1978–79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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1978–79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams22
WinnersWidnes
Runners-upSt. Helens

The 1978–79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the 14th staging of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition, and was held in 1978.

Previous two times runner-up Widnes won the trophy by beating the previous year's winners and cup holders St. Helens by 13-7. The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. 10,250 fans attended, and the receipts were £7,017.

Background[]

This season Batley dropped out after only one season, but Bramley returned; thus the number of entrants remaining the same at twenty-two.
The format remained as a knock-out competition from the preliminary round through to the final.
The preliminary round involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.

Competition and results[]

[1][2]

Preliminary round[]

Involved 6 matches and 12 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
P Sat 26 Aug 1978 Leeds 47-11 Bramley Headingley 10099 1 2
P Sun 27 Aug 1978 Barrow 17-11 Oldham Craven Park
P Sun 27 Aug 1978 Wigan 27-10 Swinton Central Park [3]
P Tue 5 Sep 1978 Hull Kingston Rovers 39-2 New Hunslet Craven Park (1)
P Tue 5 Sep 1978 Keighley 10-0 Dewsbury Lawkholme Lane
P Tue 12 Sep 1978 St. Helens 13-9 Warrington Knowsley Road 5,000 [4][5]

Round 1 – first round[]

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 26 Sep 1978 Castleford 20-11 Wakefield Trinity Wheldon Road 3 [6]
2 Thu 28 Sep 1978 Barrow 17-5 Leigh Craven Park
3 Tue 3 Oct 1978 Halifax 12-21 Hull Kingston Rovers Thrum Hall 3
4 Tue 3 Oct 1978 Keighley 15-25 Huddersfield Lawkholme Lane [7]
5 Tue 3 Oct 1978 Widnes 17-13 Whitehaven Naughton Park [8]
6 Tue 10 Oct 1978 Leeds 8-14 Hull F.C. Headingley [9]
7 Tue 17 Oct 1978 Salford 15-17 St. Helens The Willows 4,632 3 [5]
8 Tue 24 Oct 1978 Wigan 13-2 Rochdale Hornets Central Park 3 4 [3]

Round 2 – quarter finals[]

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 31 Oct 1978 Barrow 0-6 Hull F.C. Craven Park [9]
2 Tue 7 Nov 1978 St. Helens 47-5 Castleford Knowsley Road 4,247 5 [5]
3 Wed 15 Nov 1978 Rochdale Hornets 10-9 Huddersfield Athletic Grounds [3][7]
4 Tue 21 Nov 1978 Hull Kingston Rovers P Widnes Craven Park (1) 6 [8]

Round 2 -Quarter Finals – replay[]

Involved 1 matches and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Tue 21 Nov 1978 Hull Kingston Rovers 10-13 Widnes Craven Park (1) [8]

Round 3 – semi-finals[]

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 28 Nov 1978 Hull F.C. 5-13 St. Helens Boulevard 8,428 3 [5][9]
2 Tue 05 Dec 1978 Rochdale Hornets P Widnes Athletic Grounds 7 [8]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals – replay[]

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
R Fri 08 Dec 1978 Rochdale Hornets 9-26 Widnes Athletic Grounds [8]

Final[]

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
F Tuesday 12 December 1978 St. Helens 7-13 Widnes Knowsley Road 10,250 7,017 3 8 9 [5][8][10][11]

Teams and scorers[]

[5][8][10]

Widnes № St. Helens
teams
David Eckersley 1 Geoff Pimblett
Stuart Wright 2 Les Jones
Eric Hughes 3 Peter Glynn
Mal Aspey 4 Eddie Cunningham
5 Roy Mathias
Mick Burke 6 Bill Francis
Reg Bowden 7 Neil Holding
Brian Hogan 8 David "Dave" Chisnall
Keith Elwell 9 Graham Liptrot
Jim Mills 10 Mel James
Mick Adams 11 George Nicholls
12
Doug Laughton 13 Harry Pinner
Doug Laughton Coach Eric Ashton
13 score 7
8 HT 5
Scorers
Tries
Stuart Wright (2) T David "Dave" Chisnall (1)
Mick Burke (1) T
Goals
Mick Burke (2) G Geoff Pimblett (2)
Referee J McDonald (Wigan)

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The road to success[]

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First Round Second Round Semi Finals Final
            
Barrow 17
Leigh 5
Barrow 0
Hull F.C. 6
Leeds 8
Hull F.C. 14
Hull F.C. 5
St. Helens 13
Salford 15
St. Helens 17
St. Helens 47
Castleford 5
Castleford 20
Wakefield Trinity 11
St. Helens 7
Widnes 13
Wigan 13
Rochdale Hornets 2
Rochdale Hornets 10
Huddersfield 9
Keighley 15
Huddersfield 25
Rochdale Hornets 9
Widnes 26
Halifax 12
Hull Kingston Rovers 21
Hull Kingston Rovers 10
Widnes 13
Widnes 17
Whitehaven 13

Notes and comments[]

1 * At the time this was the second highest score, only to be equalled about two months later in the Second Round
2 * The RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] gives the attendance as 10,099 but this appears to be the attendance at the previous year's final added in error
3 * This match was televised
4 * The Wigan archives[3] state "Wigan were kicked out the competition for playing Steve Breheny (who was at the time suspended) in the last round". For fuller details see the report on the website[2]
5 * At the time this equalled the second highest score
6 * Postponed due to pending court case brought by Wigan against the RFL[2]
7 * Postponed
8 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991[10] and 1991-92[11] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] gives the attendance as 10,250 but the official St. Helens archives[5] give it as 10,500
9 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens R.F.C. from 1890 until its closure in 2010. The final capacity was 17,500 although the record attendance was 35,695 set on 26 December 1949 for a league game between St Helens and Wigan.

General information for those unfamiliar[]

The Rugby League BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was a knock-out competition sponsored by the BBC and between rugby league clubs, entrance to which was conditional upon the club having floodlights. Most matches were played on an evening, and those of which the second half was televised, were played on a Tuesday evening.
Despite the competition being named as 'Floodlit', many matches took place during the afternoons and not under floodlights, and several of the entrants, including Barrow and Bramley did not have adequate lighting. And, when in 1973, due to the world oil crisis, the government restricted the use of floodlights in sport, all the matches, including the Trophy final, had to be played in the afternoon rather than at night.
The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final taking place in December (The only exception to this was when disruption of the fixture list was caused by inclement weather)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
  3. ^ a b c d "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  4. ^ "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  6. ^ "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
  7. ^ a b "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  9. ^ a b c "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  10. ^ a b c Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  11. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links[]

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