1973 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1973 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the ninth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	21
Winners	Bramley
Runners-up	Widnes

This year there was another new name on the trophy when Bramley won the trophy by beating Widnes by the score of 15-7.

The match was played at Naughton Park, Widnes, Cheshire (but historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 4,542 and receipts were £1538.

Bramley perennial strugglers, had been expected to just make up the numbers against high-flying Widnes, but instead they showed what self-belief, commitment and hard work could do. The result was totally unexpected and is still one of the greatest shocks in Rugby League history. Bramley had joined the Rugby League for the 1896-97 season, the second season in its existence, and in the 77 years since, this was the first trophy the club had ever won. It would also be the only trophy before leaving the league at the end of the 1999 season. This was also the second consecutive season in which Widnes had finished as runners-up in the BBC Floodlit Trophy.

Background

This was the year in which the Arab-Israeli war created an oil crisis, which together with the miner's work to rule, caused the Brish Government to ban the use of floodlights in sport on 13 November. This in turn resulted in many of the matches in the Floodlit Trophy, including the final, being played in the afternoon rather than at night.

This season saw three new clubs join the tournament. These were Bramley, Dewsbury and Whitehaven which increased the number of entrants by three, to a new high total of twenty-one.

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 now involved ten clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.

Competition and results

[1][2]

Preliminary round – first leg

Involved 5 matches and 10 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P1	Mon 20 Aug 1973	Barrow		6-12		St. Helens	Craven Park		2,819			[3]
P1	Tue 21 Aug 1973	Castleford		32-10		Huddersfield	Wheldon Road		1,195			[4]
P1	Wed 22 Aug 1973	Leeds		31-2		Hull F.C.	Headingley		3,577			[5]
P1	Wed 5 Sep 1973	Rochdale Hornets		15-14		Swinton	Athletic Grounds		1,552
P1	Tue 11 Sep 1973	Oldham		12-14		Wigan	Watersheddings		1,459			[6]

Competition and results

[1]

Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 5 matches and the same 10 Clubs in reverse fixtures

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P2	Mon 27 Aug 1973	St. Helens		20-8		Barrow	Knowsley Road	32-14	3,000		1	[3]
P2	Wed 19 Sep 1973	Huddersfield		0-18		Castleford	Fartown	10-50	696			[4]
P2	Tue 4 Sep 1973	Hull F.C.		14-23		Leeds	Boulevard	16-54	1,500		2	[5]
P2	Wed 26 Sep 1973	Swinton		5-6		Rochdale Hornets	Station Road	19-21	1,874
P2	Tue 18 Sep 1973	Wigan		9-16		Oldham	Central Park	23-28	3,469			[6]

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 2 Oct 1973	Leeds		7-6		Keighley	Headingley	2,788		3
2	Tue 9 Oct 1973	Leigh		10-13		Widnes	Hilton Park	3,000		3	[7]
3	Wed 10 Oct 1973	Oldham		0-4		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings	1,555
4	Wed 10 Oct 1973	Wakefield Trinity		9-10		Bramley	Belle Vue	1,393		4	[8]
5	Tue 16 Oct 1973	St. Helens		35-5		Whitehaven	Knowsley Road	2,108		3 5 6	[3]
6	Tue 23 Oct 1973	Salford		26-4		Warrington	The Willows	4,389		3 7	[9]
7	Wed 24 Oct 1973	Hull Kingston Rovers		28-8		Dewsbury	Craven Park (1)	2,912		8
8	Tue 30 Oct 1973	Castleford		26-10		Halifax	Wheldon Road	831		3

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 6 Nov 1973	St. Helens		15-7		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	3,150		3	[3]
2	Tue 13 Nov 1973	Bramley		13-2		Castleford	McLaren Field	1,110		3 9
3	Tue 20 Nov 1973	Salford		11-15		Widnes	The Willows	2,422		3	[7]
4	Tue 27 Nov 1973	Hull Kingston Rovers		12-10		Leeds	Craven Park (1)	1,343		3

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 4 Dec 1973	Bramley		13-12		St. Helens	McLaren Field	1,700		3	[3]
2	Tue 11 Dec 1973	Hull Kingston Rovers		8-13		Widnes	Craven Park (1)	1,550		3	[7]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
F	Tuesday 18 December 1973	Widnes		7-15		Bramley	Naughton Park	4,542	1538	3 a b c d e	[7][10][11][12]

Teams and scorers

[2][7][10]

Bramley	№	Widnes
	teams
Arthur "Ollie" Keegan	1	Ray Dutton
Peter Goodchild	2	Dennis O'Neill
Keith Bollon	3	Eric Hughes
K. John Hughes	4	Mal Aspey
Jack Austin	5	Dave Macko
Trevor Briggs	6	Tommy Warburton
Bernard "Bernie"/"Barney" Ward	7	Reg Bowden
David Briggs	8	Brian Hogan
Roy Firth	9	Keith Elwell
Anthony J./Antony J. "Tony" Cheshire	10	Nicholas "Nick" Nelson
David Sampson	11	Barry Sheridan
Graham Idle	12	Bob Blackwood
Johnny Wolford	13	Doug Laughton
Dennis/Denis Ashman (for Bernard "Bernie"/"Barney" Ward)	14	? (unused)
Kenneth "Ken" Huxley (unused)	15	John Foran (for Bob Blackwood)
Arthur "Ollie" Keegan	Coach	Vince Karalius
15	score	7
5	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
P. Goodchild (1 obstruction try)	T	Dave Macko (1)
Jack Austin (1)	T
David Sampson (1)	T
	Goals
Barney Ward (1)	G	Ray Dutton (2)
John Wolford (2)	G
Referee		D. Gerald "Gerry" Kershaw (York)

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 Kingston Rovers		26
	Dewsbury		8
						Hull Kingston Rovers		12
						Leeds		10
	Leeds		7
	Keighley		6
											Hull Kingston Rovers		8
											Widnes		13
	Salford		26
	Warrington		4
						Salford		11
						Widnes		15
	Leigh		10
	Widnes		13
																Widnes		7
																Bramley		15
	Wakefield Trinity		9
	Bramley		10
						Bramley		13
						Castleford		2
	Castleford		26
	Halifax		10
											Bramley		13
											St. Helens		12
	St. Helens		35
	Whitehaven		5
						St. Helens		15
						Rochdale Hornets		7
	Oldham		0
	Rochdale Hornets		4

Notes and comments

1 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[2] gives the attendance as 3,000, but the official St. Helens archives [3] gives it as 2,000
2 * At the time this was the highest aggregate score and was never to be beaten
3 * This match was televised
4 * Bramley join the competition and play first game in the competition
5 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[2] gives the attendance as 1,500, but the official St. Helens archives [3] gives it as 2,108
6 * Whitehaven join the competition and play first game in the competition
7 * Salford, who joined the competition in season 1966-67, win their first game in the competition
8 * Dewsbury join the competition and play first game in the competition
9 * Bramley play their first game at home in the competition
a * There appears to be even more confusion about the attendance than normal. The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[10] and 1991-92[11] gives it 4,422, the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] as 4,542, The John Player Yearbook 1974–75[2] as 4,000, and the Daily Mirror of 19 December 1973 as 4,500
b * The Winning score and margin were a new record for the final, to date
c * The final was played in daylight because of restrictions on the use of electricity and floodlights in sport
d * Bramley had joined the Rugby League for the 1896-97 season, the second season in its existence, and in the 77 years since, this was the first trophy the club had ever won. It would also be the only trophy before leaving the league at the end of the 1999 season
e * Naughton Park was the home ground of Hull Kingston Rovers from 1895 to 1997, when a new stadium was built on the same site. The final capacity was estimated to be under 10,000 although the record attendance was 24,205 set on 16 February 1961 in a match v St. Helens

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

• 1973–74 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1973 Lancashire Cup
• 1973 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1974–75. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0362 001 77 4.
3. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
4. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
5. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
6. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
7. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
8. "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
9. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
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.
12. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974). News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year. News of the World Ltd.

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