1974–75 League Cup (rugby league)
This was the fourth season for the League Cup, which was again known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons.
Bradford Northern won the trophy by beating Widnes by the score of 3-2. The final was played at Wilderspool, Warrington. The attendance was 5,935 and receipts were £3305.
Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.For the first time in the competition, there were no drawn matches.
Competition and results
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 27 Sep 1974 | Salford | 36-5 | Castleford | The Willows | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 28 Sep 1974 | Barrow | 5-14 | York | Craven Park | ||||||
| 3 | Sat 28 Sep 1974 | Bramley | 15-6 | Hull F.C. | McLaren Field | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Sat 28 Sep 1974 | Leeds | 49-10 | New Hunslet | Headingley | ||||||
| 5 | Sat 28 Sep 1974 | Wakefield Trinity | 44-10 | Leigh | Belle Vue | ||||||
| 6 | Sat 28 Sep 1974 | Whitehaven | 32-6 | Lock Lane | Recreation Ground | 537 | 2, 3 | ||||
| 7 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Blackpool Borough | 17-20 | Wigan | Borough Park | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Bradford Northern | 12-8 | Dewsbury | Odsal | 4 | |||||
| 9 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Doncaster | 15-6 | Kippax White Swan | Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield | 453 | 5, 6 | ||||
| 10 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Halifax | 11-13 | Keighley | Thrum Hall | ||||||
| 11 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Huyton | 14-12 | Huddersfield | Alt Park, Huyton | ||||||
| 12 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Oldham | 21-14 | Workington Town | Watersheddings | 7 | |||||
| 13 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Rochdale Hornets | 12-16 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Athletic Grounds | ||||||
| 14 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Swinton | 7-6 | St. Helens | Station Road | ||||||
| 15 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Warrington | 36-3 | Batley | Wilderspool | ||||||
| 16 | Sun 29 Sep 1974 | Widnes | 10-5 | Featherstone Rovers | Naughton Park |
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 8 Nov 1974 | Salford | 14-9 | Bramley | The Willows | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 9 Nov 1974 | Oldham | 3-12 | Bradford Northern | Watersheddings | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | Keighley | 4-39 | Leeds | Lawkholme Lane | 8 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | Swinton | 18-2 | Wigan | Station Road | 4420 | 9 | ||||
| 5 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | Warrington | 33-6 | Huyton | Wilderspool | 10 | |||||
| 6 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | Whitehaven | 14-4 | Doncaster | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | Widnes | 35-13 | Wakefield Trinity | Naughton Park | ||||||
| 8 | Sun 10 Nov 1974 | York | 12-26 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Clarence Street |
Round 3 -Quarterfinals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Fri 6 Dec 1974 | Whitehaven | 5-0 | Warrington | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 7 Dec 1974 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 25-17 | Salford | Craven Park | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 8 Dec 1974 | Bradford Northern | 17-7 | Leeds | Odsal | ||||||
| 4 | Sun 8 Dec 1974 | Widnes | 15-5 | Swinton | Naughton Park |
Round 4 – Semifinals
Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 4 Jan 1975 | Widnes | 16-14 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Naughton Park | ||||||
| 2 | Sat 11 Jan 1975 | Whitehaven | 6-18 | Bradford Northern | Recreation Ground | 11 |
Final
Teams and scorers
| Bradford Northern | № | Widnes |
| teams | ||
| Stuart Carlton | 1 | Ray Dutton |
| Richard Francis | 2 | Alan Prescott |
| Phil Ward | 3 | Dennis O'Neill |
| Les Gant | 4 | Mal Aspey |
| David Redfearn | 5 | Chris Anderson |
| Mick Blacker | 6 | Eric Hughes |
| Barry Seabourne | 7 | Reg Bowden |
| Kelvin "Kel" Earl | 8 | Jim Mills |
| Francis Jarvis | 9 | Keith Elwell |
| Phil Jackson | 10 | Barry Sheridan |
| Graham Joyce | 11 | Mick Adams |
| Dennis Trotter | 12 | Bob Blackwood |
| Stanley "Stan" Fearnley | 13 | Doug Laughton |
| Ken Kelly | 14 | Terry Karalius |
| Pattinson | 15 | John Peek |
| Coach | - | |
| - | ||
| 3 | score | 2 |
| 3 | HT | 2 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Stuart Carlton - after 20 mins | T | |
| Goals | ||
| G | Ray Dutton | - |
| Referee | G. Frederick "Fred" Lindop | |
| Man of the match | Barry Seabourne - Bradford Northern - | |
| Competition Sponsor | Player's №6 |
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point
Timeline in the final
| Time | Incident | Score |
| 20 min | Try: Stuart Carlton | 3-0 |
| ? | Penalty Goal: Ray Dutton | 3-2 |
| Half Time | 3-2 | |
| Full Time | 3-2 |
Prize money
As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-| Finish Position | Cash Prize | No. receiving prize | Total Cash |
| Winner | £5000 | 1 | £5000 |
| Runner-up | £2500 | 1 | £2500 |
| semi-finalist | £1000 | 2 | £2000 |
| loser in Rd 3 | ? | 4 | ? |
| loser in Rd 2 | ? | 8 | ? |
| Loser in Rd 1 | ? | 16 | ? |
| Loser in Prelim Round | ? | ? | ? |
| Grand Total |
Note - the author is unable to trace the rest of the award amounts. Can anyone help ?
General information for those unfamiliar
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 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 variably known, by its sponsorship name, as the Player's No.6 Trophy, the John Player Trophy, the John Player Special Trophy, and the Regal Trophy in 1989.