1978–79 John Player Trophy
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams32
WinnersWidnes
Runners-upWarrington

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 (i.e. frost, snow etc.) winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February

Competition and results

[1][2]

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Fri 22 Sep 1978Castleford18-10SwintonWheldon Road
2Fri 22 Sep 1978Salford25-7Rochdale HornetsThe Willows
3Sat 23 Sep 1978Leigh Miners W.9-21HalifaxHilton Park16211
4Sat 23 Sep 1978St. Helens16-11LeedsKnowsley Road4700[3]
5Sun 24 Sep 1978Barrow8-26Bradford NorthernCraven Park
6Sun 24 Sep 1978Doncaster2-30WiganBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield1332[4]
7Sun 24 Sep 1978Huddersfield10-21WidnesFartown[5][6]
8Sun 24 Sep 1978Hull Kingston Rovers67-11OldhamCraven Park (1)2
9Sun 24 Sep 1978Keighley20-4YorkLawkholme Lane
10Sun 24 Sep 1978Leigh13-13HuytonHilton Park
11Sun 24 Sep 1978Milford5-38DewsburyMcLaren Field31293
12Sun 24 Sep 1978New Hunslet7-17Hull F.C.Elland Road Greyhound Stadium[7]
13Sun 24 Sep 1978Wakefield Trinity27-2BatleyBelle Vue[8]
14Sun 24 Sep 1978Warrington14-4Blackpool BoroughWilderspool4[9]
15Sun 24 Sep 1978Whitehaven3-9Featherstone RoversRecreation Ground
16Sun 24 Sep 1978Workington Town17-8BramleyDerwent Park

[10]

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
1Tue 26 Sep 1978Huyton8-10LeighAlt 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
1Sat 2 Dec 1978Widnes11-10St. HelensNaughton Park5030[3][6]
2Sun 3 Dec 1978Castleford20-9Workington TownWheldon Road
3Sun 3 Dec 1978Featherstone Rovers0-7WarringtonPost Office Road[9]
4Sun 3 Dec 1978Hull F.C.12-18Bradford NorthernBoulevard[7]
5Sun 3 Dec 1978Hull Kingston Rovers16-14SalfordCraven Park (1)
6Sun 3 Dec 1978KeighleyPWiganLawkholme Lane5[2]
7Sun 3 Dec 1978Leigh17-8DewsburyHilton Park
8Sun 3 Dec 1978Wakefield Trinity15-10HalifaxBelle Vue[8]

[11]

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
1Wed 6 Dec 1978Keighley9-5WiganLawkholme Lane[2]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sun 17 Dec 1978Bradford Northern16-13Wakefield TrinityOdsal[8]
2Sun 17 Dec 1978Hull Kingston Rovers23-10CastlefordCraven Park (1)
3Sun 17 Dec 1978Keighley4-15WidnesLawkholme Lane[6]
4Sun 17 Dec 1978Warrington27-0LeighWilderspool[9]

[11]

Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs
Bad weather - Due to an exceptionally inclement (i.e. frost, snow etc.) winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February[2][8]

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 27 Jan 1979WarringtonPHull Kingston RoversWilderspool6[11]
2Wed 24 Jan 1979Widnes21-3Bradford NorthernNaughton Park[6]
3Sun 1 Apr 1979Warrington9-5Hull Kingston RoversWilderspool[9]

Final

The final was originally scheduled to take place on 27 January 1979, but was re-scheduled due to the postponement of the semi-final matches. The final took place on 28 April 1979, a week before the Challenge Cup final.[12]

Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 28 April 1979Widnes16–4WarringtonKnowsley Road10743117098, 9[6][9][13][14]

Teams and scorers

[13][14]

Widnes № Warrington
teams
David Eckersley1Derek Finnegan/Finnigan
Stuart Wright2Michael "Mike"/"Mick" Kelly
Mal Aspey3Steve Hesford
Eric Hughes4Billy Benyon
Mick Burke5Dave Sutton
David Moran6Ken Kelly
Reg Bowden (c)7Parry Gordon
Jim Mills8Roy Lester
Keith Elwell9Tony Waller
Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw10Mike Nicholas
Alan Dearden11Brian Case
David Hull12Tommy Martyn
Mick Adams13Alan Gwilliam
? Not used14Eddie Hunter (for Ken Kelly)
? Not used15? Not used
Coach
16score4
2HT2
Scorers
Tries
Stuart Wright (1)T
David Hull (1)T
Goals
Mick Burke (3)GSteve Hesford (2)
Drop Goals
Keith Elwell (2)DG
Mick Adams (2)DG
RefereeG. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)
Man of the matchDavid Eckersley - Widnes - Fullback
Competition SponsorJohn 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 was as follows:[15]

Finish Position Cash Prize No. receiving prize Total Cash
Winner£8,0001£8,000
Runner-up£3,5001£3,500
Semi-finalist£1,7502£3,500
Loser in Rd 3£9004£3,600
Loser in Rd 2£7008£5,600
Loser in Rd 1£55016£8,800
Grand Total£33,000

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round Second round Third round Semifinals Final
               
Keighley 20
York 4
Keighley 9
Wigan 5
Doncaster 2
Wigan 30
Keighley 4
Widnes 15
Huddersfield 10
Widnes 21
Widnes 11
St. Helens 10
St. Helens 16
Leeds 11
Widnes 21
Bradford Northern 3
New Hunslet 7
Hull F.C. 17
Hull F.C. 12
Bradford Northern 18
Barrow 8
Bradford Northern 26
Bradford Northern 16
Wakefield Trinity 13
Wakefield Trinity 27
Batley 2
Wakefield Trinity 15
Halifax 10
Leigh Miners W. 9
Halifax 21
Widnes 16
Warrington 4
Whitehaven 3
Featherstone Rovers 9
Featherstone Rovers 0
Warrington 7
Warrington 14
Blackpool Borough 4
Warrington 27
Leigh 0
Leigh 13 (10)
Huyton 13 (8)
Leigh 17
Dewsbury 8
Milford 5
Dewsbury 38
Warrington 9
Hull Kingston Rovers 5
Hull Kingston Rovers 67
Oldham 11
Hull Kingston Rovers 16
Salford 14
Salford 26
Rochdale Hornets 7
Hull Kingston Rovers 23
Castleford 10
Castleford 18
Swinton 10
Castleford 20
Workington Town 9
Workington Town 17
Bramley 8

Notes and comments

1 * Leigh Miners' Welfare are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh (formed by merger of Astley & Tyldesley and Hope Rangers - and now renamed as Leigh Miners Rangers) [16]
2 * new record score between professional clubs in the competition - at the time, beating the previous record of 9-51 set when Blackpool Borough lost at home to Leeds by 9-51 in season 1972–73
3 * Milford are a Junior (amateur) club from Leeds
4 * Warrington official archives[9] show the game as being played on 30 September but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] and Wigan official archives[10] shows it as played on 24 September
5 * Postponed due to frozen pitch
6 * Postponed due to frozen pitch - was due to be televised by BBC
7 * Postponed due to the postponement of the Semi Final ties caused by frost and other extremely inclement weather.
8 * The Final had been due to be played on Saturday 27 January but was put back due to backlog of semi-finl ties caused by enforced postponement due to extreme inclement weather
9 * 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.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Rugby League Project".
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
  3. 1 2 "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  4. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  5. ↑ "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review".
  7. 1 2 "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Wakefield until I die".
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
  10. 1 2 "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Round 1 archived results".
  11. 1 2 3 "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player round 2 onwards archived results".
  12. ↑ "Sport In Brief". The Guardian. London. 16 January 1979. p. 13. ProQuest 186085378.
  13. 1 2 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  14. 1 2 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  15. ↑ Fletcher, Raymond; Howes, David, eds. (1992). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-7472-7906-8.
  16. ↑ "Leigh Miners Rangers". Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
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