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
Round 1 – First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Fri 14 Sep 1979Salford47–5HuddersfieldThe WillowsSat 15 Sep 1979Wakefield Trinity25–18Hull F.C.Belle VueSun 16 Sep 1979Barrow13–18St. HelensCraven Park4818Sun 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 1979Warrington25–9HuytonWilderspool2Sun 16 Sep 1979Keighley21–9Rochdale HornetsLawkholme LaneSun 16 Sep 1979Leigh16–0Hull Kingston RoversHilton ParkSun 16 Sep 1979Oldham7–31LeedsWatersheddingsSun 16 Sep 1979Pilkington Recs9–18WiganKnowsley Road67073, 4Sun 16 Sep 1979Swinton11-30Workington TownStation RoadSun 16 Sep 1979Widnes17-11HunsletNaughton Park
Round 2 – Second Round
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. 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.
Fixture dateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueAttRecNotesRefSaturday 5 January 1980Bradford Northern6–0WidnesHeadingley9909115608
Teams and scorers
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 – 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£8,5001£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
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 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