1971–72 Player's No.6 Trophy

This was the inaugural season for the League Cup and the competition was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1971–72 Player's No.6 Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Halifax
Runners-up	Wakefield Trinity
1972–73 →

Halifax won the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 22-11 in the final. The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford. The attendance was 7975 and receipts were £2545.

Background

The council of the Rugby Football League had been investigating the possibility of another knock-out competition for several seasons, to be similar to the association football league cup competition played for by the Scottish Football Association (first competed for in 1946-47) and The Football Association (first competed for 1961). It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. The council voted to introduce the new competition at the same time as 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, the main reason being given was 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 "League Cup" 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

^[1]

Round 1 - First round

^[2]

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 12 Nov 1971	Thames Board Mills		7-27		Huddersfield	Wilderspool	1175		1, 2	^[3]
2	Fri 12 Nov 1971	Ace Amateurs		9-33		Wigan	Central Park	2678		3, 4	^[4]
3	Sat 13 Nov 1971	Barrow		10-9		Swinton	Craven Park
4	Sat 13 Nov 1971	Dewsbury		5-5		Hull F.C.	Crown Flatt				^[5]
5	Sat 13 Nov 1971	Huyton		5-18		Keighley	Alt Park, Huyton
6	Sat 13 Nov 1971	Leeds		18-8		Leigh	Headingley
7	Sat 13 Nov 1971	St. Helens		37-7		Featherstone Rovers	Knowsley Road	3000			^[6]
8	Sat 13 Nov 1971	Workington Town		0-10		Blackpool Borough	Derwent Park				^[7]
9	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Batley		5-11		York	Mount Pleasant				^[6]
10	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Bradford Northern		8-12		Rochdale Hornets	Odsal
11	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Doncaster		4-16		Bramley	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield
12	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Hull Kingston Rovers		17-14		Salford	Craven Park (1)
13	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Hunslet		7-7		Castleford	Parkside
14	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Warrington		9-16		Halifax	Wilderspool				^[8]
15	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Whitehaven		5-0		Oldham	Recreation Ground
16	Sun 14 Nov 1971	Widnes		10-10		Wakefield Trinity	Naughton Park				^[7]^[9]^[10]

Round 1 - First round Replays

Involved 3 matches and 6 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 17 Nov 1971	Castleford		9-8		Hunslet	Wheldon Road
2	Wed 17 Nov 1971	Wakefield Trinity		12-10		Widnes	Belle Vue				^[7]^[9]^[10]
3	Thu 18 Nov 1971	Hull F.C.		22-10		Dewsbury	Boulevard				^[5]

Round 2 - Second round

^[11]

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 26 Nov 1971	Castleford		11-13		Leeds	Wheldon Road
2	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Barrow		10-6		Huddersfield	Craven Park				^[3]
3	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Halifax		5-3		York	Thrum Hall
4	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Hull Kingston Rovers		11-18		Wigan	Craven Park (1)
5	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Whitehaven		0-12		St. Helens	Recreation Ground	1500
6	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Bramley		5-10		Wakefield Trinity	McLaren Field				^[7]^[9]
7	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Hull F.C.		36-10		Keighley	Boulevard
8	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Rochdale Hornets		4-14		Blackpool Borough	Athletic Grounds				^[7]

Round 3 -Quarter-finals

^[12]

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 11 Dec 1971	Halifax		36-13		Barrow	Thrum Hall
2	Sat 11 Dec 1971	Leeds		12-12		Wigan	Headingley				^[4]
3	Sat 11 Dec 1971	St. Helens		33-5		Hull F.C.	Knowsley Road	3467			^[5]^[6]
4	Sun 12 Dec 1971	Wakefield Trinity		18-12		Blackpool Borough	Belle Vue				^[7]^[9]

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	Wed 15 Dec 1971	Wigan		5-12		Leeds	Central Park				^[4]

Round 4 – Semi-finals

^[13]

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 18 Dec 1971	Wakefield Trinity		14-9		St. Helens	Belle Vue	3964			^[7]
2	Sat 8 Jan 1972	Leeds		7-15		Halifax	Headingley

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 22 January 1972	Halifax		22-11		Wakefield Trinity	Odsal	7975	2545	5	^[7]^[9]^[14]^[15]

Teams and scorers

^[14][15]

Halifax	No.	Wakefield Trinity
	teams
Tony Hepworth	1	Geoff Wraith
David Rayner	2	Keith Slater
Phil Davies	3	Jack Marston
David Willicombe	4	John Hegarty
Mike Kelly	5	Mick Major
Bruce Burton	6	David Topliss
Gordon Baker (c)	7	Kevin Harkin
Terry Dewhirst	8	David Jeanes
Roy Hawksley	9	Mick Morgan
David Callon	10	Steve Lyons
Terry Fogerty	11	Peter Harrison
John Martin	12	Rob Valentine
Tony Halmshaw	13	Neil Fox
John Sanderson (for Gordon Baker)	14	Bernard Ward (for Geoff Wraith)
Derek Reeves (for David Callon)	15	Ray Spencer (for Peter Harrison)
Les Pearce	Coach	Neil Fox
22	score	11
7	HT	8
	Scorers
	Tries
Phil Davies (1)	T	Keith Slater (1)
David Willicombe (1)	T	David Topliss (1)
Mike Kelly (1)	T	Rob Valentine (1)
David Callon (1)	T
	Goals
Bruce Burton (5)	G	Neil Fox (1)
Referee		S. Shepherd (Oldham)
Man of the match		Bruce Burton - Halifax - stand-off
Competition Sponsor		Player's No.6

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point (reduced from this season)

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	£5,000	1	£5,000
Runner-up	£2,500	1	£2,500
Semi-finalist	£1,000	2	£2,000
Loser in Rd 3	—	4	—
Loser in Rd 2	—	8	—
Loser in Rd 1	—	16	—
Grand Total			£9,500

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semi-finals					Final
	Hunslet		7 (8)
	Castleford		7 (9)
						Castleford		11
						Leeds		13
	Leeds		18
	Leigh		8
											Leeds		12 (5)
											Wigan		12 (12)
	Hull Kingston Rovers		17
	Salford		14
						Hull Kingston Rovers		11
						Wigan		18
	Ace Amateurs (Hull)		9
	Wigan		33
																Leeds		7
																Halifax		15
	Warrington		9
	Halifax		16
						Halifax		5
						York		3
	Batley		5
	York		11
											Halifax		36
											Barrow		13
	Barrow		10
	Swinton		9
						Barrow		10
						Huddersfield		6
	Thames Board Mills (Warrington)		7
	Huddersfield		27
																					Halifax		22
																					Wakefield Trinity		11
	Doncaster		4
	Bramley		16
						Bramley		5
						Wakefield Trinity		10
	Widnes		10 (10)
	Wakefield Trinity		10 (12)
											Wakefield Trinity		18
											Blackpool Borough		12
	Bradford Northern		8
	Rochdale Hornets		12
						Rochdale Hornets		4
						Blackpool Borough		14
	Workington Town		0
	Blackpool Borough		10
																Wakefield Trinity		14
																St. Helens		9
	Whitehaven		5
	Oldham		0
						Whitehaven		0
						St. Helens		12
	St. Helens		37
	Featherstone Rovers		7
											St. Helens		33
											Hull F.C.		5
	Dewsbury		5 (10)
	Hull F.C.		5 (22)
						Hull F.C.		36
						Keighley		10
	Huyton		5
	Keighley		18

Player's Top Try Contest

^[2]

As part of the sponsorship deal, a Top Try Contest was held. This involved all the professional first round Players No.6 Trophy Losers.

One match was played by each club and the four clubs scoring the most tries received prize money.

This competition was not a success and was only held for this season.

This series Involved 7 matches and 14 clubs.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Home Tries	Away Tries	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 26 Nov 1971	Widnes		32-3		Huyton	Naughton Park	8	1		^[10]
2	Fri 26 Nov 1971	Salford		38-7		Warrington	The Willows	10	1		^[8]
3	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Doncaster		12-30		Dewsbury	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield	2	8
4	Sat 27 Nov 1971	Workington Town		5-9		Bradford Northern	Derwent Park	1	1
5	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Featherstone Rovers		54-0		Batley	Post Office Road	12
6	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Oldham		5-11		Leigh	Watersheddings	1	1
7	Sun 28 Nov 1971	Swinton		53-6		Batley	Station Road	13	2

The table

The club scoring the most tries finished top.

In the case of a tie, the deciding items were :-

• 1 The club scoring the most tries
• 2 The club scoring the most points
• 3 The club with the fewest points against

The table showing finishing positions and the awards were as follows :

Place	Position	Team		Number of Tries		Prize Money	Points Scored	Points Against
1	Winners	Swinton		13		500	53	6
2	Second Place	Featherstone Rovers		12		250	54	0
3	Third Place	Salford		10		150	38	7
4	Fourth Place	Widnes		8		100	32	3
5	*	Dewsbury		8			30	12
6		Doncaster		2			12	30
7		Batley		2			6	53
8		Leigh		1			11	5
9		Bradford Northern		1			9	5
10		Warrington		1			7	38
11		Workington Town		1			5	9
12		Oldham		1			5	11
13		Huyton		1			3	32
14		Batley		0			0	54

Note * Widnes took 4th place ahead of Dewsbury as they scored more points - and therefore were awarded the prize money

Notes and comments

1 * Thames Board Mills were a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington
2 * Thames Board Mills opted to play the match at Wilderspool, the home of Warrington 3 * Ace Amateurs were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
4 * Ace Amateurs were drawn at Home but agreed to switch the venue to Central Park, the home ground of Wigan
5 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington

See also

• 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1971 Lancashire Cup
• 1971 Yorkshire Cup
• Player's No.6 Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived JP R1 results".
3. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
7. J C Lindley and D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973. Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
8. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
9. "Wakefield until I die".
10. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
11. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived JP R2 results".
12. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived JP R3 results".
13. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived JP R4 results".
14. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
15. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
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.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• Huddersfield R L Heritage
• Wakefield until I die