1972 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1972 was the eighth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year was another new name on the trophy
Leigh won the trophy by beating Widnes by the score of 5-0
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 4,691 and receipts were £1,391
This was Leigh's first victory after being runner-up in two of the previous finals

1972-73 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	Widnes

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 the last season with the preliminary round played on a two-legged home and away basis and the rest of the tournament being played on a knock-out basis.
The preliminary round involved four clubs, to reduce the numbers to sixteen.

Competition and results

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 5 Sep 1972	Wakefield Trinity		7-7		Hull F.C.	Belle Vue					[1][2][3]
P1	Tue 12 Sep 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		15-6		Rochdale Hornets	Craven Park (1)

[4]

Competition and results

[4]

Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 2 matches and the same 4 Clubs in reverse fixtures

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P2	Tue 19 Sep 1972	Hull F.C.		3-11		Wakefield Trinity	Boulevard	10-18			1	[1][2][3]
P2	Tue 26 Sep 1972	Rochdale Hornets		9-23		Hull Kingston Rovers	Athletic Grounds	15-38

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 3 Oct 1972	Barrow		9-12		Keighley	Craven Park			2
2	Tue 3 Oct 1972	Oldham		12-8		Salford	Watersheddings
3	Wed 4 Oct 1972	Hull Kingston Rovers		10-12		Leigh	Craven Park (1)
4	Tue 10 Oct 1972	St. Helens		6-14		Leeds	Knowsley Road				[5]
5	Tue 17 Oct 1972	Huddersfield		9-15		Castleford	Fartown				[6]
6	Tue 24 Oct 1972	Wigan		26-6		Halifax	Central Park			3	[7]
7	Wed 25 Oct 1972	Swinton		6-18		Wakefield Trinity	Station Road				[1][2]
8	Tue 31 Oct 1972	Warrington		18-18		Widnes	Wilderspool				[8][9]

Round 1 – first round – replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Tue 14 Nov 1972	Widnes		14-11		Warrington	Naughton Park				[8][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 7 Nov 1972	Oldham		9-7		Castleford	Watersheddings
2	Tue 14 Nov 1972	Wakefield Trinity		19-2		Keighley	Belle Vue				[1][2]
3	Tue 21 Nov 1972	Widnes		9-4		Leeds	Naughton Park				[9]
4	Tue 28 Nov 1972	Wigan		14-16		Leigh	Central Park			3	[7]

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 5 Dec 1972	Leigh		10-8		Oldham	Hilton Park
2	Tue 12 Dec 1972	Widnes		16-9		Wakefield Trinity	Naughton Park				[1][2][9]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
F	Tuesday 19 December 1972	Leigh		5-0		Widnes	Central Park	4,691	1,391	3 4 5 6	[9][10][11]

Teams and scorers

Leigh	№	Widnes
	teams
Mick Hogan	1	Ray Dutton
Graeme Lawson	2	Alan Prescott
John Atkin	3	Bob Blackwood (NOTE 6)
Mick Collins	4	Mal Aspey (NOTE 7)
Mick Stacey	5	Paul McDonnell
Tony Barrow	6	Eric Hughes (NOTE 8)
Cliff Sayer	7	Alan Ashton
Paul Grimes	8	Jim Mills
Derek Clarke	9	Keith Elwell
Geoff Fletcher	10	John Warlow
Jim Fiddler	11	John Foran
Frank Barrow	12	Barry Sheridan
Thomas Martyn	13	George Nicholls
Les Pearce	Coach	Vince Karalius
5	score	0
0	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
G. Lawson (1)	T
	Goals
Jim Fiddler (1)	G
Referee		G. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)

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

[9][10]

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Wigan		26
	Halifax		6
						Wigan		14
						Leigh		16
	Hull Kingston Rovers		10
	Leigh		12
											Leigh		10
											Oldham		8
	Oldham		12
	Salford		8
						Oldham		9
						St Helens		7
	Huddersfield		9
	Castleford		15
																Leigh		5
																Widnes		0
	Warrington		18 (11)
	Widnes		18 (14)
						Widnes		9
						Leeds		4
	St. Helens		6
	Leeds		14
											Widnes		16
											Wakefield Trinity		9
	Swinton		6
	Wakefield Trinity		18
						Wakefield Trinity		19
						Keighley		2
	Barrow		9
	Keighley		12

Notes and comments

1 * Wakefield Trinity, who joined the competition in season 1967-68, win their first game in the competition
2 * Keighley (who joined the competition in season 1967-68) win their first match in the competition
3 * This match was televised
4 * This was the second of only two occasions when the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy final was played on a neutral ground
5 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[10] and 1991-92[11] give the attendance as 4,691, but RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[4] gives it as 4,841
6 * The Widnes official archives[9] give this player, Bob Blackwood as number 3 but Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91[10] and 1991-92[11] give the position as 4
7 * The Widnes official archives[9] give this player, Mal Aspey as number 4 but Rothmans Tearbook 1990-91[10] and 1991-92[11] give the position as 3
8 * The Widnes official archives[9] give the stand off (No 6) as Eric Hughes but Rothmans Tearbook 1990-91[10] and 1991-92[11] give the player as Ged Lowe
9 * 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

• 1972–73 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1972 Lancashire Cup
• 1972 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. 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.
2. "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
3. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
4. "Rugby League Project".
5. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
6. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
7. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
8. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
10. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
11. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague 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
• 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