1977–78 Player's No.6 Trophy

1977–78 Player's No.6 Trophy
1977–78 Player's No.6 Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Warrington
Runners-up	Widnes
	← 1976–77 1978–79 →

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

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	Notes	Ref

1	Fri 21 Oct 1977	(NDLB) National Dock Labour Board	4-18	New Hunslet	???	3845	1, 2
2	Fri 21 Oct 1977	Salford	27-8	Rochdale Hornets	The Willows
3	Sat 22 Oct 1977	Leeds	22-25	Wigan	Headingley			^[4]
4	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Featherstone Rovers	25-24	Hull Kingston Rovers	Post Office Road
5	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Keighley	18-16	Hull F.C.	Lawkholme Lane			^[5]
6	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Leigh	31-15	Doncaster	Hilton Park
7	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Wakefield Trinity	24-5	Batley	Belle Vue		3	^[6]
8	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Blackpool Borough	10-31	Warrington	Borough Park			^[7]
9	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Bradford Northern	19-12	Bramley	Odsal
10	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Dewsbury	0-13	Castleford	Crown Flatt
11	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Halifax	8-9	Cawoods	Thrum Hall	1168	4, 5
12	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Huddersfield	33-13	Whitehaven	Fartown			^[8]
13	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Oldham	16-8	Barrow	Watersheddings
14	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Swinton	11-28	St. Helens	Station Road	3000		^[9]
15	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Widnes	22-6	Huyton	Naughton Park		6	^[10]
16	Sun 23 Oct 1977	York	12-20	Workington Town	Clarence Street

Round 2 - Second Round

^[11] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Sat 5 Nov 1977	Widnes	26-19	Castleford	Naughton Park			^[10]
2	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Bradford Northern	22-18	Workington Town	Odsal
3	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Featherstone Rovers	17-10	St. Helens	Post Office Road	5481		^[9]
4	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Huddersfield	21-11	Oldham	Fartown			^[8]
5	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Keighley	5-14	Leigh	Lawkholme Lane
6	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity	31-7	Cawoods	Belle Vue		4	^[6]
7	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Warrington	19-10	Salford	Wilderspool			^[7]
8	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Wigan	9-7	New Hunslet	Central Park	5447		^[11]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

^[12] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Ref

1	Sat 19 Nov 1977	Huddersfield	0-11	Bradford Northern	Fartown	^[8]
2	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Featherstone Rovers	11-14	Warrington	Post Office Road	^[7]
3	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity	12-9	Leigh	Belle Vue	^[6]
4	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Widnes	25-0	Wigan	Naughton Park	^[10]^[12]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

^[12] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Notes	Ref

1	Sat 26 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity	5-15	Warrington	Belle Vue	7	^[6]^[7]
2	Sat 3 Dec 1977	Widnes	14-10	Bradford Northern	Naughton Park		^[10]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

	Saturday 28 January 1978	Warrington		9-4		Widnes	Knowsley Road	10258	8429	8	^[7]^[10]^[13]^[14]

Teams and scorers

^[13]^[14]^[15]

Warrington	№	Widnes

	teams
Derek Finnegan/Derek Finnigan [1]	1	David Eckersley
Steve Hesford	2	Stuart Wright
Billy Benyon	3	Mal Aspey
Frank Wilson	4	Derek "Mick" George [2]
John Bevan	5	Paul Woods
Ken Kelly	6	Eric Hughes
Parry Gordon	7	Reg Bowden [3]
Roy Lester [4]	8	Bill Ramsey
John Dalgreen	9	Keith Elwell
Mike Nicholas	10	Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw
Tommy Martyn	11	Mick Adams
Barry Philbin	12	David Hull
Ian Potter	13	Doug Laughton
? Not used	14	? Not used
? Not used	15	Alan Dearden [5] (for Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw)
	Coach

9	score	4
4	HT	0

	Scorers
	Tries
John Bevan (1)	T
	Goals
Steve Hesford (3)	G
	Drop Goals
	DG	Paul Woods (2)

Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match		Steve Hesford - Warrington - Wing
Competition Sponsor		Player's №6

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

Prize money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season was as follows:^[16]

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	£8,000	1	£8,000
Runner-up	£3,500	1	£3,500
Semi-finalist	£1,750	2	£3,500
Loser in Rd 3	£750	4	£3,000
Loser in Rd 2	£600	8	£4,800
Loser in Rd 1	£450	16	£7,200
Grand Total			£30,000

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round		Second round		Third round		Semifinals		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.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Rugby League Project".
^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Frank Butler & Harold Mayes (1979). News Of The World Football Annual 1978-9. News of the World Ltd. ISBN 0 855 43 011 7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".
^ "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Wakefield until I die".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
^ ^a ^b ^c "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
^ ^a ^b "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
^ ^a ^b "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 onwards results".
^ ^a ^b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
^ ^a ^b ^c Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
^ "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".
^ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1992). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-7472-7906-8.

External links

[RLP.orgMisc-1] "Rugby League Project".

[CherryMisc-2] "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-07-12.

[NOTW1978–79Misc-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.

[CherryJPR1Misc-4] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results".

[HullMisc-5] "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".

[WakefieldTIDMisc-6] "Wakefield until I die".

[WiresMisc-7] "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".

[HuddHeritageMisc-8] "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).

[SaintsMisc-9] "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".

[ChemicsMisc-10] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".

[CherryJPR2Misc-11] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 archived results".

[CherryJPR3etcMisc-12] "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 3 onwards results".

[Roth1990-91Misc-13] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.

[Roth1991-92Misc-14] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

[WidnesArchivesJPFMisc-15] "Widnes Stat Attack archived results".

[16] Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1992). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-7472-7906-8.

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