1978–79 John Player Trophy

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 164. 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. Due to an exceptionally inclement winter (i.e. frost, snow etc.) there were very few matches played during the months of January and February.

Competition and results

Round 1 (32 clubs) Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 22 Sep 1978Castleford18-10SwintonWheldon Road 2Fri 22 Sep 1978Salford25-7Rochdale HornetsThe Willows3Sat 23 Sep 1978Leigh Miners W.9-21HalifaxHilton Park162114Sat 23 Sep 1978St. Helens16-11LeedsKnowsley Road47005Sun 24 Sep 1978Barrow8-26Bradford NorthernCraven Park6Sun 24 Sep 1978Doncaster2-30WiganBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield13327Sun 24 Sep 1978Huddersfield10-21WidnesFartown8Sun 24 Sep 1978Hull Kingston Rovers67-11OldhamCraven Park (1)29Sun 24 Sep 1978Keighley20-4YorkLawkholme Lane10Sun 24 Sep 1978Leigh13-13HuytonHilton Park11Sun 24 Sep 1978Milford5-38DewsburyMcLaren Field3129312Sun 24 Sep 1978New Hunslet7-17Hull F.C.Elland Road Greyhound Stadium13Sun 24 Sep 1978Wakefield Trinity27-2BatleyBelle Vue14Sun 24 Sep 1978Warrington14-4Blackpool BoroughWilderspool415Sun 24 Sep 1978Whitehaven3-9Featherstone RoversRecreation Ground16Sun 24 Sep 1978Workington Town17-8BramleyDerwent Park

Round 1 replay Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Tue 26 Sep 1978Huyton8-10LeighAlt Park, Huyton

Round 2 (16 clubs) Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 2 Dec 1978Widnes11-10St. HelensNaughton Park50302Sun 3 Dec 1978Castleford20-9Workington TownWheldon Road 3Sun 3 Dec 1978Featherstone Rovers0-7WarringtonPost Office Road4Sun 3 Dec 1978Hull F.C.12-18Bradford NorthernBoulevard5Sun 3 Dec 1978Hull Kingston Rovers16-14SalfordCraven Park (1)6Sun 3 Dec 1978KeighleyPWiganLawkholme Lane57Sun 3 Dec 1978Leigh17-8DewsburyHilton Park8Sun 3 Dec 1978Wakefield Trinity15-10HalifaxBelle Vue

Round 2 replay Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 6 Dec 1978Keighley9-5WiganLawkholme Lane

Quarter final (8 clubs) Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sun 17 Dec 1978Bradford Northern16-13Wakefield TrinityOdsal2Sun 17 Dec 1978Hull Kingston Rovers23-10CastlefordCraven Park (1)3Sun 17 Dec 1978Keighley4-15WidnesLawkholme Lane4Sun 17 Dec 1978Warrington27-0LeighWilderspool

Semi-finals (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 Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 27 Jan 1979WarringtonPHull Kingston RoversWilderspool62Wed 24 Jan 1979Widnes21-3Bradford NorthernNaughton Park3Sun 1 Apr 1979Warrington9-5Hull Kingston RoversWilderspool

Grand final The final was originally scheduled to take place on 27 January 1979, but was rescheduled due to the postponement of the semi-final matches. The final took place on 28 April 1979, a week before the Challenge Cup final. Fixture DateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAttRecNotesRefSaturday 28 April 1979Widnes16–4WarringtonKnowsley Road10743117098, 9

Teams and scorers

WidnesNo.Warrington teams David Eckersley1Derek Finnegan/FinniganStuart Wright2Michael "Mike"/"Mick" KellyMal Aspey3Steve HesfordEric Hughes4Billy BenyonMick Burke5Dave SuttonDavid Moran6Ken KellyReg Bowden (c)7Parry GordonJim Mills8Roy LesterKeith Elwell9Tony WallerGlyndwr "Glyn" Shaw10Mike NicholasAlan Dearden11Brian CaseDavid Hull12Tommy MartynMick Adams13Alan Gwilliam? Not used14Eddie Hunter (for Ken Kelly)? Not used15? Not usedCoach 16score42HT2 Scorers Tries Stuart Wright (1)TDavid Hull (1)T Goals Mick Burke (3)GSteve Hesford (2) Drop Goals Keith Elwell (2)DGMick Adams (2)DG RefereeG. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)Man of the matchDavid Eckersley - Widnes - 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: Finish PositionCash prizeNo. receiving prizeTotal cashWinner£8,0001£8,000Runner-up£3,5001£3,500Semi-finalist£1,7502£3,500Loser in Rd 3£9004£3,600Loser in Rd 2£7008£5,600Loser in Rd 1£55016£8,800Grand Total£33,000

The road to success This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

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) 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 show the game as being played on 30 September but RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives 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 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season 1978 Lancashire Cup 1978 Yorkshire Cup John Player Trophy Rugby league county cups

References

External links Saints Heritage Society 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com 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