This was the fourteenth season for the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, which was again known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship purposes.

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

claimed the trophy by beating their local rivals

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

by the score of 12–0 in the final. The match was played at

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland superma ...

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

and the attendance was 25,326. Gate receipts were £69555.

Background

This season saw several changes in the entrants: # Cardiff City Blue Dragons were renamed

Bridgend Blue Dragons Cardiff City Blue Dragons were a rugby league team formed in 1981. Their home ground was Ninian Park, which was also used by Cardiff City F.C.. The club spent three seasons in Cardiff before relocating to Bridgend in 1984 as the Bridgend Blu ...

and Kent Invicta were renamed Southend Invicta #

Mansfield Marksman Mansfield Marksman was a rugby league team based at various times in Mansfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Alfreton and ultimately Nottingham. The club changed its name to Nottingham City in 1989, and folded in 1994 a year after exiting the Rugby Fo ...

and

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

joined the league and also the competition #

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which ...

changed their name to Runcorn Highfield and moved from Alt Park,

to Canal Street,

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

# and the re-introduction of the invitation to two junior clubs. This involved an increase in entrants to thirty-eight, in turn resulting in a six-match, 12-club preliminary round to reduce the number of clubs taking part in the first round proper to thirty-two.

Competition and results

Preliminary round

Involved six matches and 12 clubs

Round 1 – First round

Involved 16 matches and 32 clubs

Round 2 – Second round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Round 2 – Second round replays

Involved one match and two clubs

Round 3 – Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Round 4 – Semi-finals

Involved two matches and four clubs

Final

Teams and scorers

Scoring - Try = four 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 is as follows :-

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

Notes and comments

# * Myson are a Junior (amateur) club from Hull. # * Bradford Dudley Hill are a Junior (amateur) club from Bradford. # * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991 and 1991-92, and RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives score as 24-10 but Wigan official archives gives it as 24-8 4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wakefield till I die give the score as 17-6 but Wigan official archives gives it as 17-8
5 * This fixture not shown on Wigan official archives
6 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give score as 32-5 but Wigan official archives gives it as 32-6
7 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject give score as 4-42 but Wigan official archives gives it as 4-34
8 * venue possibly Crystal Palace NSC or Chiswick Poly Sports Ground
9 * The highest winning margin to date between professional clubs
10 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Hull official archives give score as 26-14 but Wigan official archives gives it as 23-14
11 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991 and 1991-92, RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives give the venue as

but Hull official archives gives it as The Boulevard

was the home of

Hull City A.F.C. Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

12 * The attendance at this final was a new record, which would never be beaten in the competition
13 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991 and 1991-92, RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives give the venue as

but Hull official archives gives it as The Boulevard

was the home of

14 *

was the home ground of

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

from 31 August 1946 until December 2002. The final capacity was 15,160 although the record attendance was 55,019 set on 26 February 1949 in an FA Cup quarter-final when

played host to Manchester United

General information

The council of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

voted to introduce a new competition, to be similar to

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

and

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

'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 The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) is an association for social and recreational rugby league. It works jointly with the Rugby Football League through the RFL Community Board. History BARLA was created in 1973 in Huddersfiel ...

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 (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) 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 (1971–1977), the John Player Trophy (1977–1983), the John Player Special Trophy (1983–1989), and the Regal Trophy in 1989.

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:1984-85 John Player Special Trophy 1984 in English rugby league 1985 in English rugby league League Cup (rugby league)