1975 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1975-76 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Structure

Floodlit knockout championship

Number of teams

Winners

Runners-up

< 1974	Seasons	1976 >

1975 was the eleventh occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

St Helens won the trophy by beating Dewsbury by the score of 22-2
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 3,858, and the receipts were £1,747

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at twenty-two.
The format was again changed slightly, in that the preliminary round as well as the remainder of the tournament was played on a knock-out basis.
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]

Preliminary Round

Involved 6 matches and 12 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

P	Sun 14 Sep 1975	Dewsbury	7-3	Wakefield Trinity	Crown Flatt		1	^[3]
P	Sun 14 Sep 1975	Halifax	6-32	Bramley	Thrum Hall
P	Tue 23 Sep 1975	Swinton	6-12	Warrington	Station Road			^[4]
P	Wed 24 Sep 1975	Leeds	21-10	Castleford	Headingley
P	Tue 30 Sep 1975	Wigan	14-14	Salford	Central Park			^[5]
P	Wed 8 Oct 1975	Rochdale Hornets	7-15	St Helens	Athletic Grounds	805		^[6]

Preliminary Round - Replays

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	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

R	Tue 7 Oct 1975	Salford		19-25		Wigan	The Willows				^[5]

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Tue 30 Sep 1975	Oldham	16-10	Widnes	Watersheddings			^[7]
2	Tue 7 Oct 1975	Dewsbury	22-10	Keighley	Crown Flatt
3	Tue 7 Oct 1975	Hull KR	11-12	Huddersfield	Craven Park (1)			^[8]
4	Tue 14 Oct 1975	Barrow	12-7	Leigh	Craven Park (1)
5	Tue 21 Oct 1975	Hull F.C.	18-11	Bramley	Boulevard			^[9]
6	Tue 21 Oct 1975	New Hunslet	9-10	Leeds	Elland Road Greyhound Stadium
7	Wed 22 Oct 1975	St Helens	38-10	Whitehaven	Knowsley Road	2,600		^[6]
8	Tue 28 Oct 1975	Warrington	8-14	Wigan	Wilderspool		2	^[4]^[5]

Round 2 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Tue 4 Nov 1975	Leeds	17-10	Wigan	Headingley		2	^[5]
2	Tue 11 Nov 1975	Oldham	9-11	Dewsbury	Watersheddings
3	Tue 18 Nov 1975	St Helens	36-13	Hull F.C.	Knowsley Road	2,500		^[6]^[9]
4	Tue 25 Nov 1975	Barrow	14-0	Huddersfield	Craven Park			^[8]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Ref

1	Tue 2 Dec 1975	St Helens	11-9	Barrow	Knowsley Road	2.000	^[6]
2	Tue 9 Dec 1975	Dewsbury	7-0	Leeds	Crown Flatt

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

F	Tuesday 16 December 1975	St Helens		22-2		Dewsbury	Knowsley Road	3,858	1747	2 3 4	^[6]^[10]^[11]

Teams and Scorers^[6]^[10]

St Helens	№	Dewsbury

	teams
Geoff Pimblett	1	Langley
Les Jones	2	Hegarty
Billy Benyon	3	Chalkley
David Hull	4	Simpson
Roy Mathias	5	Mitchell
Frank Wilson	6	Nigel Stephenson
Jeff Heaton	7	Alan Bates
John Mantle	8	Harry Beverley
Anthony "Tony" Karalius	9	Price
Mel James	10	Hankins
George Nicholls	11	Halloran
Eric Chisnall	12	Bell
Kel Coslett	13	Jeff Grayshon
Eric Ashton	Coach	??

22	score	2
11	HT	0

	Scorers
	Tries
Billy Benyon (1)	T
David Hull (1)	T
Roy Mathias (2)	T
Frank Wilson (1)	T
	Goals
Kel Coslett (1)	G	Nigel Stephenson (1)
Geoff Pimblett (2)	G
	Drop Goals
Jeff Heaton (1)	DG
Referee		W H (Billy) 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	38

Whitehaven	10
		St Helens	36

		Hull F.C.	13
Hull F.C.	18

Bramley	11
				St Helens	11

				Barrow	9
Barrow	12

Leigh	7
		Barrow	14

		Huddersfield	0
Hull KR	11

Huddersfield	12
						St Helens	22

						Dewsbury	2
Oldham	16

Widnes	10
		Oldham	9

		Dewsbury	11
Dewsbury	22

Keighley	10
				Dewsbury	7

				Leeds	0
New Hunslet	9

Leeds	10
		Leeds	17

		Wigan	10
Warrington	8

Wigan	14

Notes and comments

1 * Dewsbury, who joined the competition in season 1973-74, win their first game in the competition
2 * This match was televised
3 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991^[10] and 1991-92^[11] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects^[1] gives the attendance as 3,858 but theofficial St Helens archives^[6] give it as 3,850
4 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens RLFC 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 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)

References

1 2 "Rugby League Project".
↑ "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
↑ "I'm Wakefield 'til I die...".
1 2 "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
1 2 3 4 "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
↑ "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
1 2 "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
1 2 "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
1 2 3 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
1 2 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links

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