1975–76 League Cup (rugby league)
This was the fifth season for the League Cup, known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.
Widnes won the trophy by beating Hull F.C. by the score of 19-13 in the final played at Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. The attendance was 9,035 and receipts were £6275.
Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.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 26 Sep 1975 | Castleford | 26-15 | York | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 2 | Fri 26 Sep 1975 | Mayfield | 3-53 | Salford | The Willows | 3449 | 1, 2, 3 | ||||
| 3 | Sat 27 Sep 1975 | Barrow | 16-9 | Pilkington Recs | Craven Park | 612 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | Sat 27 Sep 1975 | Wigan | 30-7 | Keighley | Central Park | ||||||
| 5 | Sat 27 Sep 1975 | Workington Town | 16-9 | Bramley | Derwent Park | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Batley | 18-9 | Whitehaven | Mount Pleasant | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Blackpool Borough | 11-36 | St. Helens | Borough Park | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Bradford Northern | 12-32 | Wakefield Trinity | Odsal | ||||||
| 9 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Doncaster | 12-23 | Hull F.C. | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | ||||||
| 10 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Huddersfield | 20-12 | Warrington | Fartown | ||||||
| 11 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 33-10 | Rochdale Hornets | Craven Park | ||||||
| 12 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Huyton | 14-20 | Oldham | Alt Park, Huyton | ||||||
| 13 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Leigh | 12-5 | Featherstone Rovers | Hilton Park | ||||||
| 14 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | New Hunslet | 28-8 | Halifax | Elland Road Greyhound Stadium | 5 | |||||
| 15 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Swinton | 7-23 | Leeds | Station Road | ||||||
| 16 | Sun 28 Sep 1975 | Widnes | 27-12 | Dewsbury | Naughton Park |
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 | Fri 7 Nov 1975 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 23-8 | Leigh | Craven Park | 6 | |||||
| 2 | Sat 8 Nov 1975 | Wigan | 5-18 | Widnes | Central Park | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | Huddersfield | 14-5 | Barrow | Fartown | ||||||
| 4 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | Hull F.C. | 9-9 | Leeds | Boulevard | ||||||
| 5 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | St. Helens | 47-9 | Batley | Knowsley Road | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | Salford | 46-3 | Oldham | The Willows | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | Wakefield Trinity | 14-24 | Castleford | Belle Vue | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 9 Nov 1975 | Workington Town | 23-6 | New Hunslet | Derwent Park |
Round 2 - Second round replays
Involved 1 match and 2 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Thu 13 Nov 1975 | Leeds | 11-23 | Hull F.C. | Headingley |
Round 3 - Quarterfinals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 22 Nov 1975 | Hull F.C. | 9-8 | St. Helens | Boulevard | ||||||
| 2 | Sun 23 Nov 1975 | Huddersfield | 10-19 | Castleford | Fartown | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 23 Nov 1975 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 14-18 | Widnes | Craven Park | ||||||
| 4 | Sun 23 Nov 1975 | Salford | 16-8 | Workington Town | The Willows |
Round 4 – Semifinals
Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 29 Nov 1975 | Castleford | 9-17 | Widnes | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 13 Dec 1975 | Salford | 14-22 | Hull F.C. | The Willows |
Final
Teams and scorers
| Widnes | № | Hull |
| teams | ||
| Ray Dutton | 1 | Mike Stephenson |
| Alan Prescott | 2 | Alf Macklin |
| Derek "Mick" George | 3 | George Clark |
| Mal Aspey | 4 | Steve Portz |
| David Jenkins | 5 | Paul Hunter |
| Eric Hughes | 6 | Brian Hancock |
| Reg Bowden | 7 | Ken Foulkes |
| Jim Mills | 8 | Bill Ramsey |
| Keith Elwell | 9 | Peter Flanagan |
| John Wood | 10 | Alan Wardell |
| John Foran | 11 | Keith Boxall |
| Barry Sheridan | 12 | Malcolm Walker |
| Mick Adams | 13 | Mick Crane |
| ? Not used | 14 | ? Not used |
| ? Not used | 15 | Chris Davidson |
| Coach | - | |
| - | ||
| 19 | score | 13 |
| 8 | HT | 8 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| David Jenkins | T | Paul Hunter |
| Reg Bowden | T | Mick Crane |
| Mick Adams | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Ray Dutton | G | Keith Boxhall |
| Drop Goals | ||
| Reg Bowden | DG | |
| Referee | J. V. Moss | |
| Man of the match | Reg Bowden - Widnes - | |
| Competition Sponsor | Player's №6 |
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 | ? |
| Loser in Prelim Round | ? | ? | ? |
| Grand Total |
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.