1968 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1968 was the fourth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year was a new name on the trophy after Castleford's three year winning streak came to an end.
Wigan won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 7-4
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 13,479 and receipts were £3,291
This was to be Wigan's only success in the competition.

1968–69 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	St. Helens

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
However the format was changed slightly with the games in the preliminary round being on a two-legged home and away basis.
This preliminary round now involved four clubs, to reduce the numbers to sixteen, followed by a straightforward knock out competition.

Competition and results

[1]

Preliminary round – first leg

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P1	Mon 9 Sep 1968	Wakefield Trinity		11-15		Castleford	Belle Vue					[2][3]
P1	Tue 10 Sep 1968	St. Helens		21-5		Barrow	Knowsley Road					[4]

Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 2 matches with the same 4 Clubs with reverse fixtures

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P2	Mon 23 Sep 1968	Castleford		18-0		Wakefield Trinity	Wheldon Road	33-11			1	[2][3]
P2	Mon 23 Sep 1968	Barrow		18-11		St. Helens	Craven Park	23-32	2672			[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	Tue 1 Oct 1968	Leeds		24-19		Salford	Headingley
2	Tue 8 Oct 1968	Wigan		10-7		Castleford	Central Park			2	[5]
3	Mon 14 Oct 1968	Hull F.C.		22-13		Widnes	Boulevard			3	[6]
4	Mon 14 Oct 1968	St. Helens		12-10		Swinton	Knowsley Road	4900			[4]
5	Tue 15 Oct 1968	Leigh		27-19		Hull Kingston Rovers	Hilton Park
6	Tue 15 Oct 1968	Rochdale Hornets		16-14		Oldham	Athletic Grounds			4
7	Tue 22 Oct 1968	Keighley		8-11		Huddersfield	Lawkholme Lane	2795		5	[7][8]
8	Tue 29 Oct 1968	Warrington		30-12		Halifax	Wilderspool				[9]

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 1968	Rochdale Hornets		7-23		Wigan	Athletic Grounds			2	[5]
2	Tue 12 Nov 1968	Leigh		25-11		Leeds	Hilton Park
3	Tue 19 Nov 1968	Warrington		18-5		Huddersfield	Wilderspool				[7][8]
4	Tue 26 Nov 1968	St. Helens		14-10		Hull F.C.	Knowsley Road				[4]

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 1968	Wigan		9-7		Leigh	Central Park			2	[5]
2	Tue 10 Dec 1968	St. Helens		29-6		Warrington	Knowsley Road				[4][9]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Tuesday 17 December 1968	Wigan		7-4		St. Helens	Central Park	13,479	3,291	2 6	[4][5][10][11]

Teams and scorers

[4][5][11]

Wigan	№	St. Helens
	teams
Colin Tyrer	1	Cen Williams
Bill Francis	2	Frank Wilson
Eric Ashton	3	Billy Benyon
Bill Ashurst	4	Frank Myler
Peter Rowe	5	John Wills
Cliff Hill	6	Alan Whittle
Johnny Jackson	7	Tommy Bishop
John Stephens	8	John Warlow
Colin Clarke	9	Bill Sayer
Keith Mills	10	Cliff Watson
Terry Fogerty	11	John Mantle
Kevin O'Loughlin	12	Brian Hogan
Doug Laughton	13	Kel Coslett
Geoff Lyon	14	Eric Prescott
A. N. Other	15	Eric Chisnall
Eric Ashton	Coach	Cliff Evans
7	score	4
2	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Cliff Hill (1)	T
	Goals
Colin Tyrer (2)	G	Kel Coslett (2)
Referee		(Sergeant Major) Eric Clay (Leeds)

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
	Rochdale Hornets		16
	Oldham		14
						Rochdale Hornets		7
						Wigan		23
	Wigan		10
	Castleford		7
											Wigan		9
											Leigh		7
	Leigh		27
	Hull Kingston Rovers		19
						Leigh		25
						Leeds		11
	Leeds		24
	Salford		19
																Wigan		7
																St. Helens		4
	St. Helens		12
	Leigh		10
						St. Helens		14
						Hull F.C.		10
	Hull F.C.		22
	Widnes		13
											St. Helens		29
											Warrington		6
	Warrington		30
	Halifax		12
						Warrington		18
						Huddersfield		5
	Keighley		8
	Huddersfield		11

Notes and comments

1 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91[11] and 1991-1992[10] and "100 Years of Rugby. The History of Wakefield Trinity 1873-1973"[2] give the score as 18–0 but as obvious error in the wonderfully detailed independent WEB "Wakefield 'till I die"[3] gives the score as 13-0
2 * This match was televised
3 * Hull F.C. (who joined the competition in season 1967-68) play their first game at home in the competition
4 * Rochdale Hornets, who joined the competition in season 1966-67, win their first game in the competition
5 * Keighley (who joined the competition in season 1967-68) play their first game at home in the competition
6 * The attendance was a record at that time
7 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

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

• 1968–69 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1968 Lancashire Cup
• 1968 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. 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.
3. "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
4. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
5. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
6. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
7. HC&AC Committee (1969). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1969 (price 1/-). HC&AC Supporters' Club.
8. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1969" (PDF).
9. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
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