1979–80 John Player Trophy

1979–80 John Player Trophy National knockout championship Bradford Northern Winners Widnes 1978–79 John Player Trophy 1978–79 1980–81 John Player Trophy 1980–81 32 This was the ninth season for the League Cup, known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons. Bradford Northern won the trophy, beating Widnes 6–0 in the final. The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. The attendance was 9,909 and receipts were £11560. Background 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 (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) 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 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. The 1979–80 season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen. There were no drawn matches in the competition. Competition and results Rugby League Project http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/competitions/regal-trophy/results.htmlWigan "Cherry and White" archived results http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3199 2014-07-12 2014-02-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20140221234707/http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3199 dead Round 1 – First Round Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 1 archived results http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3286 Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Fri 14 Sep 1979Salford47–5HuddersfieldThe WillowsHuddersfield Rugby League Heritage http://www.huddersfieldrlheritage.co.uk/Documents/Club/Players'%20Records/Huddersfield%201979-80.pdfSat 15 Sep 1979Wakefield Trinity25–18Hull F.C.Belle VueWakefield until I die http://www.wakefieldtrinity-programmes.co.uk/page_2654162.htmlHULL&PROUD – Stats – Fixtures & Results http://www.hullfc.com/first-team/matches/1979Sun 16 Sep 1979Barrow13–18St. HelensCraven Park4818Saints Heritage Society – History – Season 1896–97 http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 2014-07-12 2012-03-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20120302024842/http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 deadSun 16 Sep 1979Batley2–12YorkMount PleasantSun 16 Sep 1979Blackpool Borough6–3West HullBorough Park5551Sun 16 Sep 1979Bramley43–15WhitehavenMcLaren FieldSun 16 Sep 1979Castleford15–12DewsburyWheldon Road Sun 16 Sep 1979Doncaster0–48Bradford NorthernBentley Road Stadium/TattersfieldSun 16 Sep 1979Featherstone Rovers17–7HalifaxPost Office RoadSun 16 Sep 1979Warrington25–9HuytonWilderspool2Warrington Wolves – Results Archive – 1897 http://warringtonwolves.com/results-archiveSun 16 Sep 1979Keighley21–9Rochdale HornetsLawkholme LaneSun 16 Sep 1979Leigh16–0Hull Kingston RoversHilton ParkSun 16 Sep 1979Oldham7–31LeedsWatersheddingsSun 16 Sep 1979Pilkington Recs9–18WiganKnowsley Road67073, 4Raymond Fletcher and David Howes Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991 1990 Queen Anne Press 0 35617851 XRaymond Fletcher and David Howes Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992 1991 Queen Anne Press 0 35617852 8Sun 16 Sep 1979Swinton11-30Workington TownStation RoadSun 16 Sep 1979Widnes17-11HunsletNaughton ParkWidnes Vikings – History – Season In Review – 1979–80 http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/seasonreview.php?mid=1979&smid=1979-80&mids=1979 Round 2 – Second Round Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Rd 2 onward archived results http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=2308 Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Sat 29 Sep 1979Castleford24–10WiganWheldon Road 5Sun 30 Sep 1979Keighley9–15Bradford NorthernLawkholme LaneSun 30 Sep 1979Leeds7–14LeighHeadingleySun 30 Sep 1979Salford23–9BramleyThe WillowsSun 30 Sep 1979Wakefield Trinity21–12Featherstone RoversBelle VueSun 30 Sep 1979Warrington20–15YorkWilderspoolSun 30 Sep 1979Widnes31–20St. HelensNaughton Park9296Sun 30 Sep 1979Workington Town43–7Blackpool BoroughDerwent Park Round 3 -Quarter-finals Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Sat 20 Oct 1979Warrington6–14WidnesWilderspool6Sun 21 Oct 1979Bradford Northern25–11LeighOdsalSun 21 Oct 1979Castleford6–13SalfordWheldon Road Sun 21 Oct 1979Wakefield Trinity26–5Workington TownBelle Vue Round 4 – Semi-finals Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Sat 3 Nov 1979Widnes19–3SalfordWilderspool65677Sat 17 Nov 1979Bradford Northern16–3Wakefield TrinityHeadingley8233 Final The final was originally scheduled to take place on 1 December 1979, but was postponed because of a BBC TV dispute.Kennedy Edward John Player final off The Guardian 30 November 1979 London 24 186110695 The game was rescheduled, but due to a frozen pitch at the original venue, Station Road, Swinton, the fixture was moved to Headingley in Leeds.O'Loughlin goes to Workington The Guardian 3 January 1980 London 18 186114105 Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAttRecNotesRefSaturday 5 January 1980Bradford Northern6–0WidnesHeadingley9909115608 Teams and scorers Widnes Stat Attack archived results http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/fullmatch.php?fullid=3014 Bradford NorthernNo.Widnes teams Keith Mumby1David Eckersley"Dave" Barends2Stuart WrightDavid Redfearn3Mal AspeyDerek Parker4Mick GeorgeLes Gant5Mick BurkeNigel Stephenson6Eric HughesAlan Redfearn7Reg BowdenJames "Jimmy" Thompson8Brian Hogan"Keith" Bridges9Keith ElwellColin Forsyth10Glyndwr "Glyn" ShawJeff Grayshon11Les GorleyGary Van Bellen12David HullLen Casey13Mick AdamsSteve Ferres (for Gary Van Bellen)14? Not usedIan Van Bellen (for Colin Forsyth)15Jim Mills (for Brian Hogan)Coach 6score05HT0 Scorers Tries D. Parker (1)T Goals Keith Mumby (1)G Drop Goals Nigel Stephenson (1)DG RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)Man of the matchLen Casey – Bradford Northern – lfCompetition 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:Fletcher Raymond Howes David Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93 1992 Headline Publishing Group London 978-0-7472-7906-8 396 Finish PositionCash prizeNo. receiving prizeTotal cashWinner£8,5001£8,500Runner-up£4,0001£4,000Semi-finalist£2,0002£4,000Loser in Rd 3£1,0004£4,000Loser in Rd 2£8008£6,400Loser in Rd 1£60016£9,600Grand Total£36,500 The road to success This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures First round Second round Third round Semi-finals Final Keighley 21 Rochdale Hornets 9 Doncaster 0 Bradford Northern 48 Oldham 7 Leeds 31 Leigh 16 Hull Kingston Rovers 0 Wakefield Trinity 25 Hull F.C. 18 Featherstone Rovers 17 Halifax 7 Swinton 11 Workington Town 30 Blackpool Borough 6 West Hull 3 Warrington 25 Huyton 9 Batley 2 York 12 Widnes 17 Hunslet 11 Barrow 13 St. Helens 18 Castleford 15 Dewsbury 12 Pilkington Recs 9 Wigan 18 Salford 47 Huddersfield 5 Bramley 43 Whitehaven 15 Keighley 9 Bradford Northern 15 Leeds 7 Leigh 14 Wakefield Trinity 21 Featherstone Rovers 12 Workington Town 43 Blackpool Borough 7 Warrington 21 York 15 Widnes 31 St. Helens 20 Castleford 24 Wigan 10 Salford 23 Bramley 9 Bradford Northern 25 Leigh 11 Wakefield Trinity 26 Workington Town 5 Warrington 6 Widnes 14 Castleford 6 Salford 13 Bradford Northern 16 Wakefield Trinity 3 Widnes 19 Salford 3 Bradford Northern 6 Widnes 0 Notes and comments 1 * West Hull are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull 2 * Warrington official website and Wigan official archives shows the match played at Wilderspool but RUGBYLEAGUEproject shows Huyton at home 3 * Pilkington Recs are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens, home ground was City Road until they moved to Ruskin Drive from 2011–12 4 * Wigan official archives give the attendance as 6,500 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives it as 6,707 5 * Wigan official archives gives the score as 21–10, but RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives it as 24–10 6 * Warrington official website shows the match played on 2 October but RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives show it played on 20 October 7 * Wigan official archives show Salford at home, but RUGBYLEAGUEproject show Widnes at home 8 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947. See also 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season 1979 Lancashire Cup 1979 Yorkshire Cup John Player Trophy Rugby league county cups References External links Saints Heritage Society https://web.archive.org/web/20120302024842/http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=9 2012-03-02 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com https://web.archive.org/web/20140202123900/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=319 2014-02-02 Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897 Widnes Vikings – One team, one passion Season In Review – 1896–97 The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org Huddersfield R L Heritage Wakefield until I die Category:1980 in English rugby league Category:1979 in English rugby league Category:Regal Trophy