1966–67 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1966–67 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the second occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

1966–67 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams11
WinnersCastleford
Runners-upSwinton

Castleford won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 7-2
The match was played at Wheldon Road , Castleford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 8,986 and receipts were £1,692
This was to be the second of Castleford's three victories in successive seasons in the first three Floodlit competitions

Background

This season the original eight invitees were joined by Barrow, Rochdale Hornets and Salford bringing the total of entrants up to eleven, an increase of three.
This involved the introduction of a preliminary knock-out round on a two legged home and away basis, to reduce the numbers to eight, followed by a mini-league and with the semi-finals and final stages again being on a knock out basis.

Competition and results

[1]

Preliminary round – first leg

Involved 3 matches and 6 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1Mon 15 Aug 1966Leigh11-16CastlefordHilton Park
2Tue 6 Sep 1966Swinton21-5Rochdale HornetsStation Road1
3Wed 7 Sep 1966Salford10-19St. HelensThe Willows50002[2]

Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 3 matches and 6 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1Wed 7 Sep 1966Castleford39-18LeighWheldon Road55-293
2Wed 5 Oct 1966Rochdale Hornets14-14SwintonAthletic Grounds19-354
3Mon 26 Sep 1966St. Helens40-5SalfordKnowsley Road59-1585005[2]

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
1Tue 4 Oct 1966Oldham7-10BarrowWatersheddings6
2Tue 11 Oct 1966Leeds11-11CastlefordHeadingley
3Tue 18 Oct 1966St. Helens11-9SwintonKnowsley Road8500[2]
4Tue 25 Oct 1966Warrington4-14WidnesWilderspool[3][4]

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
1Tue 1 Nov 1966Barrow11-11St. HelensCraven Park66577[2]
2Tue 8 Nov 1966Castleford31-10WarringtonWheldon Road[4]
3Tue 22 Nov 1966Widnes11-14OldhamNaughton Park[3]
4Tue 29 Nov 1966Swinton10-4LeedsStation Road

Qualifying league table

Pos Club P W D L PF PA Pts PD Notes Ref
1Castleford2114221213
2Widnes211251872
3Swinton211191542
4Barrow211211833
5St. Helens211222023
6Oldham211212102
7Leeds2111521-61
8Warrington221445-310

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

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 Castleford, Widnes, Swinton and Barrow

Round 3 – semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Tue 6 Dec 1966Castleford21-5BarrowWheldon Road
2Tue 13 Dec 1966Widnes6-19SwintonNaughton Park[3]

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Tuesday 20 December 1966Castleford7-2SwintonWheldon Road8,9861,6928[5][6]

Teams and scorers

Castleford Swinton
teams
Derek Edwards1Ken Gowers (Capt.)
Keith Howe2Derek Whitehead
Ian Stenton3John Gomersall
Ron Willett4Alan Buckley
Jack Austin5Reg Williams
Alan "Chuck" Hardisty (capt.)6Bob Fleet
Keith Hepworth7Graham Williams
Denis Hartley8Ken Halliwell
Clive Dickinson9Derek Clarke
Harold McCartney10Bernard Scott
Wiliam "Bill" Bryant11Graham Rees
Peter Small12Malcolm Cummings
John Walker13David Robinson
Glyn Jones (unused)14William Davies
Tony Miller (unused)15Barry Simpson
George ClintonCoachCliff Evans
7score2
7HT2
Scorers
Tries
Jack Austin (1)T
Goals
Ron Willett (1)GDerek Whitehead (1)
Keith Hepworth (1)G
RefereeJ Manley (Warrington)

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

[6]

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 * Rochdale Hornets join the competition and play first game in the competition
2 * Salford join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
3 * At the time this was the highest score, highest aggregate score and greatest winning margin, but to be broken three weeks later
4 * Rochdale Hornets play their first game at home in the competition
5 * At the time this was the highest score, highest aggregate score and greatest winning margin
6 * Barrow join the competition and play first game in the competition
7 * Barrow play their first game at home in the competition
8 * Wheldon Road is the home ground of Castleford. The first match was played there in 1927 and the current capacity in the region of 13,000 although the record attendance was 25,449 set in 1935 in a Challenge Cup match against Hunslet.

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. "Rugby League Project".
  2. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  3. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  4. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
  5. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
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