1983–84 John Player Special Trophy

This was the thirteenth season of the rugby league League Cup, which was this season known as the John Player Special Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

Leeds won the trophy, beating Widnes by the score of 18-10 in the final. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan and the attendance was 9,510. The gate receipts were £19824.

Background
This season saw one change in the entrants, Kent Invicta joined the  league and also the  competition, the number of entrants now rising to thirty-four

The preliminary round now increased to two matches and involved four clubs, to reduce the numbers of entrants to the first round proper to thirty-two

Unfortunately, early in the season Bramley went into administration, and although they survived, during this period of administration they withdrew from  this competition, leaving Hull Kingston Rovers with a bye in the  first round.

Preliminary round
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round
Involved 15 matches with one bye and 31 Clubs

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

Round 2 - Second Round
Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

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 :- Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success
This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

Notes and comments
1 * This match had been chosen for Saturday BBC coverage but was cancelled and moved to Sunday at two days notice due to Industrial Action at the BBC

2 * Kent Invicta's record crowd

3 * 3 dropped goals

4 * Bramley withdrew from this competition while in liquidation

5 * highest score (and highest away score) o date between two professional clubs

6 * Wigan official archives state the home team are Leigh, an obvious printing error as earlier in the same fixture list Leigh are away at CarlisleCarlisle

7 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was  47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959