1971–72 Player's No.6 Trophy

The 1971–72 Player's No.6 Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the first season that the competition was held.

Halifax won the trophy by beating Wakefield Trinity by the score of 22-11 in the final. The match was played at Odsal in the City of Bradford. The attendance was 7975 and receipts were £2545.

Background The council of the Rugby Football League had been investigating the possibility of another knock-out competition for several seasons, to be similar to the association football league cup competition played for by the Scottish Football Association (first competed for in 1946-47) and The Football Association (first competed for 1961). It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. The council voted to introduce the new competition at the same time as 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, the main reason being given was 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 "League Cup" competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final usually taking place in late January

The competition was variably 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.

Competition and results

Round 1 - First round

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 12 Nov 1971Thames Board Mills7-27HuddersfieldWilderspool11751, 22Fri 12 Nov 1971Ace Amateurs9-33WiganCentral Park26783, 43Sat 13 Nov 1971Barrow10-9SwintonCraven Park4Sat 13 Nov 1971Dewsbury5-5Hull F.C.Crown Flatt5Sat 13 Nov 1971Huyton5-18KeighleyAlt Park, Huyton6Sat 13 Nov 1971Leeds18-8LeighHeadingley7Sat 13 Nov 1971St. Helens37-7Featherstone RoversKnowsley Road30008Sat 13 Nov 1971Workington Town0-10Blackpool BoroughDerwent Park9Sun 14 Nov 1971Batley5-11YorkMount Pleasant10Sun 14 Nov 1971Bradford Northern8-12Rochdale HornetsOdsal11Sun 14 Nov 1971Doncaster4-16BramleyBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield12Sun 14 Nov 1971Hull Kingston Rovers17-14SalfordCraven Park (1)13Sun 14 Nov 1971Hunslet7-7CastlefordParkside14Sun 14 Nov 1971Warrington9-16HalifaxWilderspool15Sun 14 Nov 1971Whitehaven5-0OldhamRecreation Ground16Sun 14 Nov 1971Widnes10-10Wakefield TrinityNaughton Park

Round 1 - First round Replays Involved 3 matches and 6 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 17 Nov 1971Castleford9-8HunsletWheldon Road 2Wed 17 Nov 1971Wakefield Trinity12-10WidnesBelle Vue3Thu 18 Nov 1971Hull F.C.22-10DewsburyBoulevard

Round 2 - Second round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Fri 26 Nov 1971Castleford11-13LeedsWheldon Road 2Sat 27 Nov 1971Barrow10-6HuddersfieldCraven Park3Sat 27 Nov 1971Halifax5-3YorkThrum Hall4Sat 27 Nov 1971Hull Kingston Rovers11-18WiganCraven Park (1)5Sat 27 Nov 1971Whitehaven0-12St. HelensRecreation Ground15006Sun 28 Nov 1971Bramley5-10Wakefield TrinityMcLaren Field7Sun 28 Nov 1971Hull F.C.36-10KeighleyBoulevard8Sun 28 Nov 1971Rochdale Hornets4-14Blackpool BoroughAthletic Grounds

Round 3 -Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 11 Dec 1971Halifax36-13BarrowThrum Hall2Sat 11 Dec 1971Leeds12-12WiganHeadingley3Sat 11 Dec 1971St. Helens33-5Hull F.C.Knowsley Road34674Sun 12 Dec 1971Wakefield Trinity18-12Blackpool BoroughBelle Vue

Round 3 -Quarter-finals - replays Involved 1 match with 2 clubs

Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 15 Dec 1971Wigan5-12LeedsCentral Park

Round 4 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 18 Dec 1971Wakefield Trinity14-9St. HelensBelle Vue39642Sat 8 Jan 1972Leeds7-15HalifaxHeadingley

Final Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 22 January 1972Halifax22-11Wakefield TrinityOdsal797525455

Teams and scorers

HalifaxNo.Wakefield Trinity teams Tony Hepworth1Geoff WraithDavid Rayner2Keith SlaterPhil Davies3Jack MarstonDavid Willicombe4John HegartyMike Kelly5Mick MajorBruce Burton6David ToplissGordon Baker (c)7Kevin HarkinTerry Dewhirst8David JeanesRoy Hawksley9Mick MorganDavid Callon10Steve LyonsTerry Fogerty11Peter HarrisonJohn Martin12Rob ValentineTony Halmshaw13Neil FoxJohn Sanderson (for Gordon Baker)14Bernard Ward (for Geoff Wraith)Derek Reeves (for David Callon)15Ray Spencer (for Peter Harrison)Les PearceCoachNeil Fox 22score117HT8 Scorers Tries Phil Davies (1)TKeith Slater (1)David Willicombe (1)TDavid Topliss (1)Mike Kelly (1)TRob Valentine (1)David Callon (1)T GoalsBruce Burton (5)GNeil Fox (1) RefereeS. Shepherd (Oldham)Man of the matchBruce Burton - Halifax - Competition SponsorPlayer's No.6 Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point (reduced from this season)

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—4—Loser in Rd 2—8—Loser in Rd 1—16—Grand Total£9,500

The road to success

Player's Top Try Contest

As part of the sponsorship deal, a Top Try Contest was held. This involved all the professional first round Players No.6 Trophy Losers.

One match was played by each club and the four clubs scoring the most tries received prize money.

This competition was not a success and was only held for this season.

This series Involved 7 matches and 14 clubs. Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueHome TriesAway TriesNotesRef 1Fri 26 Nov 1971Widnes32-3HuytonNaughton Park812Fri 26 Nov 1971Salford38-7WarringtonThe Willows1013Sat 27 Nov 1971Doncaster12-30DewsburyBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield284Sat 27 Nov 1971Workington Town5-9Bradford NorthernDerwent Park115Sun 28 Nov 1971Featherstone Rovers54-0BatleyPost Office Road126Sun 28 Nov 1971Oldham5-11LeighWatersheddings117Sun 28 Nov 1971Swinton53-6BatleyStation Road132

The table The club scoring the most tries finished top.

In the case of a tie, the deciding items were :- 1 The club scoring the most tries 2 The club scoring the most points 3 The club with the fewest points against The table showing finishing positions and the awards were as follows : PlacePositionTeam Number of Tries Prize MoneyPoints ScoredPoints Against 1WinnersSwinton135005362Second PlaceFeatherstone Rovers122505403Third PlaceSalford101503874Fourth PlaceWidnes81003235*Dewsbury830126Doncaster212307Batley26538Leigh11159Bradford Northern19510Warrington173811Workington Town15912Oldham151113Huyton133214Batley0054 Note * Widnes took 4th place ahead of Dewsbury as they scored more points - and therefore were awarded the prize money

Notes and comments 1 * Thames Board Mills were a Junior (amateur) club from Warrington 2 * Thames Board Mills opted to play the match at Wilderspool, the home of Warrington 3 * Ace Amateurs were a Junior (amateur) club from Hull 4 * Ace Amateurs were drawn at Home but agreed to switch the venue to Central Park, the home ground of Wigan 5 * Odsal is the home ground of Bradford Northern from 1890 to 2010 and the current capacity is in the region of 26,000, The ground is famous for hosting the largest attendance at an English sports ground when 102,569 (it was reported that over 120,000 actually attended as several areas of boundary fencing collapse under the sheer weight of numbers) attended the replay of the Challenge Cup final on 5 May 1954 to see Halifax v Warrington

See also 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season 1971 Lancashire Cup 1971 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