This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.
Leeds won the trophy by beating Salford 12–7 in the final. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield. The attendance was 10,102 and receipts were £4563.
Background This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-two.
Competition and results
Round 1 - First Round Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 22 Sep 1972Hull Kingston Rovers20-10CastlefordCraven Park (1)2Sat 23 Sep 1972Batley26-3HunsletMount Pleasant3Sat 23 Sep 1972Bramley26-5Pilkington RecsMcLaren Field6161, 24Sat 23 Sep 1972Halifax20-22St. HelensThrum Hall24465Sat 23 Sep 1972Leigh10-9Workington TownHilton Park6Sat 23 Sep 1972Whitehaven11-16Featherstone RoversRecreation Ground7Sun 24 Sep 1972Barrow2-17SalfordCraven Park8Sun 24 Sep 1972Blackpool Borough9-51LeedsBorough Park39Sun 24 Sep 1972Bradford Northern32-6Rochdale HornetsOdsal10Sun 24 Sep 1972Dewsbury22-4Dewsbury CelticCrown Flatt1897411Sun 24 Sep 1972Doncaster7-22WidnesBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield12Sun 24 Sep 1972Huddersfield23-15WarringtonFartown13Sun 24 Sep 1972Hull F.C.17-10OldhamBoulevard14Sun 24 Sep 1972Swinton29-10HuytonStation Road15Sun 24 Sep 1972Wigan10-34Wakefield TrinityCentral Park516Sun 24 Sep 1972York21-13KeighleyClarence Street
Round 2 - Second Round Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 24 Nov 1972Hull F.C.9-4Wakefield TrinityBoulevard2Fri 24 Nov 1972St. Helens24-8Featherstone RoversKnowsley Road480063Fri 24 Nov 1972Salford19-3DewsburyThe Willows4Sat 25 Nov 1972Leeds21-3LeighHeadingley5Sun 26 Nov 1972Bradford Northern35-17YorkOdsal6Sun 26 Nov 1972Hull Kingston Rovers25-5BramleyCraven Park (1)7Sun 26 Nov 1972Swinton19-11HuddersfieldStation Road8Sun 26 Nov 1972Widnes21-8BatleyNaughton Park
Round 3 -Quarter Finals Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 8 Dec 1972Hull Kingston RoversASwintonCraven Park (1)72Sat 9 Dec 1972St. Helens10-3WidnesKnowsley Road3Sun 10 Dec 1972Hull F.C.18-18LeedsBoulevard84Sun 10 Dec 1972Salford39-2Bradford NorthernThe Willows9
Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays Involved 2 matches with 4 clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 13 Dec 1972Hull Kingston Rovers30-6SwintonCraven Park (1)2Tue 12 Dec 1972Leeds37-5Hull F.C.Headingley
Round 4 – Semi-Finals Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 30 Dec 1972Hull Kingston Rovers13-15SalfordCraven Park (1)2Sat 13 Jan 1973Leeds19-0St. HelensHeadingley5854
Final Game NoFixture DateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 24 March 1973Leeds12-7SalfordFartown10102456310
Teams and scorers Leeds№Salford teams John Holmes1Paul CharltonAlan Smith2Anthony "Tony" CollobySyd Hynes3David WatkinsLes Dyl4Chris HeskethJohn Atkinson5Maurice RichardsAlan Hardisty6Ken GillKeith Hepworth7Peter BannerTerry Clawson8John WardTony Fisher9Terry RamshawDavid Jeanes10Graham MackayBob Haigh11Alan GricePhil Cookson12William KirkbrideGraham Eccles13Colin DixonDavid Ward (for Terry Clawson)14xPhil Ward (for Ken Gill)xFred Pickup (for Tony Fisher)15Doug Davies (for Alan Grice)Coach 12score710HT5 Scorers Tries John Atkinson (2)TColin Dixon (1) Goals John Holmes (1)GDavid Watkins (2)Terry Clawson (2)G Referee William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)Man of the matchKeith Hepworth - Leeds - Competition SponsorPlayer'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 was as follows: Finish PositionCash prizeNo. receiving prizeTotal cashWinner£5,0001£5,000Runner-up£2,5001£2,500Semi-finalist£1,0002£2,000Loser in Rd 3£4504£1,800Loser in Rd 2£3008£2,400Loser in Rd 1£15016£2,400Grand Total£16,100
The road to success
Notes and comments 1 * Pilkington Recs are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens, home ground was City Road until they moved to Ruskin Drive from 2011 to 2012 2 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991–1992, and RUGBYLEAGUEproject give the score as 26–5 but News of the World Football Annual 1973–74 gives the score as 28–5 3 * highest score to date 4 * Dewsbury Celtic are a Junior (amateur) club from Dewsbury, home ground is Crow Nest Park 5 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives score as 10–28 but the Wigan official archives and 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873–1973 and Wakefield until I die all give the score as 10–34 6 * News of the World Football Annual 1973–74 gives score as 24–3 but both RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives give it as 24–8 7 * Abandoned after 22 Minutes due to Fog with the score at 4–2 - Result declared void 8 * NO mention on Hull official website of any replay 9 * News of the World Football Annual 1973–74 gives the score as 30–2 but both RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives give it as 39–2 10 * Fartown was the home ground of Huddersfield from 1878 to the end of the 1991–92 season to Huddersfield Town FC's Leeds Road stadium, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Fartown remained as a sports/Rugby League ground but is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby league games. Due to lack of maintenance, terrace closures and finally major storm damage closing one of the stands in 1986, the final ground capacity had been reduced to just a few thousands although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup semi-final on 19 April 1947 when a crowd of 35,136 saw Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 21–0.
See also 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season 1972 Lancashire Cup 1972 Yorkshire Cup Player's No.6 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