24-12 Leigh McLaren Field 750 9
2 Sat 15 Dec 1973 Warrington 18-9 Castleford Wilderspool 2208 9 [11]
3 Sun 16 Dec 1973 Halifax 7-16 Dewsbury Thrum Hall 2050 9
4 Sun 16 Dec 1973 Rochdale Hornets 11-0 York Athletic Grounds 2274 9
5 Sun 16 Dec 1973 St. Helens 28-2 Whitehaven Knowsley Road 2310 9, 10 [7]
6 Sun 16 Dec 1973 Salford 4-17 Leeds The Willows 821 9
7 Sun 16 Dec 1973 Wakefield Trinity 10-7 Workington Town Belle Vue 1835 9 [10]
8 Sun 16 Dec 1973 Wigan 10-14 Keighley Central Park 2509 9, 11 [4]

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
1 Sat 29 Dec 1973 Wakefield Trinity 18-18 St. Helens Belle Vue 2890 12 [7][10]
2 Sun 30 Dec 1973 Keighley 8-11 Bramley Lawkholme Lane 2887 13
3 Sun 30 Dec 1973 Rochdale Hornets 7-5 Leeds Athletic Grounds 5389 13
4 Sun 30 Dec 1973 Warrington 20-12 Dewsbury Wilderspool 6090 13 [11]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays[]

Involved 1 match with 2 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sun 6 Jan 1974 St. Helens 16-10 Wakefield Trinity Knowsley Road 7287 [7][10]

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
1 Sun 6 Jan 1974 Rochdale Hornets 14-2 Bramley Athletic Grounds 2835 14
2 Sat 12 Jan 1974 Warrington 20-9 St. Helens Wilderspool 5352 [7][11]

Final[]

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 9 February 1974 Warrington 27-16 Rochdale Hornets Central Park 9347 4380 15, 16 [11][13][14]

Teams and Scorers John Player yearbook 1974–75[]

[13][14]

Warrington № Rochdale Hornets
teams
Derek Whitehead 1 /
/[1] 2
Derek Noonan 3 Tom Brophy
[2] 4
John Bevan 5 Willie Aspinall
Alan Whittle 6 John Butler
Parry Gordon 7 /
David "Dave" Chisnall 8 William "Bill" Holliday
Kevin Ashcroft (c) 9 R. Harris
[3] 10 S. Whitehead
[4] 11 Terry Fogerty
Robert "Bobby" Wanbon 12 /
Barry Philbin 13 Tony Halmshaw
/[5] (for Derek Noonan or Frank Reynolds) 14 Harry Wood (for John Butler or Terry Foggerty)
Mike Nicholas (for Dave Chisnall 19-mins) 15 ? Not used
Coach
27 score 16
12 HT 0
Scorers
Tries
Derek Whitehead (1) T Norman Brelsford (2)
Derek Noonan (2) T Tom Brophy (1)
John Bevan (1) T David Taylor (1)
Mike Nicholas (1) T
Goals
Derek Whitehead (6) G William "Bill" Holliday (2)
Referee D. (York)
Man of the match Kevin Ashcroft - Warrington - Hooker
Competition Sponsor Player's №6

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

Timeline in the final[]

Time Incident Score
? Penalty Goal: Derek Whitehead 2-0
27 min Try: Mike Nicholas 5-0
Conversion: Derek Whitehead 7-0
39 min Try: Derek Noonan 10-0
Conversion: Derek Whitehead 12-0
Half Time 12-0
Penalty Goal: Colin Whitfield 12-0
43 min Try: Norman Brelsford 15-3
? Try: Derek Noonan 15-3
Conversion: Derek Whitehead 17-3
? Try: David Taylor 17-6
Conversion: Bill Holliday 17-8
approx 50 min Try: John Bevan 20-8
Conversion: Derek Whitehead 22-8
approx 60 min Try: Derek Whitehead 25-8
Conversion: Derek Whitehead 27-8
? Try: Norman Brelsford 27-11
Conversion: Bill Holliday 27-13
79 min Try: Tom Brophy 27-16
Full Time 27-16

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 5000 1 £5000
Runner-up 2500 1 £2500
semi-finalist 1000 2 £2000
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 rest of the award amounts. Can anyone help ?

The road to success[]

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round Second round Third round Semifinals Final
               
Warrington 31
Oldham 14
Warrington 18
Castleford 9
Castleford 88
Millom 5
Warrington 20
Dewsbury 12
Halifax 20
Barrow 5
Halifax 7
Dewsbury 16
Dewsbury 33
Widnes 24
Warrington 20
St. Helens 9
Wakefield Trinity 47
Blackpool Borough 13
Wakefield Trinity 10
Workington Town 7
Workington Town 20
Hull Kingston Rovers 9
Wakefield Trinity 18 (16)
St. Helens 18 (27)
St. Helens 34
Featherstone Rovers 13
St. Helens 28
Whitehaven 2
Whitehaven 26
Dewsbury Celtic 3
Warrington 27
Rochdale Hornets 16
Rochdale Hornets 18
Huddersfield 2
Rochdale Hornets 11
York 0
York 32
Swinton 13
Rochdale Hornets 7
Leeds 5
Salford 47
Doncaster 17
Salford 4
Leeds 17
Bradford Northern 12
Leeds 34
Rochdale Hornets 14
Bramley 2
Wigan 37
Batley 0
Wigan 10
Keighley 14
Keighley 30
Huyton 10
Keighley 8
Bramley 11
Bramley 20
Hull F.C. 12
Bramley 24
Leigh 12
New Hunslet 11
Leigh 26

Notes and comments[]

1 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] states that the match was played at Bradford, whereas it was played at Lawkholme Lane, Keighley
2 * St Helens official archives[7] give the attendance as 2,500 whereas RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives it as 3,000
3 * Dewsbury Celtic are a Junior (amateur) club from Dewsbury, home ground is Crow Nest Park
4 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[3] and the News of the World Football Annual 1974–75[2] give the attendance as 1,250 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give it as 1,276
5 * Millom are a Junior (amateur) club from Cumbria, current home ground is the Coronation Field ground
6 * The highest score, to date in the competition against a Junior club
7 * Widnes official archives[8] give the result as a Wiidnes win
8 * Wigan official archives[4] show a score of 30-3 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give it as 20-5
9 * Matches kicked off Earlier to accommodate daylight. Use of Floodlights was banned by government order from 15 November 1973 due to mining strikes.
10 * Wigan official archives[4] give score as 28-3 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give it as 28-2
11 * Wigan's hooker (Colin Clarke) and two Keighley players (Wilmot and Burke) were sent off during this second half of this match.
12 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[3] give the date as 9-12-1974 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give the date as 29-12-1974
13 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[3] give the date as 9-12-1974 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give the date as 30-12-1974
14 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75,[3] the News of the World Football Annual 1974–75[2] and Wigan official archives[4] give the date as Saturday 5-1-1974 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give the date as Sunday 6-1-1974
15 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[3] gives the attendance as 10,047 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] give the attendance as 9,347
16 * 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1974–75. Queen Anne Press.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  5. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  6. ^ "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  8. ^ a b "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  9. ^ "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  10. ^ a b c d "Wakefield until I die".
  11. ^ a b c d e "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  12. ^ a b c "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  13. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  14. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links[]

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