The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in levels three and four of the English football pyramid, with the addition of 16 under-21 teams from Premier League and EFL Championship clubs since the 2016–17 season. It is the third most prestigious knockout competition in English football after the FA Cup and the EFL Cup.
Bryan Hamilton is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Technical Director at Antigua Barracuda F.C., which no longer exists, having been dissolved in 2014.
Stephen Norton, also known by the nickname of "Knocker", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Fryston ARLFC, Castleford, Hull F.C. and Wakefield Trinity, as a second-row or loose forward, and coached at club level for Barrow.
Eric Hughes is a retired English rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached rugby league in the 1980s and 1990s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for England (Under-15s), and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Widnes, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, St Helens and the Rochdale Hornets, as a wing, centre or stand-off, i.e. number 2 or 5, or, 3 or 4, or 6, and coached at club level for Widnes, Rochdale Hornets, St Helens, Leigh and the Wigan Warriors. He unwittingly added confusion to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs team as he was unrelated but played at the same time as the three Australian brothers named Hughes; Garry, Graeme and Mark.
Charles Douglas Laughton is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain (captain), winning 15 caps in all, winning a further cap for England, and Lancashire, and at club level for St. Helens, Wigan, Widnes, and the Canterbury Bulldogs, as a second-row, or loose forward, and coached at club level for Widnes and Leeds.
Harvey Howard is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A Great Britain and England international representative prop, he played club football in England for Widnes, Leeds, Bradford Bulls and Wigan, and in Australia for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Western Suburbs Magpies and the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 2000 grand final.
The 1992–93 Rugby Football League season was the 98th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1992 until May, 1993 for the Stones Bitter Championship, Premiership Trophy and Silk Cut Challenge Cup.
Arthur Bunting was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers as a scrum-half, and coached at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull F.C..
John Holmes was an English professional rugby league footballer.
Brian "Mad Dog" Juliff is a Welsh former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales 'B', Wales President's XV, East Wales, Glamorgan County RFC, at invitational level for Crawshays RFC, and at club level Mountain Ash RFC, Newport RFC and Pontypridd RFC, as a Left-Wing, or Outside-Centre, i.e. number 11, or 13, and representative rugby league (RL) for Wales, and at club level for Widnes, Wakefield Trinity, Wigan, Halifax and Castleford, as a wing, second-row, loose forward, i.e. number 2 or 5, 11 or 12, or 13, during the era of contested scrums. In June 2012 Juliff was appointed as the chairman of Wales Rugby League.
Michael Smith is an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers, as a centre or stand-off.
David Watkinson is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Heworth, Hull Kingston Rovers and Dewsbury as a hooker, i.e. number 9.
Lee Crooks is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Hull FC, Western Suburbs Magpies, Balmain Tigers, Leeds and Castleford, as a prop or second-row, captain of Hull during the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons, and coached at representative level for Serbia, and at club level for Keighley and York.
Nicholas "Nicky" S. Kiss is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level for Wigan, as a hooker.
Paul Harkin is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level for Bradford Northern, Featherstone Rovers, Hull Kingston Rovers, Leeds, Halifax, and Hunslet, as a scrum-half, and coached at club level for Wakefield Trinity.
Alan Whittle is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played at club level for St Helens, Barrow, Warrington, and Wigan, as a wing, centre, stand-off, or scrum-half, i.e. number 2 or 5, 3 or 4, 6, or 7.
Martin Ketteridge is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Scotland, and at club level for Moorends ARLFC, Castleford, the Sheffield Eagles and Halifax, as a prop, or second-row.
The 1984–85 Associate Members' Cup, known as the 1984–85 Freight Rover Trophy, was the second staging of the Associate Members' Cup, a knock-out competition for English football clubs in the Third Division and the Fourth Division. The winners were Wigan Athletic and the runners-up were Brentford.
During the 1984–85 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division. The season is best remembered for the club's first appearance in a Football League Trophy final, which was lost 3–1 to Wigan Athletic.
The 2021 EFL Trophy Final was a football match that was played at Wembley Stadium. It decided the winners of the 2020–21 EFL Trophy, the 37th edition of the competition, a knock-out tournament for the 48 teams in League One and League Two and 16 category one academy sides. The match was played on 14 March 2021, one day after the final for the previous tournament, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although no fans were present, supporters raised money for local initiatives through virtual ticket sales.
