The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part.
The same fixture format was retained, but due to the number of participating clubs, this resulted in one “blank” or “dummy” fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round.
1 * News of the World Football annual of 1976–77[3] has the score as 17-11 - other publications and archived records e.g. Widnes[7] official archives have the score as 16-11
2 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-92[8] gives the attendance as 7,566 - RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] give the attendance as 9,399
3 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959