Amco Cup

The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth Cup, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic 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.

History

Promoter Colin McLennan, who also brought to Australia the jazz legend Benny Goodman and comedians Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, was the man who brought the mid-week Cup to life. The competition was essentially a "made for TV" event, featuring 4 x 20-minute quarters and a penalty countback rule in the event of a draw. Matches were played under floodlights, usually on a Wednesday evening. Initially Leichhardt Oval in Sydney was the main venue, though later matches were played at Lang Park in Brisbane, Parramatta Stadium and various country centres in New South Wales. The competition was scrapped after the increasingly professional clubs resented the additional burdens on their players caused by the mid-week games. In 1990 it was replaced by a preseason challenge cup played for only by the Sydney Rugby League premiership teams.

Naming rights sponsors

• Amco Cup (1974–79)
• Tooth Cup (1980–81)
• KB Cup (1982–83)
• National Panasonic Cup (1984–87)
• Panasonic Cup (1988–89)

Participating teams

Year	Team/s	NSW City	QLD City	NSW Country	QLD Country	NSW Division 2	New Zealand	State/Territory	PNG
1974	21	All 12	–	All 7 except Newcastle	–	Ryde-Eastwood	Auckland	–	–
1975	28	All 12	Fortitude Valley, Norths, Past Brothers, Souths	All 8	Ipswich, Toowoomba	Ryde-Eastwood	Auckland	–	–
1976	35	All 12	All 7 except Wynnum Manly	All 8	All 4 except Central Queensland, Gold Coast	Ryde-Eastwood	Auckland, Canterbury	N.T	–
1977	37	All 12	All 8	All 8	All 5 except Gold Coast	–	Auckland, Canterbury	N.T, W.A.	–
1978	38	All 12	All 8	All 8	All 6	–	Auckland, Wellington	N.T, W.A.	–
1979	16	All 12	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	Auckland	–	–
1980	16	All 12	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	Auckland	–	–
1981	16	All 12	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	Central Districts	–	–
1982	18	All 14	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	South Island	–	–
1983	18	All 14	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	Central Districts	–	–
1984	17	All 13	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	Queensland Country	–	Auckland	–	–
1985	16	All 13	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	–	–	Auckland	–	–
1986	17	All 13	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	–	–	–	W.A.	Port Moresby
1987	20	All 13	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	–	–	–	N.T, S.A., Victoria, W.A.	Port Moresby
1988	19	All 16	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	–	–	–	–	Port Moresby
1989	19	All 16	Brisbane	New South Wales Country	–	–	–	–	Port Moresby

Champions by Year

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Crowd
1974	File:Canberra colours.svg Western Division	6-2	File:Penrith colours.svg Penrith	Leichhardt Oval	16,000
1975	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Easterm Suburbs	17-7	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta	Leichhardt Oval	18,907
1976	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	21-7	File:North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney	Leichhardt Oval	21,670
1977	File:Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs	6-5	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs	Leichhardt Oval	15,350
1978	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs	16-4	File:St. George colours.svg St. George	Leichhardt Oval	14,000
1979	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla	22-5	File:Redcliffe colours.svg Brisbane	Leichhardt Oval	15,800
1980	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta	8-5	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	Leichhardt Oval	17,829
1981	File:South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney	10-2	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla	Leichhardt Oval	23,079
1982	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly	23-8	File:Newtown colours.svg Newtown	Leichhardt Oval	14,490
1983	File:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly	26-6	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla	Leichhardt Oval	15,086
1984	File:Redcliffe colours.svg Brisbane	12-11	File:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs	Leichhardt Oval	13,000
1985	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	14-12	File:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla	Leichhardt Oval	15,000
1986	File:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta	32-16	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	Leichhardt Oval	15,839
1987	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	14-12	File:Penrith colours.svg Penrith	Parramatta Stadium	16,823
1988	File:St. George colours.svg St. George	16-8	File:Balmain colours.svg Balmain	Parramatta Stadium	22,191
1989	File:Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane	22-20	File:Illawarra colours.svg Illawarra	Parramatta Stadium	16,698

Most NSWRL Midweek Cup Titles

Club	Titles	Years won
Balmain	3	1976, 1985, 1987
Easts (Sydney)	2	1975, 1978
Parramatta	2	1980, 1986
Manly	2	1982, 1983
Western Division	1	1974
Wests (Sydney)	1	1977
Cronulla	1	1979
Souths (Sydney)	1	1981
Brisbane (Capitals)	1	1984
St. George	1	1988
Brisbane (Broncos)	1	1989

Cup and Premiership in the Same Season

• Easts in 1975.
• Parramatta in 1986.

See also

• City Cup
• NSW Challenge Cup
• Presidents Cup (Rugby League)
• Pre-season Cup
• Tooheys Challenge Cup
• Challenge Cup
• FFA Cup