1978–79 John Player Trophy

This was the eighth season for rugby league's League Cup competition, which was now known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

Widnes won the final against Warrington by the score of 16-4. The match was played at Knowsley Road, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,743 and receipts were £11709.

Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.

Bad weather - Due to an exceptionally inclement (i.e. frost, snow etc.) winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February

Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round - Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Round 2 - Second Round
Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Round 2 - Second Round Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs - and due to the first match being postponed because of extremely inclement weather

Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Semi-finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Bad weather - Due to an exceptionally inclement (i.e. frost, snow etc.) winter there were very few Rugby League matches played during the months of January and February

Final
The final was originally scheduled to take place on 27 January 1979, but was rescheduled due to the postponement of the semi-final matches. The final took place on 28 April 1979, a week before the Challenge Cup final.

Teams and scorers
Scoring - Try = three 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 was as follows:

The road to success
This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

Notes and comments
1 * Leigh Miners' Welfare are a Junior (amateur) club from Leigh (formed by merger of Astley & Tyldesley and Hope Rangers - and now renamed as Leigh Miners Rangers)

2 * new record score between professional clubs in the competition - at the  time, beating the  previous record of 9-51 set when Blackpool Borough lost at home to Leeds by 9-51 in season 1972–73

3 * Milford are a Junior (amateur) club from Leeds

4 * Warrington official archives show the game as being played on 30 September but RUGBYLEAGUEproject and Wigan official archives shows it as played on 24 September

5 * Postponed due to frozen pitch

6 * Postponed due to frozen pitch - was due to be televised by BBC

7 * Postponed due to the postponement of the Semi Final ties caused by frost and other extremely inclement weather.

8 * The Final had been due to be played on Saturday 27 January but was put back due to backlog of semi-finl ties caused by enforced postponement due to extreme inclement weather

9 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens R.F.C. from 1890 until its closure in 2010. The final capacity was 17,500 although the record attendance was 35,695 set on 26 December 1949 for a league game between St Helens and Wigan.