1972–73 League Cup (rugby league)
This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.
Leeds won the trophy by beating Salford 12-7 in the final. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield. The attendance was 10,102 and receipts were £4563.
Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-two.Competition and Results
Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Fri 22 Sep 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20-10 | Castleford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 23 Sep 1972 | Batley | 26-3 | Hunslet | Mount Pleasant | ||||||
| 3 | Sat 23 Sep 1972 | Bramley | 26-5 | Pilkington Recs | McLaren Field | 616 | 1, 2 | ||||
| 4 | Sat 23 Sep 1972 | Halifax | 20-22 | St. Helens | Thrum Hall | 2446 | |||||
| 5 | Sat 23 Sep 1972 | Leigh | 10-9 | Workington Town | Hilton Park | ||||||
| 6 | Sat 23 Sep 1972 | Whitehaven | 11-16 | Featherstone Rovers | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Barrow | 2-17 | Salford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Blackpool Borough | 9-51 | Leeds | Borough Park | 3 | |||||
| 9 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Bradford Northern | 32-6 | Rochdale Hornets | Odsal | ||||||
| 10 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Dewsbury | 22-4 | Dewsbury Celtic | Crown Flatt | 1897 | 4 | ||||
| 11 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Doncaster | 7-22 | Widnes | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | ||||||
| 12 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Huddersfield | 23-15 | Warrington | Fartown | ||||||
| 13 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Hull F.C. | 17-10 | Oldham | Boulevard | ||||||
| 14 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Swinton | 29-10 | Huyton | Station Road | ||||||
| 15 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | Wigan | 10-34 | Wakefield Trinity | Central Park | 5 | |||||
| 16 | Sun 24 Sep 1972 | York | 21-13 | Keighley | Clarence Street |
Round 2 - Second Round
Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Fri 24 Nov 1972 | Hull F.C. | 9-4 | Wakefield Trinity | Boulevard | ||||||
| 2 | Fri 24 Nov 1972 | St. Helens | 24-8 | Featherstone Rovers | Knowsley Road | 4800 | 6 | ||||
| 3 | Fri 24 Nov 1972 | Salford | 19-3 | Dewsbury | The Willows | ||||||
| 4 | Sat 25 Nov 1972 | Leeds | 21-3 | Leigh | Headingley | ||||||
| 5 | Sun 26 Nov 1972 | Bradford Northern | 35-17 | York | Odsal | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 26 Nov 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 25-5 | Bramley | Craven Park | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 26 Nov 1972 | Swinton | 19-11 | Huddersfield | Station Road | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 26 Nov 1972 | Widnes | 21-8 | Batley | Naughton Park |
Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Fri 8 Dec 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | A | Swinton | Craven Park | 7 | |||||
| 2 | Sat 9 Dec 1972 | St. Helens | 10-3 | Widnes | Knowsley Road | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 10 Dec 1972 | Hull F.C. | 18-18 | Leeds | Boulevard | 8 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 10 Dec 1972 | Salford | 39-2 | Bradford Northern | The Willows | 9 |
Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays
Involved 2 matches with 4 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wed 13 Dec 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 30-6 | Swinton | Craven Park | ||||||
| 2 | Tue 12 Dec 1972 | Leeds | 37-5 | Hull F.C. | Headingley |
Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 30 Dec 1972 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 13-15 | Salford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 13 Jan 1973 | Leeds | 19-0 | St. Helens | Headingley | 5854 |
Final
Teams and Scorers
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one pointPrize 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
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 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, the John Player Trophy, the John Player Special Trophy, and the Regal Trophy in 1989.