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1965–66 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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1965-66 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams8
WinnersCastleford
Runners-upSt Helens

1965 was the inaugural season of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition.

Castleford winning the trophy by beating St Helens by the score of 4-0
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 11,510 and receipts were £3,548
This was to be the first of Castleford's three victories in successive seasons in the first three Floodlit competitions

Background

This season there were a total of only eight teams entering, all by invite, playing a total of eleven matches for which the BBC paid the RFL a grand total of £9,000.00.
The entrants included the seven clubs with permanent floodlights, Castleford, Leigh, Oldham, St Helens, Swinton, Warrington and Widnes together with Leeds, who installed floodlights in September 1966.
The competition was played in the form of a mini-league with the semi-finals and final stages being on a knock out basis.

Competition and Results[1]

Round 1 - First Qualifying Round

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 6 Oct 1965 St Helens 25-19 Leigh Knowsley Road 13000 [2][3]
2 Tue 12 Oct 1965 Warrington 10-20 Widnes Wilderspool [4][5]
3 Tue 19 Oct 1965 Swinton 21-5 Oldham Station Road
4 Tue 26 Oct 1965 Castleford 7-7 Leeds Wheldon Road

Round 2 - Second Qualifying Round

Involved 4 matches with the same 8 clubs - but NOT reverse fixtures


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 2 Nov 1965 Leigh 13-9 Warrington Hilton Park [4]
2 Tue 9 Nov 1965 Widnes 19-8 Swinton Naughton Park [5]
3 Tue 16 Nov 1965 St Helens 21-9 Leeds Knowsley Road 5600 [2]
4 Tue 25 Nov 1965 Oldham 4-6 Castleford Watersheddings

Qualifying League Table


Pos Club P W D L PF PA Pts PD Notes Ref
1 Widnes 2 2 39 18 4 21
2 St Helens 2 2 46 28 4 18
3 Swinton 2 1 1 29 24 2 5
4 Castleford 2 1 1 13 11 3 2
5 Leigh 2 1 1 32 34 2 -2
6 Leeds 2 1 1 16 28 1 -12
7 Warrington 2 2 19 33 0 -14
8 Oldham 2 2 9 27 0 -18

Pos = Finishing position P = Games played W = Wins D = Drqw L = Lose
PF = Points scored PA = Points against Pts = League points PD = Points scored difference

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

To Progress to the next stage

The rules stated that the four clubs with the greatest total winning margins were to qualify, and proceed, to the semi-final.
The four clubs in this case were Widnes, St Helens, Swinton and Castleford


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 30 Nov 1965 Widnes 9-12 Castleford Naughton Park [5]
2 Tue 7 Dec 1965 St Helens 9-5 Swinton Knowsley Road 9000 [2]

Final


Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Tuesday 14 December 1965 St Helens 0-4 Castleford Knowsley Road 11,510 £3,548 1 [2][6][7]

Teams and Scorers[2][7]

Castleford № St Helens
teams
Derek Edwards 1 Frank Barrow
Colin Battye 2 Tom van Vollenhoven
Malcolm Battye 3 David Wood
Ron Willett 4 Billy Benyon
Trevor Briggs 5 Len Killeen
Alan "Chuck" Hardisty 6 Alex Murphy
Roger Millward 7 Bob Prosser
Abe Terry 8 Ray French
John Ward 9 Robert "Bob" Dagnall
Clive Dickinson 10 Cliff Watson
Wiliam "Bill" Bryant 11 Merv Hicks
John Taylor 12 John Mantle
Peter Small 13 Doug Laughton
George Clinton Coach Joe Coen
4 score 0
2 HT 0
Scorers
Goals
Ron Willett (2) G
Referee Laurie Gant (Wakefield)

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The Play-offs

Semi-Finals Final
      
2 St Helens 9
3 Swinton 5
St Helens 0
Castleford 4
1 Widnes 9
4 Castleford 12

Notes and comments

1 * 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)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d e "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  3. ^ Club Programme dept. Match Programme. St Helens RLFC.
  4. ^ a b "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".
  5. ^ a b c "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  6. ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  7. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
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