1967 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

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

1967–68 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Castleford
Runners-up	Leigh

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
P	Mon 18 Sep 1967	Hull Kingston Rovers		12-8		Hull F.C.	Craven Park (1)			1 2	[2]
P	Tue 19 Sep 1967	Halifax		16-0		Huddersfield	Thrum Hall	2,688		3 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
1	Mon 2 Oct 1967	Wigan		32-6		Widnes	Central Park			5	[5][6]
2	Tue 3 Oct 1967	Salford		3-5		Leigh	The Willows
3	Mon 9 Oct 1967	Halifax		5-5		Leeds	Thrum Hall
4	Tue 10 Oct 1967	Rochdale Hornets		2-10		Swinton	Athletic Grounds
5	Tue 17 Oct 1967	Castleford		18-7		Keighley	Wheldon Road			6
6	Mon 23 Oct 1967	Barrow		4-8		Warrington	Craven Park			7	[7]
7	Tue 24 Oct 1967	Wakefield Trinity		5-5		Hull Kingston Rovers	Belle Vue			8	[8]
8	Tue 7 Nov 1967	St. Helens		14-0		Oldham	Knowsley Road	6700			[9]

Round 1 – replays

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Mon 23 Oct 1967	Leeds		12-7		Halifax	Headingley			9
R	Mon 6 Nov 1967	Hull Kingston Rovers		13-10		Wakefield Trinity	Craven 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
1	Tue 31 Oct 1967	Leigh		10-2		Swinton	Hilton Park
2	Tue 14 Nov 1967	Hull Kingston Rovers		12-13		Warrington	Craven Park (1)				[7]
3	Tue 21 Nov 1967	St. Helens		P		Wigan	Knowsley Road			10	[5][9]
4	Tue 28 Nov 1967	Castleford		12-9		Leeds	Wheldon 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
R	Wed 22 Nov 1967	St. Helens		11-22		Wigan	Knowsley Road	15341			[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
1	Tue 6 Dec 1967	Leigh		10-2		Wigan	Hilton Park			11	[5]
2	Tue 12 Dec 1967	Warrington		2-14		Castleford	Wilderspool				[7]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
F	Saturday 16 January 1968	Castleford		8-5		Leigh	Headingley	9,716	2,099	12 13	[10][11]

Teams and scorers

Castleford	№	Leigh
	teams
Derek Edwards	1	Tom Grainey
Dennis Harris	2	Rod Tickle
Tony Thomas	3	Gordon Lewis
Ian Stenton	4	Mick Collins
Ron Willett	5	Joseph Walsh
Alan "Chuck" Hardisty (c)	6	Terry Entwistle
Keith Hepworth	7	Alex Murphy
Dennis Hartley	8	Allan Whitworth
John Ward	9	Kevin Ashcroft
Doug Walton	10	Harry Major
Wiliam "Bill" Bryant	11	Bob Welding
Michael Redfearn	12	Mick Murphy
Mal Reilly	13	Laurie Gilfedder
Ronald Hill (unused?)	14	Ray Fox
Clive Dickinson (replaced injured Bill Bryant in the first half)	15
George Clinton	Coach	Alex Murphy
8	score	5
6	HT	5
	Scorers
	Tries
	T	Rod Tickle (1)
	Goals
Ron Willett (4)	G	Laurie Gilfedder (1)
Referee		G. 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

• 1967–68 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1967 Lancashire Cup
• 1967 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

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".
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.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org
• Huddersfield R L Heritage