1969 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1969 was the fifth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year was another new name on the trophy after the 1969 runner-up defeated the reigning cup-holders
Leigh won the trophy by beating Wigan by the score of 11-6
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 12,312 and receipts were £2,854
This was to be Wigan's last appearance in the final of the competition.

1969–70 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	Wigan

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
The format remained the same as last season with the games in the preliminary round being on a two-legged home and away basis.
This preliminary round 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	Tue 26 Aug 1969	Wigan		22-6		Warrington	Central Park					[2][3]
P1	Mon 29 Sep 1969	Huddersfield		10-18		Castleford	Fartown		1750		1	[4][5]

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 29 Sep 1969	Wigan		15-10		Wigan	Wilderspool	21-32				[2][3]
P2	Wed 8 Oct 1969	Castleford		19-2		Huddersfield	Wheldon Road	37-12	4000			[4][5]

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 30 Sep 1969	Halifax		9-27		Leeds	Thrum Hall
2	Tue 7 Oct 1969	Leigh		25-8		Wakefield Trinity	Hilton Park				[6]
3	Mon 13 Oct 1969	Oldham		24-13		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings
4	Mon 13 Oct 1969	Swinton		9-17		St. Helens	Station Road	4900			[7]
5	Tue 14 Oct 1969	Wigan		24-5		Hull F.C.	Central Park			2	[2][8]
6	Mon 20 Oct 1969	Barrow		13-10		Widnes	Craven Park				[9]
7	Tue 21 Oct 1969	Salford		12-16		Castleford	The Willows
8	Tue 28 Oct 1969	Keighley		6-15		Hull Kingston Rovers	Lawkholme Lane

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 4 Nov 1969	Barrow		6-11		St. Helens	Craven Park	4500			[7]
2	Tue 11 Nov 1969	Wigan		12-0		Oldham	Central Park			2	[2]
3	Tue 18 Nov 1969	Hull Kingston Rovers		6-12		Leigh	Craven Park (1)
4	Tue 25 Nov 1969	Castleford		9-7		Leeds	Wheldon Road

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 2 Dec 1969	Castleford		11-12		Leigh	Wheldon Road
2	Tue 9 Dec 1969	Wigan		13-13		St. Helens	Central Park	8850		2	[2][7]

Round 3 – semifinals – replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Thu 11 Dec 1969	St. Helens		9-15		Wigan	Knowsley Road	11500			[2][7]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Tuesday 16 December 1969	Wigan		6-11		Leigh	Central Park	12,312	2,854	2 3	[2][10][11]

Teams and scorers

Leigh	№	Wigan
	teams
Stuart Ferguson	1	Cliff Hill
Rod Tickle	2	Stuart Wright
Stan Dorrington	3	Bill Francis
Mick Collins	4	Peter Rowe
Joseph Walsh	5	Kevin O'Loughlin
David Eckersley	6	David Hill
Alex Murphy	7	Johnny Jackson
David Chisnall	8	John Stephens
Kevin Ashcroft	9	Colin Clarke
Derek Watts	10	Keith Ashcroft
Bob Welding	11	Bill Ashurst
Paul Grimes	12	Keith Mills
Geoff Lyon	13	Doug Laughton
Alex Murphy	Coach	Eric Ashton
11	score	6
11	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Rod Tickle (1)	T
	Goals
Stuart Ferguson (3)	G	Bill Francis (2)
Alex Murphy (1)	G	David Hill (1)
Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)

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

[2][11]

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Wigan		24
	Hull F.C.		5
						Wigan		12
						Oldham		0
	Oldham		24
	Rochdale Hornets		13
											Wigan		13 (15)
											St. Helens		13 (9)
	Barrow		13
	Widnes		10
						Barrow		6
						St. Helens		11
	Swinton		9
	St. Helens		17
																Wigan		6
																Leigh		11
	Salford		12
	Castleford		16
						Castleford		9
						Leeds		7
	Halifax		9
	Leeds		27
											Castleford		11
											Leigh		12
	Keighley		6
	Hull Kingston Rovers		15
						Hull Kingston Rovers		6
						Leigh		12
	Leigh		25
	Wakefield Trinity		8

Notes and comments

1 * Huddersfield (who joined the competition in season 1967–68) play their first game at home in the competition
2 * This match was televised
3 * 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

• 1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1969 Lancashire Cup
• 1969 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
3. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
4. HC&AC Committee (1970). Fartown Rugby League Year Book 1970 (price 2/-). HC&AC Supporters' Club.
5. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1970" (PDF).
6. "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
7. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
8. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 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