1978–79 League Cup (rugby league)
This was the eighth season for rugby league's League Cup competition, which was now known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons.
Widnes won the final against Warrington by the score of 16-4. The match was played at Knowsley Road, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,743 and receipts were £11709.
Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.Bad weather - Due to an exceptionally inclement winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February
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 1978 | Castleford | 18-10 | Swinton | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 2 | Fri 22 Sep 1978 | Salford | 25-7 | Rochdale Hornets | The Willows | ||||||
| 3 | Sat 23 Sep 1978 | Leigh Miners W. | 9-21 | Halifax | Hilton Park | 1621 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Sat 23 Sep 1978 | St. Helens | 16-11 | Leeds | Knowsley Road | 4700 | |||||
| 5 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Barrow | 8-26 | Bradford Northern | Craven Park | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Doncaster | 2-30 | Wigan | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | 1332 | |||||
| 7 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Huddersfield | 10-21 | Widnes | Fartown | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 67-11 | Oldham | Craven Park | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Keighley | 20-4 | York | Lawkholme Lane | ||||||
| 10 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Leigh | 13-13 | Huyton | Hilton Park | ||||||
| 11 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Milford | 5-38 | Dewsbury | McLaren Field | 3129 | 3 | ||||
| 12 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | New Hunslet | 7-17 | Hull F.C. | Elland Road Greyhound Stadium | ||||||
| 13 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Wakefield Trinity | 27-2 | Batley | Belle Vue | ||||||
| 14 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Warrington | 14-4 | Blackpool Borough | Wilderspool | 4 | |||||
| 15 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Whitehaven | 3-9 | Featherstone Rovers | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 16 | Sun 24 Sep 1978 | Workington Town | 17-8 | Bramley | Derwent Park |
Round 1 - First Round - Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Tue 26 Sep 1978 | Huyton | 8-10 | Leigh | Alt Park, Huyton |
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 | Sat 2 Dec 1978 | Widnes | 11-10 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 5030 | |||||
| 2 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Castleford | 20-9 | Workington Town | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Featherstone Rovers | 0-7 | Warrington | Post Office Road | ||||||
| 4 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Hull F.C. | 12-18 | Bradford Northern | Boulevard | ||||||
| 5 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 16-14 | Salford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Keighley | P | Wigan | Lawkholme Lane | 5 | |||||
| 7 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Leigh | 17-8 | Dewsbury | Hilton Park | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 3 Dec 1978 | Wakefield Trinity | 15-10 | Halifax | Belle Vue |
Round 2 - Second Round Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs - and due to the first match being postponed because of extremely inclement weather| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Wed 6 Dec 1978 | Keighley | 9-5 | Wigan | Lawkholme Lane |
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 | Sun 17 Dec 1978 | Bradford Northern | 16-13 | Wakefield Trinity | Odsal | ||||||
| 2 | Sun 17 Dec 1978 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 23-10 | Castleford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 17 Dec 1978 | Keighley | 4-15 | Widnes | Lawkholme Lane | ||||||
| 4 | Sun 17 Dec 1978 | Warrington | 27-0 | Leigh | Wilderspool |
Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 ClubsBad weather - Due to an exceptionally inclement winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 6 Jan 1979 | Warrington | P | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wilderspool | 6 | |||||
| 2 | Sat 13 Jan 1979 | Widnes | P | Bradford Northern | Naughton Park | 6 |
Round 3 – Semi-Finals - Replays
Involved 3 matches and 4 clubs - and due to the first match being postponed because of extremely inclement weather| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 27 Jan 1979 | Warrington | P | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wilderspool | 6 | |||||
| 2 | Wed 24 Jan 1979 | Widnes | 21-3 | Bradford Northern | Naughton Park | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 1 Apr 1979 | Warrington | 9-5 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wilderspool |
Final
Final - Replay
Teams and Scorers
| Widnes | № | Warrington |
| teams | ||
| David Eckersley | 1 | Derek Finnegan/Finnigan |
| Stuart Wright | 2 | Michael "Mike"/"Mick" Kelly |
| Mal Aspey | 3 | Steve Hesford |
| Eric Hughes | 4 | Billy Benyon |
| Mick Burke | 5 | Dave Sutton |
| David Moran | 6 | Ken Kelly |
| Reg Bowden | 7 | Parry Gordon |
| Jim Mills | 8 | Roy Lester |
| Keith Elwell | 9 | Anthony "Tony" Waller |
| Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw | 10 | Mike Nicholas |
| Alan Dearden | 11 | Brian Case |
| David Hull | 12 | Tommy Martyn |
| Mick Adams | 13 | Alan Gwilliam |
| ? Not used | 14 | Edwin "Eddie" Hunter |
| ? Not used | 15 | ? Not used |
| Coach | - | |
| - | ||
| 16 | score | 4 |
| 2 | HT | 2 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Stuart Wright | T | |
| David Hull | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Mick Burke | G | Steve Hesford |
| Drop Goals | ||
| Keith Elwell | DG | |
| Mick Adams | DG | |
| Referee | G. Frederick "Fred" Lindop | |
| Man of the match | David Eckersley - Widnes - | |
| Competition Sponsor | John Player |
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 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 | ? |
| 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 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.