1971 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

1971 was the seventh occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year was another new name on the trophy
St. Helens won the trophy by beating Rochdale Hornets by the score of 8-2
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 9,255 and receipts were £2,493
This was St. Helens first victory after being runner-up in three of the previous six finals

1971–72 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	St. Helens
Runners-up	Rochdale Hornets

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
The format was changed back to that favoured in previous seasons when the preliminary round was played on a two-legged home and away basis with 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

[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	Mon 13 Sep 1971	Wigan		23-11		Barrow	Central Park					[2]
P1	Wed 15 Sep 1971	Rochdale Hornets		28-2		Oldham	Athletic Grounds

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	Mon 20 Sep 1971	Barrow		11-19		Wigan	Craven Park	22-42				[2]
P2	Wed 29 Sep 1971	Oldham		16-14		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings	18-42

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 21 Sep 1971	Hull F.C.		23-16		Wakefield Trinity	Boulevard				[3][4]
2	Tue 21 Sep 1971	Swinton		9-14		St. Helens	Station Road	2;650			[5]
3	Tue 28 Sep 1971	Leeds		33-13		Hull Kingston Rovers	Headingley
4	Wed 29 Sep 1971	Halifax		16-8		Keighley	Thrum Hall
5	Tue 5 Oct 1971	Castleford		7-8		Huddersfield	Wheldon Road				[6]
6	Tue 12 Oct 1971	Leigh		6-2		Warrington	Hilton Park				[7]
7	Tue 19 Oct 1971	Salford		15-17		Rochdale Hornets	The Willows
8	Tue 26 Oct 1971	Wigan		10-15		Widnes	Central Park			1	[2][8]

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 2 Nov 1971	Leeds		26-10		Halifax	Headingley
2	Tue 9 Nov 1971	Leigh		4-13		St. Helens	Hilton Park	4500			[5]
3	Tue 16 Nov 1971	Huddersfield		7-15		Hull F.C.	Fartown				[3][6]
4	Tue 23 Nov 1971	Rochdale Hornets		6-5		Widnes	Athletic Grounds				[8]

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 30 Nov 1971	Leeds		0-17		St. Helens	Headingley	6;269			[5]
2	Tue 7 Dec 1971	Rochdale Hornets		30-8		Hull F.C.	Athletic Grounds				[3]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
F	Tuesday 14 December 1971	St. Helens		8-2		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	9,255	2,493	1 2 3	[5][9][10]

Teams and Scorers

[5][9]

St. Helens	№	Rochdale Hornets
	teams
Geoff Pimblett	1	Joe Chamberlain
Les Jones	2	Norman Brelsford
Billy Benyon	3	J. Crelin
Johnny Walsh	4	D. Taylor
Frank Wilson	5	B. Glover
Ken Kelly	6	F. Myler
Jeff Heaton	7	Peter Gartland
Graham Rees	8	Peter Birchall
Anthony "Tony" Karalius	9	P. Clarke
Eric Chisnall	10	E. Brown
Eric Prescott	11	R. Welding
John Mantle	12	Billy Sheffield
Kel Coslett	13	Henry Delooze
? not used	14	? not used
? not used	15	A. Hodkinson (for Billy Sheffield)
Jim Challinor	Coach	??
8	score	2
4	HT	2
	Scorers
	Goals
Kel Coslett (4)	G	Joe Chamberlain (1)
Referee		"Sergeant Major" Eric Clay (Leeds)

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
	Leeds		33
	Hull Kingston Rovers		13
						Leeds		26
						Halifax		10
	Halifax		16
	Keighley		8
											Leeds		0
											St Helens		17
	Leigh		6
	Warrington		2
						Leigh		4
						St Helens		13
	Swinton		9
	St Helens		14
																St Helens		8
																Rochdale Hornets		2
	Salford		15
	Rochdale Hornets		17
						Rochdale Hornets		6
						Widnes		5
	Wigan		10
	Widnes		15
											Rochdale Hornets		30
											Hull F.C.		8
	Castleford		7
	Huddersfield		8
						Huddersfield		7
						Hull F.C.		15
	Hull F.C.		23
	Wakefield Trinity		16

Notes and comments

1 * This match was televised
2 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991[9] and 1991-92[10] and the St. Helens official archives give the attendance as 9,300, but RUGBYLEAGUEprojects[1] gives it as 9,255
3 * Knowsley Road was the home of St Helens R.F.C. 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 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

• 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1971 Lancashire Cup
• 1971 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups

References

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