1973–74 League Cup (rugby league)
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
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 | Sat 15 Sep 1973 | Bramley | 20-12 | Hull F.C. | McLaren Field | 750 | |||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||||
| 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 | |||||
| 14 | Sun 16 Sep 1973 | Warrington | 31-14 | Oldham | Wilderspool | 5238 | |||||
| 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
Involved 8 matches and 16 ClubsNOTE - 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 | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| 8 | Sun 16 Dec 1973 | Wigan | 10-14 | Keighley | Central Park | 2509 | 9, 11 |
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 | Sat 29 Dec 1973 | Wakefield Trinity | 18-18 | St. Helens | Belle Vue | 2890 | 12 | ||||
| 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 |
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 |
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 | 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 |
Final
Teams and Scorers John Player yearbook 1974–75
| Warrington | № | Rochdale Hornets |
| teams | ||
| Derek Whitehead | 1 | James "Jim"/"Jimmy" Crellin |
| Michael "Mick"/"Mike" Philbin | 2 | Norman Brelsford |
| Derek Noonan | 3 | Tom Brophy |
| Frank Reynolds | 4 | David Taylor |
| John Bevan | 5 | Willie Aspinall |
| Alan Whittle | 6 | John Butler |
| Parry Gordon | 7 | Stephen/Steven "Steve" Gartland |
| David "Dave" Chisnall | 8 | William "Bill" Holliday |
| Kevin Ashcroft | 9 | R. Harris |
| Brian Brady | 10 | S. Whitehead |
| David "Dave" Wright | 11 | Terry Fogerty |
| Robert "Bobby" Wanbon | 12 | William "Bill"/"Billy" Sheffield |
| Barry Philbin | 13 | Tony Halmshaw |
| William "Bill"/"Billy" Pickup | 14 | Harry Wood |
| Mike Nicholas | 15 | ? Not used |
| Coach | - | |
| - | ||
| 27 | score | 16 |
| 12 | HT | 0 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Derek Whitehead | T | Norman Brelsford |
| Derek Noonan | T | Tom Brophy |
| John Bevan | T | David Taylor |
| Mike Nicholas | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Derek Whitehead | G | William "Bill" Holliday |
| Referee | D. Gerald "Gerry" Kershaw | |
| Man of the match | Kevin Ashcroft - Warrington - | |
| Competition Sponsor | Player's №6 |
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one 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 fixturesGeneral 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.