1978 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1978 was the fourteenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

This year, previous two times runner-up Widnes, won the trophy by beating last year's winners and cup holders St Helens by the score of 13-7
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 10,250, and the receipts were £7,017

Background

This season Batley dropped out after only one season, but Bramley returned; thus the number of entrants remaining the same at twenty-two.
The format remained as a knock-out competition from the preliminary round through to the final.
The preliminary round involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.

Competition and Results^[1][2]

Preliminary Round

Involved 6 matches and 12 Clubs

Round 1 - First Round

Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Round 2 -Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Round 2 -Quarter Finals - Replay

Involved 1 matches and 2 Clubs

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Round 3 – Semi-Finals - Replay

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Final

Teams and Scorers^[5][8][10]

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

Notes and comments

1 * At the time this was the second highest score, only to be equalled about two months later in the Second Round
2 * The RUGBYLEAGUEprojects^[1] gives the attendance as 10,099 but this appears to be the attendance at the previous year's final added in error
3 * This match was televised
4 * The Wigan archives^[3] state "Wigan were kicked out the competition for playing Steve Breheny (who was at the time suspended) in the last round". For fuller details see the report on the website^[2]
5 * At the time this equalled the second highest score
6 * Postponed due to pending court case brought by Wigan against the RFL^[2]
7 * Postponed
8 * The Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990–1991^[10] and 1991-92^[11] and the RUGBYLEAGUEprojects^[1] gives the attendance as 10,250 but the official St Helens archives^[5] give it as 10,500
9 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens RLFC from 1890 until its closure in 2010. The final capacity was 17,500 although the record attendance was 35,695 set on 26 December 1949 for a league game between St Helens and Wigan.

General information for those unfamiliar

The Rugby League BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was a knock-out competition sposored 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 afternoonns 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

• 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1978 Lancashire Cup
• 1978 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

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