1979–80 League Cup (rugby league)
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 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, the John Player Trophy, the John Player Special Trophy, 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
Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| Fri 14 Sep 1979 | Salford | 47-5 | Huddersfield | The Willows | - | ||||||
| Sat 15 Sep 1979 | Wakefield Trinity | 25-18 | Hull F.C. | Belle Vue | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Barrow | 13-18 | St. Helens | Craven Park | 4818 | - | |||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Batley | 2-12 | York | Mount Pleasant | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Blackpool Borough | 6-3 | West Hull | Borough Park | 555 | 1 | - | ||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Bramley | 43-15 | Whitehaven | McLaren Field | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Castleford | 15-12 | Dewsbury | Wheldon Road | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Doncaster | 0-48 | Bradford Northern | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Featherstone Rovers | 17-7 | Halifax | Post Office Road | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Warrington | 25-9 | Huyton | Wilderspool | 2 | - | |||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Keighley | 21-9 | Rochdale Hornets | Lawkholme Lane | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Leigh | 16-0 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hilton Park | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Oldham | 7-31 | Leeds | Watersheddings | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Pilkington Recs | 9-18 | Wigan | Knowsley Road | 6707 | 3, 4 | - | ||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Swinton | 11-30 | Workington Town | Station Road | - | ||||||
| Sun 16 Sep 1979 | Widnes | 17-11 | Hunslet | 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 | ||
| Sat 29 Sep 1979 | Castleford | 24-10 | Wigan | Wheldon Road | 5 | - | |||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Keighley | 9-15 | Bradford Northern | Lawkholme Lane | - | ||||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Leeds | 7-14 | Leigh | Headingley | - | ||||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Salford | 23-9 | Bramley | The Willows | - | ||||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Wakefield Trinity | 21-12 | Featherstone Rovers | Belle Vue | - | ||||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Warrington | 20-15 | York | Wilderspool | - | ||||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Widnes | 31-20 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 9296 | - | |||||
| Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Workington Town | 43-7 | Blackpool Borough | Derwent Park | - |
Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| Sat 20 Oct 1979 | Warrington | 6-14 | Widnes | Wilderspool | 6 | - | |||||
| Sun 21 Oct 1979 | Bradford Northern | 25-11 | Leigh | Odsal | - | ||||||
| Sun 21 Oct 1979 | Castleford | 6-13 | Salford | Wheldon Road | - | ||||||
| Sun 21 Oct 1979 | Wakefield Trinity | 26-5 | Workington Town | Belle Vue | - |
Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| Sat 3 Nov 1979 | Widnes | 19-3 | Salford | Wilderspool | 6567 | 7 | - | ||||
| Sat 17 Nov 1979 | Bradford Northern | 16-3 | Wakefield Trinity | Headingley | 8233 | - |
Final
Teams and Scorers
| Bradford Northern | № | Widnes |
| teams | ||
| Keith Mumby | 1 | David Eckersley |
| "Dave" Barends | 2 | Stuart Wright |
| David Redfearn | 3 | Mal Aspey |
| Derek Parker rugby league | 4 | Derek "Mick" George |
| Les Gant | 5 | Mick Burke |
| Nigel Stephenson | 6 | Eric Hughes |
| Alan Redfearn | 7 | Reg Bowden |
| James "Jimmy" Thompson | 8 | Brian Hogan |
| "Keith" Bridges | 9 | Keith Elwell |
| Colin Forsyth | 10 | Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw |
| Jeff Grayshon | 11 | Les Gorley |
| Gary Van Bellen | 12 | David Hull |
| Len Casey | 13 | Mick Adams |
| Steve Ferres | 14 | ? Not used |
| Ian Van Bellen | 15 | Jim Mills |
| Coach | - | |
| - | ||
| 6 | score | 0 |
| 5 | HT | 0 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| D. Parker | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Keith Mumby | G | |
| Drop Goals | ||
| Nigel Stephenson | DG | |
| Referee | William "Billy" H. Thompson | |
| Man of the match | Len Casey - Bradford Northern - | |
| 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 ?