The Captain Morgan Trophy was a knock-out trophy introduced by the Rugby League for season 1973-74. It was scrapped after only one season.

Background

The Captain Morgan Trophy was a knock-out trophy introduced by the Rugby League supposedly intended to fill an “Imaginary” void in the season's fixture list.
The competition was introduced for the season 1973-1974, but failed to catch the imagination of the public, or the clubs themselves and only took place for the one single season.
The competition was sponsored by the House of Seagram, makers at that time of Captain Morgan Rum. (Note - This product is now produced by Diageo plc.), The Captain Morgan Trophy competition had slightly different qualification and draw rules, as follows :-
1) Qualification for the competition was open to:-
a) the eight winners of the first round of the

Yorkshire County cup The BARLA Yorkshire Cup is a knock-out rugby league competition for amateur teams in the traditional county of Yorkshire. It is administered by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). The winners of the most recent staging of the c ...

b) The seven winners of the first round of the

Lancashire county cup The BARLA Lancashire Cup was a knock-out rugby league competition for amateur teams in the historic county of Lancashire. It was administered by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). As of 2017, the competition hasn't been held sinc ...

and because there were only fifteen teams in the Lancashire competition, the Lancashire team losing in the first round by the smallest margin.
c) The idea of this arrangement was to eliminate some of the “lesser” or “poorer” teams from the competition, thus reducing the number of games which are very one sided. This objective was somewhat defeated after teams like St. Helens,

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 ...

and

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 ...

failed to gain entry.
2) In addition to this, for the first round the draw kept the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

sides apart from those on the West of the Pennines (i.e. those in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

)
3) The two sets of teams were all brought together for the subsequent rounds. The first and only final was held at

The Willows The Willows may refer to: Places * The Willows, El Paso, Texas, USA * The Willows, Queensland, a town in Australia * The Willows, Salford, home of Salford Rugby League club in Salford, England, UK * The Willows, Saskatoon, a residential community ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, on 26 January 1974.

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

defeated

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

4-0 in front of a disappointing crowd of only 5,269.
The "Man of the Match" award was won by

Derek Whitehead Derek Whitehead (born 14 February 1944) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played at representative level for Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain and Rugby League ...

.
The

team was

, Mick Philbin, Derek Noonan, Frank Reynolds, John Bevan, Alan Whittle, Parry Gordon,

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champions ...

Kevin Ashcroft Kevin Ashcroft (born 5 June 1944) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and Lancashire, and at club lev ...

, Brian Brady, Bobby Wanbon,

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the New York Mets. He was drafted by the Mets in 2001 MLB draft and made ...

, Ian Mather, with substitutes Billy Pickup (not used) and Joe Price. ( Alex Murphy was injured)
The

team included Harold Box and John "Keith" Bridges.

Competition and Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3 - Semi Finals

Round 4 - Final

Notes and comments

1 -- Wigan scorer - John Gray 2 goals
2 -- Warrington scores - Derek Whitehead 5 goals; Alex Murphy 1 dg; a n other 1 dg
3 -- Widnes scorers - Barry Sheridan 1 try, Ray Dutton 3 goals
4 -- Widnes entered the competition as the loser by the smallest margin in the Lancashire Cup first round (after losing away at Salford by 12 points to 11)
5 -- Warrington scores - Tommy Conroy, Brian Brady and Dave Cunliffe each scored a try, Derek Whitehead 3 goals
6 -- Warrington scores - Kevin Ashcroft and Parry Gordon each scored a try, Derek Whitehead 5 goals, Kevin Ashcroft and Alex Murphy each 1 dg
7 -- Warrington scores - Derek Whitehead 2 goals
8 -- Derek Whitehead was presented with an 80oz magnum bottle of Captain Morgan Rum as winner of the man of the match award.

References

External links

Saints Heritage SocietyCherry and White - Wigan Fan Site season 1973-74Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results season 1973-74Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1973-74Warrington Wolves Archives 1973Warrington Wolves Archives 1974
{{British and Irish Rugby League links 1973 in rugby league 1974 in English rugby league 1973 in England