1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	22
Winners	Salford
Runners-up	Warrington

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

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
P1	Tue 10 Sep 1974	Oldham		8-7		Hull Kingston Rovers	Watersheddings		1,381
P1	Wed 11 Sep 1974	Huddersfield		12-4		Castleford	Fartown		656
P1	Tue 17 Sep 1974	Hull F.C.		12-2		Keighley	Boulevard		1,500
P1	Tue 17 Sep 1974	St. Helens		21-12		Wakefield Trinity	Knowsley Road		3,272		1
P1	Tue 17 Sep 1974	Widnes		15-13		Barrow	Naughton Park		3,000
P1	Tue 24 Sep 1974	Leigh		19-5		Bramley	Hilton Park		2,000

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
P2	Tue 17 Sep 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		19-11		Oldham	Craven Park (1)	26-19	2,252
P2		Castleford				Huddersfield		4-12			2
P2		Keighley				Hull F.C.		2-12			2
P2	Tue 24 Sep 1974	Wakefield Trinity		18-15		St. Helens	Belle Vue	30-36	2,583
P2	Tue 1 Oct 1974	Barrow		3-8		Widnes	Craven Park	16-23	870
P2	Wed 2 Oct 1974	Bramley		15-9		Leigh	McLaren Field	20-28	1.100

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 1 Oct 1974	Warrington		10-5		Swinton	Wilderspool	3,552
2	Tue 8 Oct 1974	Halifax		15-4		Whitehaven	Thrum Hall	750
3	Tue 15 Oct 1974	St. Helens		30-2		Leeds	Knowsley Road	3,576		4
4	Tue 22 Oct 1974	Dewsbury		8-14		Leigh	Crown Flatt	1,400		5
5	Wed 23 Oct 1974	New Hunslet		12-5		Widnes	Elland Road Greyhound Stadium	1,250		6
6	Tue 29 Oct 1974	Salford		16-2		Huddersfield	The Willows	2,926
7	Wed 30 Oct 1974	Hull Kingston Rovers		20-10		Wigan	Craven Park (1)	2,009
8	Wed 30 Oct 1974	Rochdale Hornets		14-4		Hull F.C.	Athletic Grounds	780

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 5 Nov 1974	Warrington		36-17		New Hunslet	Wilderspool	2,144
2	Tue 12 Nov 1974	St. Helens		7-11		Salford	Knowsley Road	4,474		7
3	Tue 19 Nov 1974	Leigh		8-0		Rochdale Hornets	Hilton Park	2,000
4	Tue 26 Nov 1974	Halifax		24-28		Hull Kingston Rovers	Thrum Hall	752

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 3 Dec 1974	Salford		27-10		Hull Kingston Rovers	The Willows	3,727		3
2	Tue 10 Dec 1974	Warrington		32-0		Leigh	Wilderspool	2,495		3

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
F	Tuesday 17 December 1974	Salford		0-0		Warrington	The Willows	4,473	1913	3 8 9

Final - Replay

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Tuesday 28 January 1975	Warrington		5-10		Salford	Wilderspool	5,778	2434	a b c

Teams and Scorers

Salford	No	Warrington
	teams
Paul Charlton	1	Derek Whitehead
Keith Fielding	2	Dave Sutton
Chris Hesketh	3	Dave Cunliffe
Gordon Graham	4	Alan Whittle
Maurice Richards	5	John Bevan
Tom Brophy	6	Derek Noonan
Peter Banner	7	Parry Gordon
Mike Coulman	8	David "Dave" Chisnall
Devlin	9	Kevin Ashcroft
Alan Grice	10	Dave Wright or Gilly Wright
John Knighton	11	Wayne Gaskell
Colin Dixon	12	Tommy Conroy
Eric Prescott	13	Barry Philbin
??	Coach	Alex Murphy
0	score	0
0	HT	0
Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Replay
	teams
Stead	1	Dave Cunliffe
Keith Fielding	2	Derek Whitehead
Chris Hesketh	3	Billy Pickup
David Watkins	4	Alan Whittle
Maurice Richards	5	John Bevan
Ken Gill	6	Derek Noonan
Peter Banner	7	Parry Gordon
Alan Grice	8	David "Dave" Chisnall
Walker	9	Kevin Ashcroft
Mackay	10	Robert "Bobby" Wanbon
Colin Dixon	11	Wayne Gaskell
John Knighton	12	Mike Nicholas
Eric Prescott	13	Barry Philbin
	14	Wilf Briggs (for Derek Noonan)
?	15	Brian Brady (for Mike Nicholas)
??	Coach	Alex Murphy
10	0	5
10	0	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Keith Fielding (1) (Note a)	T	John Bevan (1)
Maurice Richards (1)	T
	Goals
David Watkins (2)	G	Derek Whitehead (1)
Referee		William "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 Kingston Rovers		10
	Halifax		15
	Whitehaven		4
						Halifax		24
						Hull Kingston Rovers		28
	Hull Kingston Rovers		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 gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St. Helens archives 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 gives the attendance as 3,600, but the official St. Helens archives 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 gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St. Helens archives gives it as 4,474
8 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991 and 1991-92 and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects as gives it 4,473 but the John Player Yearbook 1975–76 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 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
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 and 1991-92 and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects xxx as gives it 5,578 but the John Player Yearbook 1975–76 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

• 1974–75 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1974 Lancashire Cup
• 1974 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
• Huddersfield R L Heritage