1967–68 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1967–68 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the third occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

1967–68 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
StructureFloodlit knockout championship
Teams18
WinnersCastleford
Runners-upLeigh

Castleford won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 8-5
The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 9,716 and receipts were £2,099
This was the third of Castleford's three victories in successive seasons in the first three Floodlit competitions

Background

This season the original eight invitees plus the three "newcomers" from last season (Barrow, Rochdale Hornets and Salford) are joined by a further seven clubs.
These are Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull FC, Hull Kingston Rovers, Keighley, Wakefield Trinity and Wigan and bring the total of entrants up to eighteen.
This involved the introduction of a preliminary knock-out round on a knock-out basis, to reduce the numbers to sixteen, followed by a straightforward knock out competition.

Competition and results

[1]

Preliminary round

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
PMon 18 Sep 1967Hull Kingston Rovers12-8Hull F.C.Craven Park (1)1 2[2]
PTue 19 Sep 1967Halifax16-0HuddersfieldThrum Hall2,6883 4[3][4]

Round 1 – first round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Mon 2 Oct 1967Wigan32-6WidnesCentral Park5[5][6]
2Tue 3 Oct 1967Salford3-5LeighThe Willows
3Mon 9 Oct 1967Halifax5-5LeedsThrum Hall
4Tue 10 Oct 1967Rochdale Hornets2-10SwintonAthletic Grounds
5Tue 17 Oct 1967Castleford18-7KeighleyWheldon Road6
6Mon 23 Oct 1967Barrow4-8WarringtonCraven Park7[7]
7Tue 24 Oct 1967Wakefield Trinity5-5Hull Kingston RoversBelle Vue8[8]
8Tue 7 Nov 1967St. Helens14-0OldhamKnowsley Road6700[9]

Round 1 – replays

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
RMon 23 Oct 1967Leeds12-7HalifaxHeadingley9
RMon 6 Nov 1967Hull Kingston Rovers13-10Wakefield TrinityCraven Park (1)[8]

Round 2 – quarter finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Tue 31 Oct 1967Leigh10-2SwintonHilton Park
2Tue 14 Nov 1967Hull Kingston Rovers12-13WarringtonCraven Park (1)[7]
3Tue 21 Nov 1967St. HelensPWiganKnowsley Road10[5][9]
4Tue 28 Nov 1967Castleford12-9LeedsWheldon Road

Round 2 – quarter finals – replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
RWed 22 Nov 1967St. Helens11-22WiganKnowsley Road15341[5][9]

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 1967Leigh10-2WiganHilton Park11[5]
2Tue 12 Dec 1967Warrington2-14CastlefordWilderspool[7]

Final
Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
FSaturday 16 January 1968Castleford8-5LeighHeadingley9,7162,09912 13[10][11]

Teams and scorers
Castleford № Leigh
teams
Derek Edwards1Tom Grainey
Dennis Harris2Rod Tickle
Tony Thomas3Gordon Lewis
Ian Stenton4Mick Collins
Ron Willett5Joseph Walsh
Alan "Chuck" Hardisty (c)6Terry Entwistle
Keith Hepworth7Alex Murphy
Dennis Hartley8Allan Whitworth
John Ward9Kevin Ashcroft
Doug Walton10Harry Major
Wiliam "Bill" Bryant11Bob Welding
Michael Redfearn12Mick Murphy
Mal Reilly13Laurie Gilfedder
Ronald Hill (unused?)14Ray Fox
Clive Dickinson (replaced injured Bill Bryant in the first half)15
George ClintonCoachAlex Murphy
8score5
6HT5
Scorers
Tries
TRod Tickle (1)
Goals
Ron Willett (4)GLaurie Gilfedder (1)
RefereeG. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)

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

[11]

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round Second round Semi-finals Final
            
Wakefield Trinity 5 (10)
Hull Kingston Rovers 5 (13)
Hull Kingston Rovers 12
Warrington 13
Barrow 4
Warrington 8
Warrington 2
Castleford 14
Castleford 18
Keighley 7
Castleford 12
Leeds 9
Halifax 5 (7)
Leeds 5 (12)
Castleford 8
Leigh 5
Salford 3
Leigh 5
Leigh 10
Swinton 2
Rochdale Hornets 2
Swinton 10
Leigh 10
Wigan 2
St. Helens 14
Oldham 0
St. Helens 11
Wigan 22
Wigan 32
Widnes 6

Notes and comments

1 * Hull F.C. join the competition and play first game in the competition
2 * Hull Kingston Rovers join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
3 * Halifax join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
4 * Huddersfield join the competition and play first game in the competition
5 * Wigan join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
6 * Keighley join the competition and play first game in the competition
7 * Warrington, one of the ten original competitors in 1965-66, win their first game in the competition
8 * Wakefield Trinity join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition
9 * Leeds, one of the ten original competitors in 1965-66, win their first game in the competition
10 * Postponed due to fog
11 * match on TV
12 * The first of only two occasions on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was played on a neutral ground
13 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.

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. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  3. HC&AC Committee (1968). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1968 (price 1/-). HC&AC Supporters' Club.
  4. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1968" (PDF).
  5. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  6. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  7. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
  8. J C Lindley and D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973. Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  9. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  10. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  11. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
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