1974 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1974-75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure Floodlit knockout championship
Number of teams 22
Winners Salford
Runners-up Warrington
< 1973 Seasons 1975 >

1974 was the tenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year there was another new name on the trophy when Salford won the trophy by beating Warrington by the score of 10-5 in a replay.
The final was played at The Willows, Salford, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 4,473, receipts were £1913 and the score 0-0
The replay was at Wilderspool. The attendance was 5,778, receipts were £2434 and the score 10-5
This was the first (and only) Floodlit final to require a replay after a drawn first match

Background

This season saw New Hunslet join the competition, which increased the number of entrants by one, to a new high total of twenty-two.
The format remained the same as the last season with the preliminary round (generally) played on a two-legged home and away basis and the rest of the tournament being played on a knock-out basis. The exceptions to the two-legged preliminary rounds were the two matches where the four clubs had agreed to play a sudden-death match to avoid fixture congestion
The preliminary round now involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.

Competition and Results[1][2][3]

Preliminary Round - First Leg

Involved 6 matches and 12 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
P1Tue 10 Sep 1974Oldham8-7Hull KRWatersheddings1,381
P1Wed 11 Sep 1974Huddersfield12-4CastlefordFartown656[4]
P1Tue 17 Sep 1974Hull F.C.12-2KeighleyBoulevard1,500[5]
P1Tue 17 Sep 1974St Helens21-12Wakefield TrinityKnowsley Road3,2721[6][7]
P1Tue 17 Sep 1974Widnes15-13BarrowNaughton Park3,000[8]
P1Tue 24 Sep 1974Leigh19-5BramleyHilton Park2,000

Preliminary Round - Second Leg

Involved 4 matches and the same 8 Clubs in reverse fixtures (the other two matches were on a single leg basis)

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
P2Tue 17 Sep 1974Hull KR19-11OldhamCraven Park (1)26-192,252
P2CastlefordHuddersfield4-122[4]
P2KeighleyHull F.C.2-122[5]
P2Tue 24 Sep 1974Wakefield Trinity18-15St HelensBelle Vue30-362,583[6][7]
P2Tue 1 Oct 1974Barrow3-8WidnesCraven Park16-23870[8]
P2Wed 2 Oct 1974Bramley15-9LeighMcLaren Field20-281.100

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Tue 1 Oct 1974Warrington10-5SwintonWilderspool3,552[9]
2Tue 8 Oct 1974Halifax15-4WhitehavenThrum Hall750
3Tue 15 Oct 1974St Helens30-2LeedsKnowsley Road3,5764[7]
4Tue 22 Oct 1974Dewsbury8-14LeighCrown Flatt1,4005
5Wed 23 Oct 1974New Hunslet12-5WidnesElland Road Greyhound Stadium1,2506[8]
6Tue 29 Oct 1974Salford16-2HuddersfieldThe Willows2,926[4]
7Wed 30 Oct 1974Hull KR20-10WiganCraven Park (1)2,009[10]
8Wed 30 Oct 1974Rochdale Hornets14-4Hull F.C.Athletic Grounds780[5]

Round 2 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Tue 5 Nov 1974Warrington36-17New HunsletWilderspool2,144[9]
2Tue 12 Nov 1974St Helens7-11SalfordKnowsley Road4,4747[7]
3Tue 19 Nov 1974Leigh8-0Rochdale HornetsHilton Park2,000
4Tue 26 Nov 1974Halifax24-28Hull KRThrum Hall752

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Tue 3 Dec 1974Salford27-10Hull KRThe Willows3,7273
2Tue 10 Dec 1974Warrington32-0LeighWilderspool2,4953[9]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
FTuesday 17 December 1974Salford0-0WarringtonThe Willows4,47319133 8 9[9][11][12][13]

Final - Replay

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
RTuesday 28 January 1975Warrington5-10SalfordWilderspool5,7782434a b c[9][11][12][13]

Teams and Scorers[2][11]

Salford No Warrington
teams
Paul Charlton1Derek Whitehead
Keith Fielding2Dave Sutton
Chris Hesketh3Dave Cunliffe
Gordon Graham4Alan Whittle
Maurice Richards5John Bevan
Tom Brophy6Derek Noonan
Peter Banner7Parry Gordon
Mike Coulman8David "Dave" Chisnall
Devlin9Kevin Ashcroft
Alan Grice10Dave Wright or Gilly Wright
John Knighton11Wayne Gaskell
Colin Dixon12Tommy Conroy
Eric Prescott13Barry Philbin
??CoachAlex Murphy
0score0
0HT0
RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Replay
teams
Stead1Dave Cunliffe
Keith Fielding2Derek Whitehead
Chris Hesketh3Billy Pickup
David Watkins4Alan Whittle
Maurice Richards5John Bevan
Ken Gill6Derek Noonan
Peter Banner7Parry Gordon
Alan Grice8David "Dave" Chisnall
Walker9Kevin Ashcroft
Mackay10Robert "Bobby" Wanbon
Colin Dixon11Wayne Gaskell
John Knighton12Mike Nicholas
Eric Prescott13Barry Philbin
14Wilf Briggs (for Derek Noonan)
?15Brian Brady (for Mike Nicholas)
??CoachAlex Murphy
1005
1002
Scorers
Tries
Keith Fielding (1) (Note a)TJohn Bevan (1)
Maurice Richards (1)T
Goals
David Watkins (2)GDerek Whitehead (1)
RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)

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
            
St Helens 30
Leeds 2
St Helens 7
Salford 11
Salford 16
Huddersfield 2
Salford 27
Hull KR 10
Halifax 15
Whitehaven 4
Halifax 24
Hull KR 28
Hull KR 20
Wigan 10
Salford 0 (10)
Warrington 0 (5)
Warrington 10
Swinton 5
Warrington 36
New Hunslet 17
New Hunslet 12
Widnes 5
Warrington 32
Leigh 0
Dewsbury 8
Leigh 14
Leigh 8
Rochdale Hornets 0
Rochdale Hornets 14
Hull F.C. 4

Notes and comments

1 * The John Player Yearbook 1975-76[2] gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St Helens archives [7] gives it as 3,272
2 * No return leg - both teams agreed to a singlr sudden-death match to avoid fixture congestion
3 * This match was televised
4 * The John Player Yearbook 1975-76[2] gives the attendance as 3,600, but the official St Helens archives [7] gives it as 3,576
5 * Dewsbury, who joined the competition in season 1973-74, play their first game at home in the competition
6 * New Hunslet join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
7 * The John Player Yearbook 1975-76[2] gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St Helens archives [7] gives it as 4,474
8 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[11] and 1991-92[12] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] as gives it 4,473 but the John Player Yearbook 1975-76[2] as 4,479
9 * The Willows was the home ground of Salford with a final capacity of 11,363 which included 2,500 seats. The record attendance was 26,470 on the 13 February 1937 in the Challenge Cup first round match vs Warrington. The final match played on 11 September 2011 at The Willows attracted 10,146 spectators to a Super League match which saw Salford lose 18-44 to Catalans Dragons, a record for a Salford home match in Super League[14]
a * An unusual occurrence, a "seven point try", Salford's first score was a try by winger Keith Fielding, converted by David Watkins, followed by a penalty goal kicked by David Watkins awarded because Fielding had been fouled after scoring.
b * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[11] and 1991-92[12] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects xxx as gives it 5,578 but the John Player Yearbook 1975-76[2] as 5,748
c * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 to the end of the 2003 Summer season when they moved into the new purpose built Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained as a sports/Ruugby League ground and is/was used by Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club.
The ground had a final capacity of 9,000 although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup third round match on 13 March 1948 when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington lose to Wigan 10-13.

General information for those unfamiliar

The Rugby League BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was a knock-out competition sposored 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 afternoonns 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. 1 2 "Rugby League Project".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0362 002 23 1.
  3. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
  4. 1 2 3 "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  5. 1 2 3 "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. 1 2 "I'm Wakefield 'til I die...".
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  8. 1 2 3 "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
  10. ↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  13. 1 2 Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974-75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.
  14. ↑ "BBC Salford v Catalan Dragons Sept 2011".

External links

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