1972–73 Player's No.6 Trophy

This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1972–73 Player's No.6 Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Leeds
Runners-up	Salford
← 1971–72 1973–74 →

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

^[1][2][3]

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 22 Sep 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		20-10		Castleford	Craven Park (1)
2	Sat 23 Sep 1972	Batley		26-3		Hunslet	Mount Pleasant
3	Sat 23 Sep 1972	Bramley		26-5		Pilkington Recs	McLaren Field	616		1, 2
4	Sat 23 Sep 1972	Halifax		20-22		St. Helens	Thrum Hall	2446			[4]
5	Sat 23 Sep 1972	Leigh		10-9		Workington Town	Hilton Park
6	Sat 23 Sep 1972	Whitehaven		11-16		Featherstone Rovers	Recreation Ground
7	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Barrow		2-17		Salford	Craven Park
8	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Blackpool Borough		9-51		Leeds	Borough Park			3
9	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Bradford Northern		32-6		Rochdale Hornets	Odsal
10	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Dewsbury		22-4		Dewsbury Celtic	Crown Flatt	1897		4
11	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Doncaster		7-22		Widnes	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield				[5]
12	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Huddersfield		23-15		Warrington	Fartown				[6][7]
13	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Hull F.C.		17-10		Oldham	Boulevard				[8]
14	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Swinton		29-10		Huyton	Station Road
15	Sun 24 Sep 1972	Wigan		10-34		Wakefield Trinity	Central Park			5	[9][10][11]
16	Sun 24 Sep 1972	York		21-13		Keighley	Clarence Street

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 24 Nov 1972	Hull F.C.		9-4		Wakefield Trinity	Boulevard				[8][9][10]
2	Fri 24 Nov 1972	St. Helens		24-8		Featherstone Rovers	Knowsley Road	4800		6	[4]
3	Fri 24 Nov 1972	Salford		19-3		Dewsbury	The Willows
4	Sat 25 Nov 1972	Leeds		21-3		Leigh	Headingley
5	Sun 26 Nov 1972	Bradford Northern		35-17		York	Odsal
6	Sun 26 Nov 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		25-5		Bramley	Craven Park (1)
7	Sun 26 Nov 1972	Swinton		19-11		Huddersfield	Station Road				[6]
8	Sun 26 Nov 1972	Widnes		21-8		Batley	Naughton Park				[5]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 8 Dec 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		A		Swinton	Craven Park (1)			7
2	Sat 9 Dec 1972	St. Helens		10-3		Widnes	Knowsley Road				[4][5]
3	Sun 10 Dec 1972	Hull F.C.		18-18		Leeds	Boulevard			8	[8]
4	Sun 10 Dec 1972	Salford		39-2		Bradford Northern	The Willows			9

Round 3 -Quarter Finals - Replays

Involved 2 matches with 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 13 Dec 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		30-6		Swinton	Craven Park (1)
2	Tue 12 Dec 1972	Leeds		37-5		Hull F.C.	Headingley

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 30 Dec 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		13-15		Salford	Craven Park (1)
2	Sat 13 Jan 1973	Leeds		19-0		St. Helens	Headingley	5854			[4]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 24 March 1973	Leeds		12-7		Salford	Fartown	10102	4563	10	[12][13]

Teams and scorers

Leeds	№	Salford
	teams
John Holmes	1	Paul Charlton
Alan Smith	2	Anthony "Tony" Colloby
Syd Hynes	3	David Watkins
Les Dyl	4	Chris Hesketh
John Atkinson	5	Maurice Richards
Alan Hardisty	6	Ken Gill
Keith Hepworth	7	Peter Banner
Terry Clawson	8	John Ward
Tony Fisher	9	Terry Ramshaw
David Jeanes	10	Graham Mackay
Bob Haigh	11	Alan Grice
Phil Cookson	12	William Kirkbride
Graham Eccles	13	Colin Dixon
David Ward (for Terry Clawson)	14	xPhil Ward (for Ken Gill)
xFred Pickup (for Tony Fisher)	15	Doug Davies (for Alan Grice)
	Coach
12	score	7
10	HT	5
	Scorers
	Tries
John Atkinson (2)	T	Colin Dixon (1)
	Goals
John Holmes (1)	G	David Watkins (2)
Terry Clawson (2)	G
Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match		Keith Hepworth - Leeds - scrum-half
Competition Sponsor		Player's №6

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

^[12][13]

Prize money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season was as follows:^[14]

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	£5,000	1	£5,000
Runner-up	£2,500	1	£2,500
Semi-finalist	£1,000	2	£2,000
Loser in Rd 3	£450	4	£1,800
Loser in Rd 2	£300	8	£2,400
Loser in Rd 1	£150	16	£2,400
Grand Total			£16,100

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semifinals					Final
	Hull F.C.		17
	Oldham		10
						Hull F.C.		9
						Wakefield Trinity		4
	Wigan		10
	Wakefield Trinity		34
											Hull F.C.		18 (5)
											Leeds		18 (37)
	Blackpool Borough		9
	Leeds		51
						Leeds		21
						Leigh		3
	Leigh		10
	Workington Town		9
																Leeds		19
																St. Helens		0
	Halifax		20
	St. Helens		22
						St. Helens		24
						Featherstone Rovers		8
	Whitehaven		11
	Featherstone Rovers		16
											St. Helens		10
											Widnes		3
	Doncaster		7
	Widnes		22
						Widnes		21
						Batley		8
	Batley		26
	Hunslet		3
																					Leeds		12
																					Salford		7
	Hull Kingston Rovers		20
	Castleford		10
						Hull Kingston Rovers		25
						Bramley		5
	Bramley		26
	Pilkington Recs		5
											Hull Kingston Rovers		30
											Swinton		6
	Swinton		29
	Huyton		10
						Swinton		19
						Huddersfield		11
	Huddersfield		23
	Warrington		15
																Hull Kingston Rovers		13
																Salford		15
	Barrow		2
	Salford		17
						Salford		19
						Dewsbury		3
	Dewsbury		22
	Dewsbury Celtic		4
											Salford		39
											Bradford Northern		2
	Bradford Northern		32
	Rochdale Hornets		6
						Bradford Northern		35
						York		17
	York		21
	Keighley		13

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 ^[12][13]
2 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991,^[12] Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991–1992,^[13] and RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] give the score as 26–5 but News of the World Football Annual 1973–74^[2] 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^[1] gives score as 10–28 but the Wigan official archives^[3] and 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873–1973^[9] and Wakefield until I die^[10] all give the score as 10–34
6 * News of the World Football Annual 1973–74^[2] gives score as 24–3 but both RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] and Wigan official archives^[3] give it as 24–8
7 * Abandoned after 22 Minutes due to Fog with the score at 4–2 - Result declared void^[3]
8 * NO mention on Hull official website^[8] of any replay
9 * News of the World Football Annual 1973–74^[2] gives the score as 30–2 but both RUGBYLEAGUEproject^[1] and Wigan official archives^[3] 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