Rugby Cup Competitions

While the rugby league challenge cup has long been the major knockout competition in British rugby league, the domestic game used to boast a plethora of smaller cup events - such as the Yorkshire Cup, Lancashire Cup, John Player Trophy and Floodlit Trophy.

The John Player Trophy, also known as the Regal Trophy, was played for between 1971 and 1996 but was eventually abandoned in 1996 because rugby league in England evolved into the Super League, moved to being a summer sport and there were concerns too many matches were likely to be played by leading teams.

That concern was echoed in the death knell that was sounded for the Yorkshire and Lancashire Cups.

Rugby league bosses looked at the success of the Australia team in comparison to Great Britain and decided that the reason the Lions were so far behind the Kangaroos was because too much rugby, and knockout rugby at that, was being played.

Put simply, their argument was "copy Australia" and because nobody Down Under played two matches in a week the county Cup games were typically on a Wednesday evening it was decided in the early 1990s to scrap those as well.

The Floodlit Trophy also fell by the wayside, despite the best efforts of natural history film-maker David Attenborough, then director of BBC Two television.

The second half of one match was shown each week live on BBC Two and although the idea ran from 1965 to 1980, the tournament was dropped when finances for the scheme abruptly dried up.