1971–72 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
# 1971–72 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1971–72 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy 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

## 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

### 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 | | | | | |
| 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 | | | | |
| 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 | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 21 Sep 1971 | Hull F.C. | 23-16 | Wakefield Trinity | Boulevard | | |
| 2 | Tue 21 Sep 1971 | Swinton | 9-14 | St. Helens | Station Road | 2;650 | |
| 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 | Tue 12 Oct 1971 | Leigh | 6-2 | Warrington | Hilton Park | | |
| 7 | Tue 19 Oct 1971 | Salford | 15-17 | Rochdale Hornets | The Willows | | |
| 8 | Tue 26 Oct 1971 | Wigan | 10-15 | Widnes | Central Park | | 1 |

### Round 2 – quarter finals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tue 2 Nov 1971 | Leeds | 26-10 | Halifax | Headingley | |
| 2 | Tue 9 Nov 1971 | Leigh | 4-13 | St. Helens | Hilton Park | 4500 |
| 3 | Tue 16 Nov 1971 | Huddersfield | 7-15 | Hull F.C. | Fartown | |
| 4 | Tue 23 Nov 1971 | Rochdale Hornets | 6-5 | Widnes | Athletic Grounds | |

### 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 | | | |
| 2 | Tue 7 Dec 1971 | Rochdale Hornets | 30-8 | Hull F.C. | Athletic Grounds | | | | |

### 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 | |

**Teams and scorers**

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

## Notes and comments

1 * This match was televised 2 * Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991 and 1991-92 and the St. Helens official archives give the attendance as 9,300, but RUGBYLEAGUEprojects 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)

