1978 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1978-79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Structure

Floodlit knockout championship

Number of teams

Winners

Runners-up

< 1977	Seasons	1979 >

1978 was the fourteenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

This year, previous two times runner-up Widnes, won the trophy by beating last year's winners and cup holders St Helens by the score of 13-7
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,250, 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	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 KR	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	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 KR	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	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 KR	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 KR		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	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
Peter Shaw	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
Alan Dearden	12	John Knighton
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 KR	21
		Hull KR	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 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 3 "Rugby League Project".
1 2 3 "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
1 2 3 4 "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
↑ "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
↑ "I'm Wakefield 'til I die...".
1 2 "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
1 2 3 "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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