1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	21
Winners	Bramley
Runners-up	Widnes
	← 1972–73 1974–75 →

The1973–74 BBC2 Floodlit Trophywas the ninth occasion on which theBBC2 Floodlit Trophycompetition had been held.

This year there was another new name on the trophy when Bramleywon the trophy by beatingWidnesby the score of 15-7.

The match was played atNaughton Park,Widnes,Cheshire(buthistoricallyin the county ofLancashire). The attendance was 4,542 and receipts were £1538.

Bramley perennial strugglers, had been expected to just make up the numbers against high-flyingWidnes,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 the1896-97 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 British 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,DewsburyandWhitehavenwhich 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	Att	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]

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	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	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	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	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 [1]
Trevor Briggs	6	Tommy Warburton [2]
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 [3]
David Sampson	11	Barry Sheridan [4]
Graham Idle	12	Bob Blackwood [5]
Johnny Wolford	13	Doug Laughton
Dennis/Denis Ashman(for Bernard "Bernie" / "Barney" Ward)	14	?(unused)
Kenneth "Ken" Huxley(unused)	15	John Foran [6](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 officialSt. Helensarchives^[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 *Bramleyjoin 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 officialSt. Helensarchives^[3]gives it as 2,108
6 *Whitehavenjoin 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 *Dewsburyjoin the competition and play first game in the competition
9 *Bramleyplay 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 *Bramleyhad joined the Rugby League for the1896-97 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 Parkwas the home ground ofHull Kingston Roversfrom 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 vSt. Helens

References

^^a ^b"Rugby League Project".
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eJack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991).John Player Yearbook 1974–75.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0362 001 77 4.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g"Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
^^a ^b"Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage"(PDF).
^^a ^b"HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
^^a ^b"Wigan" Cherry and White "archived results".Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2014.Retrieved6 April2014.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e"Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
^"I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."
^"Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2014.
^^a ^b ^cRaymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990).Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0 35617851 X.
^^a ^bRaymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991).Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0 35617852 8.
^Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974).News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year.News of the World Ltd.

External links

[RLP.orgMisc-1] "Rugby League Project".

[JP1974–75Misc-2] Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991).John Player Yearbook 1974–75.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0362 001 77 4.

[SaintsMisc-3] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g"Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".

[HuddHeritageMisc-4] "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage"(PDF).

[HullMisc-5] "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".

[CherryMisc-6] "Wigan" Cherry and White "archived results".Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2014.Retrieved6 April2014.

[ChemicsMisc-7] "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".

[WakefieldTIDMisc-8] "I'm Wakefield 'til I die..."

[WiresMisc-9] "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2014.

[Roth1990-91Misc-10] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990).Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0 35617851 X.

[Roth1991-92Misc-11] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991).Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100.Queen Anne Press.ISBN 0 35617852 8.

[NOTW1974–75Misc-12] Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1974).News of the World Football Annual 1974–75 - 88th year.News of the World Ltd.

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