1976–77 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the sixth season for the League Cup, which was once again known as the Players No.6 Trophy because of its sponsorship.

1976–77 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams32
WinnersCastleford
Runners-upBlackpool Borough

Castleford won the final, beating Blackpool Borough by the score of 25-15. The match was played at The Willows, Salford. The attendance was 4,512 and receipts were £2,919.

Background

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.

Competition and Results

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-two. For the second season there were no drawn matches in the competition.[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
1Sat 23 Oct 1976Hull F.C.18-5WarringtonBoulevard[5][6]
2Sat 23 Oct 1976Leeds34-10Rochdale HornetsHeadingley
3Sun 24 Oct 1976Blackpool Borough16-15BarrowBorough Park
4Sun 24 Oct 1976Bradford Northern23-18HuddersfieldOdsal
5Sun 24 Oct 1976Bramley33-5DewsburyMcLaren Field
6Sun 24 Oct 1976Featherstone Rovers43-13WhitehavenPost Office Road
7Sun 24 Oct 1976Ovenden4-24HalifaxThrum Hall36801, 2
8Sun 24 Oct 1976Hull Kingston Rovers7-12St. HelensCraven Park (1)5984[7]
9Sun 24 Oct 1976Huyton6-8YorkAlt Park, Huyton
10Sun 24 Oct 1976Leigh29-7SwintonHilton Park
11Sun 24 Oct 1976New Hunslet10-24CastlefordElland Road Greyhound Stadium
12Sun 24 Oct 1976Oldham17-9BatleyWatersheddings
13Sun 24 Oct 1976Ace Caravans15-39SalfordThe Willows30373, 4, 5
14Sun 24 Oct 1976Wakefield Trinity8-10WidnesBelle Vue[8][9]
15Sun 24 Oct 1976Wigan33-0KeighleyCentral Park[3]
16Sun 24 Oct 1976Workington Town45-15DoncasterDerwent Park

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 6 Nov 1976Leeds18-17SalfordHeadingley
2Sat 6 Nov 1976St. Helens18-22CastlefordKnowsley Road2691[7]
3Sun 7 Nov 1976Blackpool Borough7-3HalifaxBorough Park
4Sun 7 Nov 1976Hull F.C.19-5Bradford NorthernBoulevard[5]
5Sun 7 Nov 1976Oldham13-28LeighWatersheddings6
6Sun 7 Nov 1976Widnes10-0Featherstone RoversNaughton Park[9]
7Sun 7 Nov 1976Workington Town17-13BramleyDerwent Park
8Sun 7 Nov 1976York8-7WiganClarence Street65037[3]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[10] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 20 Dec 1976Leeds14-20CastlefordHeadingley
2Sun 21 Dec 1976Leigh17-12Hull F.C.Hilton Park[5]
3Sun 21 Dec 1976Widnes13-10YorkNaughton Park[9]
4Sun 21 Dec 1976Workington Town5-11Blackpool BoroughDerwent Park

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[10] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 27 Dec 1976Castleford15-10WidnesWheldon Road8[9]
2Sat 11 Jan 1976Blackpool Borough15-5LeighBorough Park8

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 22 January 1977Castleford25-15Blackpool BoroughThe Willows451229199[11][12]

Teams and Scorers

[11][12]

Castleford Blackpool Borough
teams
Geoffrey Wraith1Doug Reynolds
Steve Fenton2Doug Robinson
John Joyner3John Heritage
Philip Johnson4Paul Machen
Trevor Briggs5Phil Pitman
Bruce Burton6Ged Marsh
Gary Stephens7Jackie Newall
Paul Kahn8James "Jim"/"Jimmy" Hamilton
Robert Spurr9Howard Allen
Alan Dickinson10Joe Egan
Mal Reilly11Paul Gamblex
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd12Ken Groves
Steve 'Knocker' Norton13Malcolm Pattinson
? Not used14Cliff Lamb (for Phil Pitman)
? Not used15Phil Hurst (for Ken Groves)
CoachJim Crellin
25score15
HT
Scorers
Tries
Geoffrey Wraith (1)TP. Machen (1)
John Joyner (1)THoward Allen (1)
Philip Johnson (1)TJ. Egan (1)
Bruce Burton (1)T
Gary Stephens (1)T
Goals
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd (5)GJ. Egan (3)
RefereeMicheal "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes)
Man of the matchGary Stephens - Castleford - scrum-half
joint withHoward Allen - Blackpool Borough - hooker
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£6,0001£6,000
Runner-up£3,0001£3,000
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
               
Leeds 34
Rochdale Hornets 10
Leeds 18
Salford 17
Ace Caravans 15
Salford 39
Leeds 14
Castleford 20
Hull Kingston Rovers 7
St. Helens 12
St. Helens 18
Castleford 22
New Hunslet 10
Castleford 24
Castleford 15
Widnes 10
Wakefield Trinity 8
Widnes 10
Widnes 10
Featherstone Rovers 0
Featherstone Rovers 43
Whitehaven 13
Widnes 13
York 10
Huyton 6
York 8
York 8
Wigan 7
Wigan 33
Keighley 0
Castleford 25
Blackpool Borough 15
Workington Town 45
Doncaster 15
Workington Town 17
Bramley 13
Bramley 22
Dewsbury 5
Workington Town 5
Blackpool Borough 11
Blackpool Borough 16
Barrow 15
Blackpool Borough 7
Halifax 3
Ovenden 4
Halifax 24
Blackpool Borough 15
Leigh 5
Oldham 17
Batley 9
Oldham 13
Leigh 28
Leigh 29
Swinton 7
Leigh 17
Hull F.C. 12
Hull F.C. 18
Warrington 5
Hull F.C. 19
Bradford Northern 5
Bradford Northern 23
Huddersfield 18

Notes

1 * Ovenden are a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
2 * Ovenden were drawn at home but chose to give away home advantage
3 * Ace Caravans were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
4 * Ace Caravans were drawn at home but chose to give away home advantage
5 * The Rothmans Yearbooks 1990-91[11] and 1991-92[12] gave the attendance as 3,037 but The News of the World/Empire News annual 1977–78[2] gave it as 3,680
6 * The News of the World/Empire News annual 1977–78[2] gives the score as 13-25 but other sources including RUGBYLEAGUEprojects,[1] Wigan official archives[3] give the score as 13-28
7 * Wigan's centre (No. 4) Bill Francis & York's second-row (No. 11) Gary Hetherington were both sent off for fighting in the 78th Minute
8 * Wigan official website[10] states incorrectly that the match date was Saturday 27 November
9 * The Willows was the home ground of Salford with a final capacity of 11,363 which included 2,500 seats. The record attendance was 26,470 on the 13 February 1937 in the Challenge Cup first round match vs Warr

See also

References

  1. "Rugby League Project".
  2. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1977). News of the World Football Annual 1977–78 - 91st year. News of the World Ltd.
  3. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player round 1 archived results".
  5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  7. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  8. "Wakefield until I die".
  9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  10. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player round 2 onwards results".
  11. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  12. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
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