1977–78 Player's No.6 Trophy

This was the seventh season for the competition, from this season the League Cup was known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1977–78 Player's No.6 Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Warrington
Runners-up	Widnes
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

Warrington won the trophy, beating Widnes in the final by the score of 9-4. The match was played at Knowsley Road, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,258 and receipts were £8429.

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
This was the second successive season in which there were no drawn matches. The title of the competition was changed from the previous "Players No 6 Trophy" to the "John Player Trophy".

Competition and results

^[1][2][3]

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	Fri 21 Oct 1977	(NDLB) National Dock Labour Board		4-18		New Hunslet	???	3845		1, 2
2	Fri 21 Oct 1977	Salford		27-8		Rochdale Hornets	The Willows
3	Sat 22 Oct 1977	Leeds		22-25		Wigan	Headingley				[4]
4	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Featherstone Rovers		25-24		Hull Kingston Rovers	Post Office Road
5	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Keighley		18-16		Hull F.C.	Lawkholme Lane				[5]
6	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Leigh		31-15		Doncaster	Hilton Park
7	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Wakefield Trinity		24-5		Batley	Belle Vue			3	[6]
8	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Blackpool Borough		10-31		Warrington	Borough Park				[7]
9	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Bradford Northern		19-12		Bramley	Odsal
10	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Dewsbury		0-13		Castleford	Crown Flatt
11	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Halifax		8-9		Cawoods	Thrum Hall	1168		4, 5
12	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Huddersfield		33-13		Whitehaven	Fartown				[8]
13	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Oldham		16-8		Barrow	Watersheddings
14	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Swinton		11-28		St. Helens	Station Road	3000			[9]
15	Sun 23 Oct 1977	Widnes		22-6		Huyton	Naughton Park			6	[10]
16	Sun 23 Oct 1977	York		12-20		Workington Town	Clarence Street

Round 2 - Second Round

^[11] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 5 Nov 1977	Widnes		26-19		Castleford	Naughton Park				[10]
2	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Bradford Northern		22-18		Workington Town	Odsal
3	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Featherstone Rovers		17-10		St. Helens	Post Office Road	5481			[9]
4	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Huddersfield		21-11		Oldham	Fartown				[8]
5	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Keighley		5-14		Leigh	Lawkholme Lane
6	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity		31-7		Cawoods	Belle Vue			4	[6]
7	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Warrington		19-10		Salford	Wilderspool				[7]
8	Sun 6 Nov 1977	Wigan		9-7		New Hunslet	Central Park	5447			[11]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

^[12] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 19 Nov 1977	Huddersfield		0-11		Bradford Northern	Fartown				[8]
2	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Featherstone Rovers		11-14		Warrington	Post Office Road				[7]
3	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity		12-9		Leigh	Belle Vue				[6]
4	Sun 20 Nov 1977	Widnes		25-0		Wigan	Naughton Park				[10][12]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

^[12] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 26 Nov 1977	Wakefield Trinity		5-15		Warrington	Belle Vue			7	[6][7]
2	Sat 3 Dec 1977	Widnes		14-10		Bradford Northern	Naughton Park				[10]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 28 January 1978	Warrington		9-4		Widnes	Knowsley Road	10258	8429	8	[7][10][13][14]

Teams and scorers

^[13][14][15]

Warrington	№	Widnes
	teams
Derek Finnegan/Derek Finnigan	1	David Eckersley
Steve Hesford	2	Stuart Wright
Billy Benyon	3	Mal Aspey
Frank Wilson	4	Mick George
John Bevan	5	Paul Woods
Ken Kelly	6	Eric Hughes
Parry Gordon	7	Reg Bowden
Roy Lester	8	Bill Ramsey
John Dalgreen	9	Keith Elwell
Mike Nicholas	10	Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw
Tommy Martyn	11	Mick Adams
Barry Philbin	12	David Hull
Ian Potter	13	Doug Laughton
? Not used	14	? Not used
? Not used	15	Alan Dearden (for Glyndwr "Glyn" Shaw)
	Coach
9	score	4
4	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
John Bevan (1)	T
	Goals
Steve Hesford (3)	G
	Drop Goals
	DG	Paul Woods (2)
Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match		Steve Hesford - Warrington - Wing
Competition Sponsor		Player'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:^[16]

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	£8,000	1	£8,000
Runner-up	£3,500	1	£3,500
Semi-finalist	£1,750	2	£3,500
Loser in Rd 3	£750	4	£3,000
Loser in Rd 2	£600	8	£4,800
Loser in Rd 1	£450	16	£7,200
Grand Total			£30,000

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures:

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semifinals					Final
	Wakefield Trinity		24
	Batley		5
						Wakefield Trinity		31
						Cawoods		7
	Halifax		8
	Cawoods		9
											Wakefield Trinity		12
											Leigh		9
	Keighley		18
	Hull F.C.		16
						Keighley		5
						Leigh		14
	Leigh		31
	Doncaster		15
																Wakefield Trinity		5
																Warrington		15
	Featherstone Rovers		25
	Hull Kingston Rovers		24
						Featherstone Rovers		17
						St. Helens		10
	Swinton		11
	St. Helens		28
											Featherstone Rovers		11
											Warrington		14
	Blackpool Borough		10
	Warrington		31
						Warrington		19
						Salford		10
	Salford		27
	Rochdale Hornets		8
																					Warrington		9
																					Widnes		4
	Widnes		21
	Huyton		6
						Widnes		26
						Castleford		19
	Dewsbury		0
	Castleford		13
											Widnes		25
											Wigan		0
	Leeds		22
	Wigan		25
						Wigan		9
						New Hunslet		7
	(NDLB) National Dock Labour Board		4
	New Hunslet		18
																Widnes		14
																Bradford Northern		10
	Huddersfield		33
	Whitehaven		13
						Huddersfield		21
						Oldham		11
	Oldham		16
	Barrow		8
											Huddersfield		0
											Bradford Northern		11
	Bradford Northern		19
	Bramley		12
						Bradford Northern		22
						Workington Town		18
	York		12
	Workington Town		20

Notes and comments

1 * (NDLB) National Dock Labour Board are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
2 * Wigan official archives^[4] gives the score as 3-18 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,^[1] Rothmans Yearbook 1991-92^[14] and the News of the World/Empire News ANNUAL OF 1978–79^[3] give it as 4-18
3 * Wigan official archives^[4] gives the score as 24-3 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,^[1] Wakefield until I die^[6] and the News of the World/Empire News Annual 1978–79^[3] give it as 24-5
4 * Cawoods were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull
5 * Cawoods became the first amateur team to beat a professional team in a Rugby League cup tie since 1909
6 * Wigan official archives^[4] gives the score as 23-6 but RugbyleaguePROJECTS,^[1] Widnes official archives^[10] and the News of the World/Empire News annual 1978–79^[3] give it as 22-6
7 * Wigan First Team Players continued with their strike over a bonus payment for the JP second round win over New Hunslet. Wigan chairman Ken Broome issued a statement^[12] saying "The situation is bordering on ridiculous. It's beyond money now, it's become a question of whether the players are going to run the club or we are." The actual dispute was over just £5 a man, the club having increased the bonus offer from £55 to £70 but the players wanted £75.
8 * 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

• 1977–78 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1977 Lancashire Cup
• 1977 Yorkshire Cup
• John Player Trophy
• Rugby league county cups