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1975–76 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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1975–76 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams22
WinnersSt. Helens
Runners-upDewsbury

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 Rec 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 Rec 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 Kingston Rovers 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 Rec 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 Rec Notes 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 Kingston Rovers 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 R.F.C. 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 sponsored 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 afternoons 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. ^ a b "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
  3. ^ "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
  4. ^ a b "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  7. ^ "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  8. ^ a b "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  9. ^ a b "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  10. ^ a b c Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  11. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.