1976–77 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
# 1976–77 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1976–77 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the twelfth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.

Castleford won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 12-4 (away from home on the opponent's own ground) The match was played at Hilton Park, Leigh, now in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 5,402, and the receipts were £2.793 Castleford had won the first three BBC2 Floodlit Trophy finals, this brought the wins up to four

## Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at twenty-two. The format remained as used in last season's tournament, i.e. 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

### Preliminary round

Involved 6 matches and 12 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| P | Sun 29 Aug 1976 | Rochdale Hornets | 2-5 | Widnes | Athletic Grounds | |
| P | Wed 8 Sep 1976 | Halifax | 19-25 | Hull F.C. | Thrum Hall | |
| P | Tue 14 Sep 1976 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 19-12 | Dewsbury | Craven Park (1) | |
| P | Tue 14 Sep 1976 | Leigh | 11-10 | Warrington | Hilton Park | |
| P | Tue 14 Sep 1976 | Wakefield Trinity | 20-5 | Bramley | Belle Vue | |
| P | Tue 14 Sep 1976 | Whitehaven | 25-11 | Barrow | Recreation Ground | 1 |

### Round 1 – first round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 28 Sep 1976 | Huddersfield | 5-2 | Wakefield Trinity | Fartown | | |
| 2 | Tue 28 Sep 1976 | Leigh | 22-18 | Salford | Hilton Park | | |
| 3 | Tue 5 Oct 1976 | Castleford | 16-8 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wheldon Road | | |
| 4 | Tue 5 Oct 1976 | Keighley | 2-16 | Hull F.C. | Lawkholme Lane | | |
| 5 | Tue 5 Oct 1976 | Whitehaven | 3-21 | Oldham | Recreation Ground | | |
| 6 | Tue 12 Oct 1976 | Widnes | 13-14 | Wigan | Naughton Park | | 2 |
| 7 | Tue 19 Oct 1976 | Leeds | 22-10 | New Hunslet | Headingley | | |
| 8 | Tue 26 Oct 1976 | Swinton | 15-22 | St. Helens | Station Road | 1,265 | |

### Round 2 – quarter finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 2 Nov 1976 | Hull F.C. | 6-0 | Oldham | Boulevard | | |
| 2 | Tue 9 Nov 1976 | Leeds | 2-17 | Castleford | Headingley | | |
| 3 | Tue 16 Nov 1976 | Huddersfield | 9-7 | St. Helens | Fartown | 1,787 | |
| 4 | Tue 23 Nov 1976 | Leigh | 12-5 | Wigan | Hilton Park | | 2 |

### 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 1976 | Leigh | 19-10 | Huddersfield | Hilton Park | | | | |
| 2 | Tue 7 Dec 1976 | Hull F.C. | 8-15 | Castleford | Boulevard | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| F | Tuesday 14 December 1976 | Leigh | 4-12 | Castleford | Hilton Park | 5,402 | 2.793 | 2 3 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Castleford | № | Leigh |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| Geoff Wraith | 1 | Mick Hogan |
| Steve Fenton | 2 | Alan Prescott |
| John Joyner | 3 | Mick Stacey |
| Philip Johnson | 4 | John Woods |
| Jamie Walsh | 5 | Joe Walsh |
| Bruce Burton | 6 | John Taylor |
| Gary Stephens | 7 | Cliff Sayer |
| Paul Kahn | 8 | Dave Chisnall |
| Robert Spurr | 9 | Kevin Ashcroft |
| Alan Dickinson | 10 | Geoff Fletcher |
| Malcolm "Mal" Reilly | 11 | Dave Macko |
| Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd | 12 | Paul Grimes |
| Steve 'Knocker' Norton | 13 | Dennis Boyd |
| Malcolm "Mal" Reilly | Coach | Kevin Ashcroft |
| 12 | score | 4 |
| 0 | HT | 1 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Jamie Walsh (1) | T | Joe Walsh (1) |
| Bruce Burton (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Geoffrey "Sammy" Lloyd (3) | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | Kevin Ashcroft (1) |
| Referee | | J E Jackson (Pudsey) |

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Leigh | Leigh | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 18 | Leigh | Leigh | 12 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wigan | Wigan | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 13 | Wigan | Wigan | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 14 | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 19 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 10 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 5 | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 10 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 2 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 9 | | | | | | | |
| | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 16 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 22 | | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 12 |
| Keighley | Keighley | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 12 |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 16 | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 6 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Oldham | Oldham | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 3 | Oldham | Oldham | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 21 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 21 | | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 8 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 15 | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 22 | | | | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 15 | | | | |
| New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 10 | Leeds | Leeds | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Castleford | Castleford | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 16 | Castleford | Castleford | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Whitehaven, who joined the competition in season 1973–74, play their first game at home in the competition - they also win their first game in the competition 2 * This match was televised 3 * Hilton Park was the home ground of Leigh from 1947 to 2008. The final capacity was in the region of 11,000, much less than the record attendance of 31,326, set in 1953 for a Challenge Cup 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)

