The Harry Sunderland Trophy was awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final and its predecessors, the RFL First Division Final and the Premiership Final , between 1965 and 2023. Named after Harry Sunderland , who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom , the Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death.
17-729: After the 1972–73 season the play-off system was dropped as the League went to two divisions. The Trophy's use was continued in the Rugby League Premiership and Super League Premiership finals until Super League III , when a play-off system was re-introduced to determine the Champions through the Grand Final . The trophy's winner is determined by the Rugby League Writers' Association and presented on
34-616: A Challenge Cup Final (equalled by Iestyn Harris in 1999). This was the second season of the League Cup, which was known as the Players No.6 Trophy for sponsorship reasons. Leeds won the trophy by beating Salford 12-7 in the final. The match was played at Fartown, Huddersfield. The attendance was 10,102 and receipts were £4563. Salford beat Swinton 25–11 to win the Lancashire Cup , and Leeds beat Dewsbury 36–9 to win
51-543: A crowd of 80,871, and played left- second-row in the 14-12 victory over St. Helens in the 1977–78 Challenge Cup Final during the 1977–78 season at Wembley Stadium , London on Saturday 13 May 1978, in front of a crowd of 96,000. Graham Eccles played right- second-row and scored a try in Leeds ' 36-9 victory over Dewsbury in the 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1972–73 season at Odsal Stadium , Bradford on Saturday 7 October 1972, played left- second-row in
68-527: A resounding 22-13 success. Leading journalist Jack Winstanley wrote at the time: "Dewsbury's win sprung from a superb team effort that paid ample tribute to the coaching and inspiration of (coach) Tommy Smales . They bewildered a jaded Leeds outfit with a series of scissors moves and dummy passes that might have looked grossly over-elaborate had they not worked to such perfection." The Harry Sunderland Trophy for man-of-the-match went to Mike Stephenson. Greg Ashcroft , Jeff Grayshon and Alan Bates also played in
85-499: The 1980–81 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1980–81 season at Fartown Ground , Huddersfield on Saturday 8 November 1980. Graham Eccles played loose forward in Leeds ' 12-7 victory over Salford in the 1972–73 Player's No.6 Trophy Final during the 1972–73 season at Fartown Ground , Huddersfield on Saturday 24 March 1973. Graham Eccles scored a try on his début for Leeds', as did fellow débutante Phil Cookson , against Bradford Northern on Saturday 19 April 1969. During
102-537: The Championship Final during the 1969–70 season at Odsal Stadium , Bradford on Saturday 16 May 1970, and in the 9-5 victory over St. Helens in the Championship Final during the 1971–72 season at Station Road, Swinton on Saturday 20 May 1972. Graham Eccles played left- second-row in Leeds ' 16-7 victory over Widnes in the 1976–77 Challenge Cup Final during the 1976–77 season at Wembley Stadium , London on Saturday 7 May 1977, in front of
119-555: The Wigan club celebrate its centenary, having been formed as Wigan F.C. on 21 November 1872. During the season they played a special Centenary Celebration match against an "Australians" side. Hunslet disbanded at the end of the season, reforming as New Hunslet for the 1973–74 season . The 1973 Final was to be the last time a play-off system would be used to determine the British champions until 1998's Super League season . The match
136-495: The Yorkshire Cup . Graham Eccles Graham Eccles (born 19 May 1949) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at club level for Leeds , and Wakefield Trinity , as a prop , second-row or loose forward . Eccles was born in Leeds , West Riding of Yorkshire , England. Graham Eccles played in Leeds ' 12-24 defeat by St Helens in
153-422: The 16-12 victory over Featherstone Rovers in the 1976–77 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1976–77 season at Headingley , Leeds on Saturday 16 October 1976, played left- second-row in the 15-6 victory over Halifax in the 1979–80 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1979–80 season at Headingley , Leeds on Saturday 27 October 1979, and played left- second-row in the 8-7 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in
170-401: The 7-2 victory over Wakefield Trinity in the 1973–74 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1973–74 season at Headingley , Leeds on Saturday 20 October 1973, played left- second-row in the 15-11 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers in the 1975–76 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1975–76 season at Headingley , Leeds on Saturday 15 November 1975, played left- second-row , and scored a try in
187-468: The champion Dewsbury side. The 1973 Challenge Cup Final was won by Featherstone Rovers who beat Bradford Northern 33–14 at Wembley Saturday 12 May 1973 before a crowd of 72,395. Featherstone Rovers' Great Britain scrum half-back, Steve Nash put in a man-of-the-match performance to win the Lance Todd Trophy . Cyril Kellett scored 8- conversions for Featherstone Rovers, the most in
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#1732772842020204-500: The end of this season the league re-formed into two divisions. The top 16 in the championship would form Division 1 and the bottom 14 Division 2. Number of tackles: Timekeeping: Salford 's David Watkins set the record for most goals (including drop goals ) in a season with 221. Also, on 19 August 1972, Watkins started his record scoring streak which lasted until 25 April 1974. He totalled 929 points from 41 tries and 403 goals in 92 consecutive matches for one club. 1972-73 also saw
221-588: The field immediately following the conclusion of the match. In 2011, Rob Burrow of Leeds Rhinos became the first player to achieve the unanimous votes of all 37 judges when winning the award. In February 2024 the Rugby Football League announced that the trophy will be replaced by the Rob Burrow Award . In announcing the new award, RFL vice-president Trevor Hunt said "I am certain that rugby league players and supporters will agree that
238-528: The hooker Mike Stephenson and Allan Agar and two goals and a drop-goal from the boot of centre Nigel Stephenson . Leeds captain Alan Hardisty was sent off for the first time in his career for a high tackle on John Bates . A second try from Mike Stephenson on 44 minutes extended Dewsbury's lead and though Leeds hit back with tries by Graham Eccles , Phil Cookson and Les Dyl , it was not to be with Nigel Stephenson converting his own try to complete
255-553: The name of Rob Burrow is a fitting one to recognise, ... We believe that now is the right time to make a change that brings the award recognition into the new era, and Rob Burrow is the right man." † = denotes a player who won the trophy but played on the losing team in the final. Seven players have been awarded trophy twice. This rugby league competition article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1972%E2%80%9373 Northern Rugby Football League season The 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season
272-486: Was played on 19 May 1973 at Bradford's Odsal Stadium between the previous season 's champions, Leeds and first-time finalists, Dewsbury. Dewsbury had suffered a county cup record defeat 36–9 at the hands of Leeds in the Yorkshire County Cup Final earlier in the season. Also Leeds had finished 3rd on the ladder and Dewsbury 8th. However, Dewsbury opened up a 12–4 lead by the interval with tries by
289-618: Was the 78th season of rugby league football played in England. It would also be the last season whereby the British championship was decided by a play-off system until Super League III in 1998. Dewsbury were crowned champions after defeating Leeds in the Final. The 1972–73 season was also punctuated by the 1972 Rugby League World Cup which was played in France in October and November. At
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