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1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams22
WinnersSalford
Runners-upWarrington

1974 was the tenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held. A new name was put on the trophy when Salford won 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[1][2][3]

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 [4]
P1 Tue 17 Sep 1974 Hull F.C. 12-2 Keighley Boulevard 1,500 [5]
P1 Tue 17 Sep 1974 St. Helens 21-12 Wakefield Trinity Knowsley Road 3,272 1 [6][7]
P1 Tue 17 Sep 1974 Widnes 15-13 Barrow Naughton Park 3,000 [8]
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 [4]
P2 Keighley Hull F.C. 2-12 2 [5]
P2 Tue 24 Sep 1974 Wakefield Trinity 18-15 St. Helens Belle Vue 30-36 2,583 [6][7]
P2 Tue 1 Oct 1974 Barrow 3-8 Widnes Craven Park 16-23 870 [8]
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 [9]
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 [7]
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 [8]
6 Tue 29 Oct 1974 Salford 16-2 Huddersfield The Willows 2,926 [4]
7 Wed 30 Oct 1974 Hull Kingston Rovers 20-10 Wigan Craven Park (1) 2,009 [10]
8 Wed 30 Oct 1974 Rochdale Hornets 14-4 Hull F.C. Athletic Grounds 780 [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 5 Nov 1974 Warrington 36-17 New Hunslet Wilderspool 2,144 [9]
2 Tue 12 Nov 1974 St. Helens 7-11 Salford Knowsley Road 4,474 7 [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 [9]

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 [9][11][12][13]

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 [9][11][12][13]

Teams and Scorers

[2][11]

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
Ellis 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[2] gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St. Helens archives [7] gives it as 3,272
2 * No return leg - both teams agreed to a single sudden-death match to avoid fixture congestion
3 * This match was televised
4 * The John Player Yearbook 1975–76[2] gives the attendance as 3,600, but the official St. Helens archives [7] 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[2] gives the attendance as 3,500, but the official St. Helens archives [7] gives it as 4,474
8 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[11] and 1991-92[12] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] as gives it 4,473 but the John Player Yearbook 1975–76[2] 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[14]
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[11] and 1991-92[12] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects xxx as gives it 5,578 but the John Player Yearbook 1975–76[2] 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 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. ^ a b c d e f g Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0362 002 23 1.
  3. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
  4. ^ a b c "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  5. ^ a b c "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  6. ^ a b "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  8. ^ a b c "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  9. ^ a b c d e "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  10. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  11. ^ a b c d e Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  12. ^ a b c d Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  13. ^ a b Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.
  14. ^ "BBC Salford v Catalan (sic) Dragons Sept 2011".
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