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
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 sin ...

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 club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the ...

and

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

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

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

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

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

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

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

, on 26 January 1974.

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

defeated

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

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 (14 February 1944 – 5 April 2025) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and Lancashire, and at club level for Folly Lane ARL ...

.
The

team was

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

Dave Chisnall David Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twelve; he reached a peak ranking of world number five in ...

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 le ...

, Brian Brady, Bobby Wanbon,

David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who spent his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Mets. Chosen by the Mets in the 2001 Major League Baseball dr ...

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

team included

Harold Box Harold Box (born ) is an English-born former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Wales, Other Nationalities and Yorkshire, and at club level for Featherstone Rovers and ...

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