1976 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1976-77 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Structure

Floodlit knockout championship

Number of teams

Winners

Runners-up

< 1975	Seasons	1977 >

1976 was the twelfth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

Castleford won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 12-4 (away from home on the opponent's own ground)
The match was played at Hilton Park, Leigh, now in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 5,402, and the receipts were £2.793
Castleford had won the first three BBC2 Floodlit Trophy finals, this brought the wins up to four

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at twenty-two.
The format remained as used in last season's tournament, i.e. 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	Notes	Ref

P	Sun 29 Aug 1976	Rochdale Hornets	2-5	Widnes	Athletic Grounds		^[3]
P	Wed 8 Sep 1976	Halifax	19-25	Hull F.C.	Thrum Hall		^[4]
P	Tue 14 Sep 1976	Hull KR	19-12	Dewsbury	Craven Park (1)
P	Tue 14 Sep 1976	Leigh	11-10	Warrington	Hilton Park		^[5]
P	Tue 14 Sep 1976	Wakefield Trinity	20-5	Bramley	Belle Vue		^[6]
P	Tue 14 Sep 1976	Whitehaven	25-11	Barrow	Recreation Ground	1

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 28 Sep 1976	Huddersfield	5-2	Wakefield Trinity	Fartown			^[7]
2	Tue 28 Sep 1976	Leigh	22-18	Salford	Hilton Park
3	Tue 5 Oct 1976	Castleford	16-8	Hull KR	Wheldon Road
4	Tue 5 Oct 1976	Keighley	2-16	Hull F.C.	Lawkholme Lane			^[4]
5	Tue 5 Oct 1976	Whitehaven	3-21	Oldham	Recreation Ground
6	Tue 12 Oct 1976	Widnes	13-14	Wigan	Naughton Park		2	^[3]^[8]
7	Tue 19 Oct 1976	Leeds	22-10	New Hunslet	Headingley
8	Tue 26 Oct 1976	Swinton	15-22	St Helens	Station Road	1,265		^[9]

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 2 Nov 1976	Hull F.C.	6-0	Oldham	Boulevard			^[4]
2	Tue 9 Nov 1976	Leeds	2-17	Castleford	Headingley
3	Tue 16 Nov 1976	Huddersfield	9-7	St Helens	Fartown	1,787		^[7]^[9]
4	Tue 23 Nov 1976	Leigh	12-5	Wigan	Hilton Park		2	^[8]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Ref

1	Tue 30 Nov 1976	Leigh	19-10	Huddersfield	Hilton Park	^[7]
2	Tue 7 Dec 1976	Hull F.C.	8-15	Castleford	Boulevard	^[4]

Final

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

F	Tuesday 14 December 1976	Leigh		4-12		Castleford	Hilton Park	5,402	2.793	2 3	^[10]^[11]

Teams and Scorers^[10]

Castleford	№	Leigh

	teams
Geoff Wraith	1	Hogan
Steve Fenton	2	A Prescott
John Joyner	3	Stacey
Philip Johnson	4	John Woods
Jamie Walsh	5	Joseph "Joe" Walsh
Bruce Burton	6	Taylor
Gary Stephens	7	Sayer
Paul Kahn	8	David "Dave" Chisnall
Robert Spurr	9	Kevin Ashcroft
Alan Dickinson	10	Fletcher
Malcolm "Mal" Reilly	11	Macko
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd	12	Grimes
Steve 'Knocker' Norton	13	Boyd
Malcolm "Mal" Reilly	Coach	Kevin Ashcroft

12	score	4
0	HT	1

	Scorers
	Tries
Jamie Walsh (1)	T
Bruce Burton (1)	T
	Goals
Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd (3)	G
	Drop Goals
	DG	Kevin Ashcroft (1)
Referee		J E Jackson (Pudsey)

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


Leigh	22

Salford	18
		Leigh	12

		Wigan	5
Widnes	13

Wigan	14
				Leigh	19

				Huddersfield	10
Huddersfield	5

Wakefield Trinity	2
		Huddersfield	9

		St Helens	7
Swinton	16

St Helens	22
						Leigh	4

						Castleford	12
Keighley	2

Hull F.C.	16
		Hull F.C.	6

		Oldham	0
Whitehaven	3

Oldham	21
				Hull F.C.	8

				Castleford	15
Leeds	22

New Hunslet	10
		Leeds	2

		Castleford	17
Castleford	16

Hull KR	8

Notes and comments

1 * Whitehaven, who joined the competition in season 1973-74, play their first game at home in the competition - they also win their first game in the competition
2 * This match was televised
3 * Hilton Park was the home ground of Leigh from 1947 to 2008. The final capacity was in the region of 11,000, much less than the record attendance of 31,326, set in 1953 for a Challenge Cup match v St Helens

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

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