Rugby league season
| 1977–78 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy | |
|---|---|
| Structure | Floodlit knockout championship |
| Teams | 22 |
| Winners | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| Runners-up | St. Helens |
| ← 1976–771978–79 → | |
The 1977–78 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the thirteenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held. This year there was another new name added when Hull Kingston Rovers won the trophy by beating St. Helens in the final by the score of 26-11. The match was played at Craven Park (1), in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. The attendance was 10,099, and the receipts were £6,586.
Background
The Rugby Football League's 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)
Competition and results
This season Bramley, winners in 1973, did not enter the competition (they returned next year), but Batley joined the competition; thus the number of entrants remaining the same at twenty-two. The format remained as a knock-out competition from the preliminary round through to the final. The preliminary round involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.
Preliminary round
Involved 6 matches and 12 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Sun 28 Aug 1977 | Halifax | 5-43 | Leigh | Thrum Hall | ||||||
| P | Tue 30 Aug 1977 | Huddersfield | 18-22 | Wigan | Fartown | ||||||
| P | Tue 30 Aug 1977 | Salford | 39-5 | New Hunslet | The Willows | ||||||
| P | Wed 7 Sep 1977 | Keighley | 25-2 | Swinton | Lawkholme Lane | ||||||
| P | Tue 13 Sep 1977 | Bramley | 4-14 | Wakefield Trinity | McLaren Field | 1 | |||||
| P | Tue 27 Sep 1977 | Leeds | 16-13 | Widnes | Headingley |
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 | Wed 28 Sep 1977 | Barrow | 6-10 | Leigh | Craven Park | ||||||
| 2 | Tue 4 Oct 1977 | Whitehaven | 5-6 | Salford | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 3 | Wed 5 Oct 1977 | Oldham | 13-11 | Warrington | Watersheddings | ||||||
| 4 | Wed 5 Oct 1977 | Wakefield Trinity | 15-8 | Keighley | Belle Vue | ||||||
| 5 | Tue 11 Oct 1977 | St. Helens | 51-0 | Dewsbury | Knowsley Road | 2,754 | 2 | ||||
| 6 | Wed 12 Oct 1977 | Leeds | 19-5 | Rochdale Hornets | Headingley | ||||||
| 7 | Tue 25 Oct 1977 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 18-7 | Wigan | Craven Park (1) | 3 | |||||
| 8 | Tue 18 Oct 1977 | Hull F.C. | A | Castleford | Boulevard | 4 |
Round 1 – first round – replay
Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Wed 26 Oct 1977 | Hull F.C. | 7-10 | Castleford | Boulevard |
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 1 Nov 1977 | Salford | 29-10 | Oldham | The Willows | ||||||
| 2 | Tue 8 Nov 1977 | Wakefield Trinity | 14-22 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Belle Vue | ||||||
| 3 | Tue 15 Nov 1977 | Castleford | 14-10 | Leeds | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 4 | Tue 22 Nov 1977 | Leigh | 7-14 | St. Helens | Hilton Park | 4,011 |
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 29 Nov 1977 | Castleford | 5-23 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wheldon Road | ||||||
| 2 | Tue 6 Dec 1977 | St. Helens | 7-4 | Salford | Knowsley Road | 3,500 |
Final
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday 13 December 1977 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 26-11 | St. Helens | Craven Park (1) | 10,099 | 6,586 | 3 5 |
Teams and scorers
| Hull Kingston Rovers | № | St. Helens |
|---|---|---|
| teams | ||
| Dave Hall | 1 | Geoff Pimblett |
| Gerald "Ged" Dunn | 2 | Les Jones |
| Mike Smith | 3 | Derek Noonan |
| Bernard Watson | 4 | Eddie Cunningham |
| Clive Sullivan | 5 | Peter Glynn |
| Steve Hartley | 6 | Bill Francis |
| Roger Millward | 7 | Ken Gwilliam |
| John Millington | 8 | David "Dave" Chisnall |
| David Watkinson | 9 | Graham Liptrot |
| John Cunningham | 10 | Mel James |
| Phil Lowe | 11 | Mick Hope |
| Paul Rose | 12 | Anthony "Tony" Karalius |
| Len Casey | 13 | Harry Pinner |
| Roger Millward | Coach | Eric Ashton |
| 26 | score | 11 |
| 11 | HT | 3 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Gerald "Ged" Dunn (2) | T | Eddie Cunningham (1) |
| Mike Smith (1) | T | Peter Glynn (2) |
| Clive Sullivan (1) | T | |
| Steve Hartley (1) | T | |
| Paul Rose (1) | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Dave Hall (4) | G | Peter Glynn (1) |
| Referee | Michael "Mick" J. Naughton (Widnes) | |
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 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hull F.C. | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leeds | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leeds | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Rochdale Hornets | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Castleford | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Keighley | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield Trinity | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 22 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wigan | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hull KR | 26 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leigh | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leigh | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dewsbury | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| St. Helens | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Salford | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whitehaven | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Salford | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Salford | 29 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oldham | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oldham | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Warrington | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||
Notes
1 * Batley join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition. It was also their one and only game as they did not enter the competition again
2 * At the time this highest score and greatest winning margin, never to be beaten
3 * This match was televised
4 * Abandoned after 25 Minutes due to Fog - Second Half was due to be Live on BBC 2
5 * Craven Park (1) was the home ground of Hull Kingston Rovers from 2 September 1922 to 9 April 1989. The final capacity was estimated to be under 10,000 although the record attendance was 22,282 set on 7 October 1922 in a match against local rivals Hull FC. The stadium was demolished in 1989 and a new supermarket constructed for the Co-op, and now occupied by Morrisons.
See also
- 1977–78 Northern Rugby Football League season
- 1977 Lancashire Cup
- 1977 Yorkshire Cup
- BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
- Rugby league county cups
References
- "Rugby League Project".
- "Wigan "Cherry and White" matches".
- "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
- "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
- "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1977".
- "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1977".
- ^ "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
- "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
- ^ "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
- ^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
- Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
External links
- Saints Heritage Society
- 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- 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
| BBC2 Floodlit Trophy | |
|---|---|
| Years | |
| Related articles | |