1969–70 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1969–70 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the fifth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year was another new name on the trophy after the 1969 runner-up defeated the reigning cup-holders
Leigh won the trophy by beating Wigan by the score of 11-6
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 12,312 and receipts were £2,854
This was to be Wigan's last appearance in the final of the competition.

1969–70 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	18
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	Wigan
← 1968–69 1970–71 →

Background

This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at eighteen.
The format remained the same as last season with the games in the preliminary round being on a two-legged home and away basis.
This preliminary round involved four clubs, to reduce the numbers to sixteen, followed by a straightforward knock out competition.

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	Tue 26 Aug 1969	Wigan		22-6		Warrington	Central Park					[2][3]
P1	Mon 29 Sep 1969	Huddersfield		10-18		Castleford	Fartown		1750		1	[4][5]

Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 2 matches with the same 4 clubs with reverse fixtures

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P2	Mon 29 Sep 1969	Warrington		15-10		Wigan	Wilderspool	21-32				[2][3]
P2	Wed 8 Oct 1969	Castleford		19-2		Huddersfield	Wheldon Road	37-12	4000			[4][5]

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 30 Sep 1969	Halifax		9-27		Leeds	Thrum Hall
2	Tue 7 Oct 1969	Leigh		25-8		Wakefield Trinity	Hilton Park				[6]
3	Mon 13 Oct 1969	Oldham		24-13		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings
4	Mon 13 Oct 1969	Swinton		9-17		St. Helens	Station Road	4900			[7]
5	Tue 14 Oct 1969	Wigan		24-5		Hull F.C.	Central Park			2	[2][8]
6	Mon 20 Oct 1969	Barrow		13-10		Widnes	Craven Park				[9]
7	Tue 21 Oct 1969	Salford		12-16		Castleford	The Willows
8	Tue 28 Oct 1969	Keighley		6-15		Hull Kingston Rovers	Lawkholme Lane

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 4 Nov 1969	Barrow		6-11		St. Helens	Craven Park	4500			[7]
2	Tue 11 Nov 1969	Wigan		12-0		Oldham	Central Park			2	[2]
3	Tue 18 Nov 1969	Hull Kingston Rovers		6-12		Leigh	Craven Park (1)
4	Tue 25 Nov 1969	Castleford		9-7		Leeds	Wheldon Road

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 2 Dec 1969	Castleford		11-12		Leigh	Wheldon Road
2	Tue 9 Dec 1969	Wigan		13-13		St. Helens	Central Park	8850		2	[2][7]

Round 3 – semifinals – replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Thu 11 Dec 1969	St. Helens		9-15		Wigan	Knowsley Road	11500			[2][7]

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Tuesday 16 December 1969	Wigan		6-11		Leigh	Central Park	12,312	2,854	2 3	[2][10][11]

Teams and scorers

Leigh	No.	Wigan
	teams
Stuart Ferguson	1	Cliff Hill
Rod Tickle	2	Stuart Wright
Stan Dorrington	3	Bill Francis
Mick Collins	4	Peter Rowe
Joseph Walsh	5	Kevin O'Loughlin
David Eckersley	6	David Hill
Alex Murphy	7	Johnny Jackson
David Chisnall	8	John Stephens
Kevin Ashcroft	9	Colin Clarke
Derek Watts	10	Keith Ashcroft
Bob Welding	11	Bill Ashurst
Paul Grimes	12	Keith Mills
Geoff Lyon	13	Doug Laughton
Alex Murphy	Coach	Eric Ashton
11	score	6
11	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Rod Tickle (1)	T
	Goals
Stuart Ferguson (3)	G	Bill Francis (2)
Alex Murphy (1)	G	David Hill (1)
Referee		William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

^[2][11]

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Wigan		24
	Hull F.C.		5
						Wigan		12
						Oldham		0
	Oldham		24
	Rochdale Hornets		13
											Wigan		13 (15)
											St. Helens		13 (9)
	Barrow		13
	Widnes		10
						Barrow		6
						St. Helens		11
	Swinton		9
	St. Helens		17
																Wigan		6
																Leigh		11
	Salford		12
	Castleford		16
						Castleford		9
						Leeds		7
	Halifax		9
	Leeds		27
											Castleford		11
											Leigh		12
	Keighley		6
	Hull Kingston Rovers		15
						Hull Kingston Rovers		6
						Leigh		12
	Leigh		25
	Wakefield Trinity		8

Notes and comments

1 * Huddersfield (who joined the competition in season 1967–68) play their first game at home in the competition
2 * This match was televised
3 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

See also

• 1969–70 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1969 Lancashire Cup
• 1969 Yorkshire Cup
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
• Rugby league county cups