1965 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
| 1965–66 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy | |
|---|---|
| Structure | Floodlit knockout championship |
| Teams | 8 |
| Winners | Castleford |
| Runners-up | St. Helens |
1965 was the inaugural season of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition.
Castleford winning the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 4-0
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. The attendance was 11,510 and receipts were £3,548
This was to be the first of Castleford's three victories in successive seasons in the first three Floodlit competitions
This season there were a total of only eight teams entering, all by invite, playing a total of eleven matches for which the BBC paid the RFL a grand total of £9,000.00.
The entrants included the seven clubs with permanent floodlights, Castleford, Leigh, Oldham, St Helens, Swinton, Warrington and Widnes together with Leeds, who installed floodlights in September 1966.
The competition was played in the form of a mini-league with the semi-finals and final stages being on a knock out basis.
Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs
Involved 4 matches with the same 8 clubs - but NOT reverse fixtures
Pos = Finishing position P = Games played W = Wins D = Drqw L = Lose
PF = Points scored PA = Points against Pts = League points PD = Points scored difference
The rules stated that the four clubs with the greatest total winning margins were to qualify, and proceed, to the semi-final.
The four clubs in this case were Widnes, St. Helens, Swinton and Castleford
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points
1 * 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.
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)
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