1978 Amco Cup

Last updated

1978 NSWRFL Midweek Cup
NSWRFL Amco Cup
Tournament details
Dates15 March - 16 August 1978
Teams 38
Venue(s) 16  (in 15 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Eastern Suburbs (2nd title)
Runners-up St. George
Tournament statistics
Matches played37
← 1977
1979 →

The 1978 Amco Cup was a rugby league football tournament featuring teams from around the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, Northern Territory as well as New Zealand. The tournament was played from March to August 1982, culminating in the final between Sydney clubs Eastern Suburbs and St George.

Amco Cup

The Amco Cup was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 1989. The format was usually a straight knock-out, but various group formats were used between 1979 and 1982. It aired on Channel Ten with Ray Warren and Keith Barnes the commentators for many years. The concept was created by Colin McLennan.

Rugby league team sport, code of rugby football

Rugby league football is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of rugby, it originated in Northern England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules progressively changed with the aim of producing a faster, more entertaining game for spectators.

New South Wales State of Australia

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In September 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Contents

Format

The format of the fifth midweek cup competition operated on a straight knock-out format consisting of 38 teams. 3 new teams were introduced. They were Gold Coast, Wellington NZ and Wynnum-Manly whilst Ryde-Eastwood and Canterbury NZ were left out after playing in the 1977 competition.

Gold Coast Vikings

The Gold Coast Vikings was a rugby league team representing the Gold Coast Rugby League Competition, where the best players of the competition get selected to play for the Vikings.

Wellington Rugby League

Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team, the Wellington rugby league team.

Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby league team which represents the region in New Zealand competitions. Previously teams have competed in the Bartercard Cup and Lion Red Cup. The CRL is currently part of the South Island Zone which includes the Tasman, West Coast, Otago and Southland regions.

The competition was composed of the 12 Sydney premiership teams (Balmain, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla-Sutherland, Eastern Suburbs, Manly-Warringah, Newtown, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, St George, South Sydney and Western Suburbs), 9 Brisbane Premiership teams (Brothers, Easts BRL, Fortitude Valley, Ipswich, Norths BRL, Redcliffe, Souths BRL, Wests BRL and Wynnum-Manly), the 8 New South Wales divisional teams (Illawarra, Monaro, Newcastle, North Coast, Northern Division, Riverina, Southern Division and Western Division), Auckland, Central Queensland, Gold Coast, North Queensland, Northern Territory, Toowoomba, Wellington NZ, Western Australia and Wide Bay.

Balmain Tigers

The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles. In 1999 they formed a joint venture club with the neighbouring Western Suburbs Magpies club to form the Wests Tigers for competition in the National Rugby League (NRL). They no longer field any senior teams in the lower divisions. At the time of the joint venture only South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George Dragons had won more titles than the Tigers.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks rugby league football club

The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league competition. The Sharks, as they are commonly known, were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, predecessor of the Australian Rugby League and the current National Rugby League competition, in January 1967. The club competed in every premiership season since then and, during the Super League war, joined the rebel competition before continuing on in the re-united NRL Premiership. The Sharks have been in competition for 50 years, appearing in four grand finals, winning their first premiership in 2016 after defeating the Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium.

Newtown Jets

The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the Canterbury Cup NSW competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season. The Jets' home ground is Henson Park, and their team colours are blue and white.

Teams were seeded and as a result some teams received byes through to the second, third or even fourth round.

Venues

Sydney Brisbane Newcastle Queanbeyan Wollongong Wagga Wagga Tamworth
Leichhardt Oval Orana Park Lang Park Newcastle International Sports Centre Seiffert Oval Wollongong Showground Eric Weissel Oval Scully Park
Capacity: 23,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 45,000Capacity: 33,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 23,000Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 13,000
Leichhardt Oval Football Stadium (3).jpg Campbelltown Sports Stadium.jpg Suncorp-Stadium-Milton-Queensland.jpg Ausgrid Stadium.jpg WIN Stadium5.jpg Eric Weissel Oval Panorama.jpg
Coffs Harbour Lismore Griffith Ipswich Southport Surfers Paradise Maryborough Darwin
Coffs Harbour Showground Oakes Oval West End Stadium North Ipswich Reserve Wally Fankhauser Sports ParkLex Bell OvalEskdale ParkRichardson Park
Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 12,000Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 7,000Capacity: 8,000Capacity: 10,000Capacity: 10,000

Round 1

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
15/03/78 Illawarra 63 Wellington NZ 5 Wollongong Showground
26/03/78 Toowoomba 22 Ipswich 12 North Ipswich Reserve
30/03/78 Gold Coast 18 North Queensland 16 Chris Cunningham Field
2/04/78 Western Australia 21 Northern Territory 18 Richardson Park
5/04/78 Wide Bay 12 Central Queensland 3 Eskdale Park
8/04/78 Western Division 12Southern Division4 Orana Park

Round 2

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
30/03/78 Wests BRL*8 Wynnum-Manly 8 Lang Park
30/03/78 Newtown 49 Brothers 0 Leichhardt Oval
5/04/78 Souths BRL 10 Gold Coast 4 Chris Cunningham Field
5/04/78 Illawarra 35 Fortitude Valley 7 Lang Park
12/04/78 Riverina 43 Wide Bay 4 Griffith
12/04/78 Newcastle 51 Western Australia 5 Newcastle ISC
17/05/78 South Sydney 22 Western Division 9 Leichhardt Oval
24/05/78North Coast22 Toowoomba 13 Oakes Oval

Round 3

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
12/04/78 Newtown 13 Canterbury-Bankstown 4 Leichhardt Oval
19/04/78 Western Suburbs 25 Souths BRL 5 Leichhardt Oval
26/04/78 Wests BRL 4 Redcliffe 3 Lang Park
3/05/78 Riverina 36 Penrith 2 Eric Weissel Oval
10/05/78 Cronulla-Sutherland 57 Newcastle 5 Leichhardt Oval
24/05/78 Illawarra 44 Norths BRL 5 Wollongong Showground
31/05/78 South Sydney 9Northern Division5 Scully Park
14/06/78 North Sydney 46North Coast3 Coffs Harbour

Round 4

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
3/05/78 Eastern Suburbs 16 Western Suburbs 10 Leichhardt Oval
24/05/78 Auckland 39 Riverina 3 Leichhardt Oval
7/06/78 Parramatta 28 Wests BRL 0 Leichhardt Oval
14/06/78 Cronulla-Sutherland 15 Monaro 8 Seiffert Oval
14/06/78 Illawarra 19 Balmain 10 Leichhardt Oval
27/06/78 St George 35 Newtown 11 Leichhardt Oval
4/07/78 Manly-Warringah 11 South Sydney 9 Lang Park
5/07/78 Easts BRL 27 North Sydney 6 Lang Park

Quarter finals

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
5/07/78 Eastern Suburbs 12 Illawarra 2 Leichhardt Oval
12/07/78 St George 27 Parramatta 2 Leichhardt Oval
19/07/78 Manly-Warringah 27 Easts BRL 10 Lang Park
26/07/78 Cronulla-Sutherland 22 Auckland 6 Leichhardt Oval

Semi finals

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
2/08/78 Eastern Suburbs 14 Manly-Warringah 2 Leichhardt Oval
9/08/78 St George 21 Cronulla-Sutherland 7 Leichhardt Oval

Final

DateWinnerScoreLoserScoreVenue
16/08/78 Eastern Suburbs 16 St George 4 Leichhardt Oval

As with all mid-season Cup games, the Final of the 1978 Amco Cup was broadcast into NSW by 0–10 with commentary from Ray Warren, Keith Barnes and in his first ever co-commentating role on television, legendary rugby league broadcaster Frank Hyde.

TEN is Network 10's Sydney flagship station. It was originally owned and operated by United Telecasters Sydney Limited (UTSL), and began transmission on 5 April 1965 with the highlight of the opening night being the variety special TV Spells Magic.

Ray Warren Australian sports commentator

Ray "Rabbits" Warren OAM is an Australian sports commentator, known for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches and to an extent swimming on the Nine Network. On occasions he is referred to as "The Voice of Rugby League". Ray also used to call Australian swimming team events and the FINA World Championships until Nine lost the rights to these events in 2008 and in 2012 participated in Nine's coverage of the London Olympics.

William Keith Barnes AM is a former Australian international rugby league footballer and coach. He was a fullback for the Australian national team and for the Balmain Tigers. He played in 14 Tests between 1959 and 1966, as national captain on 12 occasions. He was known as "Golden Boots" due to his exceptional goal-kicking ability. After his playing days he became a referee and later co-commentated on the Amco Cup on Network Ten with Ray Warren in the 1970s. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Player of the Series

Kevin Hastings (Eastern Suburbs)

Golden Try

Notes

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