1976–77 Player's No.6 Trophy

The 1976–77 Player's No.6 Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the sixth season that the competition was staged, which was once again known as the Player's No.6 Trophy because of its sponsorship.

1976–77 Player's No.6 Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Castleford
Runners-up	Blackpool Borough
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Castleford won the final, beating Second Division side Blackpool Borough by the score of 25–15. The match was played at The Willows, Salford. The attendance was 4,512 and receipts were £2,919.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-two. For the second season there were no drawn matches in the competition.^[1][2][3]

Competition and results

Round 1 - First Round

^[4] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 23 Oct 1976	Hull F.C.		18-5		Warrington	Boulevard				[5][6]
2	Sat 23 Oct 1976	Leeds		34-10		Rochdale Hornets	Headingley
3	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Blackpool Borough		16-15		Barrow	Borough Park
4	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Bradford Northern		23-18		Huddersfield	Odsal
5	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Bramley		33-5		Dewsbury	McLaren Field
6	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Featherstone Rovers		43-13		Whitehaven	Post Office Road
7	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Ovenden		4-24		Halifax	Thrum Hall	3680		1, 2
8	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Hull Kingston Rovers		7-12		St. Helens	Craven Park (1)	5984			[7]
9	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Huyton		6-8		York	Alt Park, Huyton
10	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Leigh		29-7		Swinton	Hilton Park
11	Sun 24 Oct 1976	New Hunslet		10-24		Castleford	Elland Road Greyhound Stadium
12	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Oldham		17-9		Batley	Watersheddings
13	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Ace Caravans		15-39		Salford	The Willows	3037		3, 4, 5
14	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Wakefield Trinity		8-10		Widnes	Belle Vue				[8][9]
15	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Wigan		33-0		Keighley	Central Park				[3]
16	Sun 24 Oct 1976	Workington Town		45-15		Doncaster	Derwent Park

Round 2 - Second Round

^[10] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 6 Nov 1976	Leeds		18-17		Salford	Headingley
2	Sat 6 Nov 1976	St. Helens		18-22		Castleford	Knowsley Road	2691			[7]
3	Sun 7 Nov 1976	Blackpool Borough		7-3		Halifax	Borough Park
4	Sun 7 Nov 1976	Hull F.C.		19-5		Bradford Northern	Boulevard				[5]
5	Sun 7 Nov 1976	Oldham		13-28		Leigh	Watersheddings			6
6	Sun 7 Nov 1976	Widnes		10-0		Featherstone Rovers	Naughton Park				[9]
7	Sun 7 Nov 1976	Workington Town		17-13		Bramley	Derwent Park
8	Sun 7 Nov 1976	York		8-7		Wigan	Clarence Street	6503		7	[3]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

^[10] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 20 Dec 1976	Leeds		14-20		Castleford	Headingley
2	Sun 21 Dec 1976	Leigh		17-12		Hull F.C.	Hilton Park				[5]
3	Sun 21 Dec 1976	Widnes		13-10		York	Naughton Park				[9]
4	Sun 21 Dec 1976	Workington Town		5-11		Blackpool Borough	Derwent Park

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

^[10] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 27 Dec 1976	Castleford		15-10		Widnes	Wheldon Road			8	[9]
2	Sat 11 Dec 1976	Blackpool Borough		15-5		Leigh	Borough Park			8

Final

22 January 1977

Castleford	25 – 15	Blackpool Borough
Tries: Burton, Johnson, Joyner, Stephens, Wraith Goals: Lloyd (5)		Tries: Machen, Allen, Egan Goals: Egan (3)

The Willows, Salford Attendance: 4,512 Referee: Mick Naughton (Widnes) Player of the Match: Gary Stephens and Howard Allen (awarded jointly)[11]

Teams and scorers

^[12][13]

Castleford	No.	Blackpool Borough
	teams
Geoffrey Wraith	1	Doug Reynolds
Steve Fenton	2	Doug Robinson
John Joyner	3	John Heritage
Philip Johnson	4	Paul Machen
Trevor Briggs	5	Phil Pitman
Bruce Burton	6	Ged Marsh
Gary Stephens	7	Jackie Newall
Paul Kahn	8	Jimmy Hamilton
Robert Spurr	9	Howard Allen
Alan Dickinson	10	Joe Egan
Mal Reilly	11	Paul Gamble
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd	12	Ken Groves
Steve 'Knocker' Norton	13	Malcolm Pattinson
? Not used	14	Cliff Lamb (for Phil Pitman)
? Not used	15	Phil Hurst (for Ken Groves)
	Coach	Jim Crellin

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	£6,000	1	£6,000
Runner-up	£3,000	1	£3,000
Semi-finalist	£1,500	2	£3,000
Loser in Rd 3	£700	4	£2,800
Loser in Rd 2	£550	8	£4,400
Loser in Rd 1	£400	16	£6,400
Grand Total			£25,600

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semifinals					Final
	Leeds		34
	Rochdale Hornets		10
						Leeds		18
						Salford		17
	Ace Caravans		15
	Salford		39
											Leeds		14
											Castleford		20
	Hull Kingston Rovers		7
	St. Helens		12
						St. Helens		18
						Castleford		22
	New Hunslet		10
	Castleford		24
																Castleford		15
																Widnes		10
	Wakefield Trinity		8
	Widnes		10
						Widnes		10
						Featherstone Rovers		0
	Featherstone Rovers		43
	Whitehaven		13
											Widnes		13
											York		10
	Huyton		6
	York		8
						York		8
						Wigan		7
	Wigan		33
	Keighley		0
																					Castleford		25
																					Blackpool Borough		15
	Workington Town		45
	Doncaster		15
						Workington Town		17
						Bramley		13
	Bramley		22
	Dewsbury		5
											Workington Town		5
											Blackpool Borough		11
	Blackpool Borough		16
	Barrow		15
						Blackpool Borough		7
						Halifax		3
	Ovenden		4
	Halifax		24
																Blackpool Borough		15
																Leigh		5
	Oldham		17
	Batley		9
						Oldham		13
						Leigh		28
	Leigh		29
	Swinton		7
											Leigh		17
											Hull F.C.		12
	Hull F.C.		18
	Warrington		5
						Hull F.C.		19
						Bradford Northern		5
	Bradford Northern		23
	Huddersfield		18

Notes

1 * Ovenden are a Junior (amateur) club from Halifax
2 * Ovenden were drawn at home but chose to give away home advantage
3 * Ace Caravans were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
4 * Ace Caravans were drawn at home but chose to give away home advantage
5 * The Rothmans Yearbooks 1990-91^[12] and 1991-92^[13] gave the attendance as 3,037 but The News of the World/Empire News annual 1977–78^[2] gave it as 3,680
6 * The News of the World/Empire News annual 1977–78^[2] gives the score as 13-25 but other sources including RUGBYLEAGUEprojects,^[1] Wigan official archives^[3] give the score as 13-28
7 * Wigan's centre (No. 4) Bill Francis & York's second-row (No. 11) Gary Hetherington were both sent off for fighting in the 78th Minute
8 * Wigan official website^[10] states incorrectly that the match date was Saturday 27 November
9 * The Willows was the home ground of Salford with a final capacity of 11,363 which included 2,500 seats. The record attendance was 26,470 on the 13 February 1937 in the Challenge Cup first round match vs Warr

See also

• 1976–77 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1976 Lancashire Cup
• 1976 Yorkshire Cup
• Player's No.6 Trophy
• Rugby league county cups