1979–80 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1979–80 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the fifteenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
This year, for the last time, a new name appeared on the trophy when Hull F.C. won the trophy by beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 13-3
The match was played at Boulevard, in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. The attendance was 18,500, and the receipts were £16,605
The attendance was a record for a BBC2 Floodlit Trophy, never to be beaten

1979–80 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy
Structure	Floodlit knockout championship
Teams	22
Winners	Hull F.C.
Runners-up	Hull Kingston Rovers
← 1978–79

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 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

^[1][2]

Preliminary round

Involved six matches and 12 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
P	Tue 4 Sep 1979	Bramley	5–21	Hunslet	McLaren Field
P	Tue 4 Sep 1979	Hull F.C.	8–1	Halifax	Boulevard		1	[3]
P	Wed 5 Sep 1979	Castleford	22–12	Wakefield Trinity	Wheldon Road			[4]
P	Tue 11 Sep 1979	Whitehaven	5–29	Barrow	Recreation Ground
P	Wed 19 Sep 1979	Oldham	9–20	St Helens	Watersheddings	1,355		[5]
P	Wed 26 Sep 1979	Warrington	4–12	Leigh	Wilderspool			[6]

First round

Involved eight matches and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 25 Sep 1979	Keighley	9–2	Dewsbury	Lawkholme Lane
2	Sun 30 Sep 1979	Hull F.C.	34–2	Huddersfield	Boulevard		2	[2][3][7]
3	Tue 2 Oct 1979	Widnes	27–13	Swinton	Naughton Park		3	[8]
4	Tue 9 Oct 1979	St Helens	45–17	Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	3,000	3 4	[5]
5	Tue 9 Oct 1979	Salford	24–6	Wigan	The Willows			[9]
6	Tue 16 Oct 1979	Hull Kingston Rovers	25–12	Castleford	Craven Park		3
7	Tue 23 Oct 1979	Hunslet	10–12	Leeds	Mount Pleasant		3
8	Tue 30 Oct 1979	Leigh	20–4	Barrow	Hilton Park		3

Second round

Involved four matches with eight clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 6 Nov 1979	Hull Kingston Rovers	41–15	Keighley	Craven Park		3
2	Tue 13 Nov 1979	Leigh	14–5	Widnes	Hilton Park		3	[8]
3	Tue 27 Nov 1979	Hull F.C.	16–9	Leeds	Boulevard		3	[3]
4	Tue 20 Nov 1979	St Helens	P–P	Salford	Knowsley Road			[5]
R	Fri 30 Nov 1979	St Helens	15–10	Salford	Knowsley Road	4,500		[5]

Semi-finals

Involved two matches and four clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 4 Dec 1979	Hull F.C.	9–6	Leigh	Boulevard		3	[3]
2	Tue 11 Dec 1979	Hull Kingston Rovers	10–7	St Helens	Knowsley Road	7,766	3	[5]

Final

The attendance was a record for a BBC2 Floodlit Trophy final, never to be beaten.

Hull	13 – 3	Hull Kingston Rovers
Tries: Evans, Dennison, Birdsall Goals: Dennison (2)	[10][11]	Tries: Hubbard

18 December 1979

The Boulevard, Hull Attendance: 18,500 Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)

Teams

Hull F.C.	No.	Hull Kingston Rovers
	Teams
Paul Woods	1	Ian Robinson
Graham Bray	2	Steve Hubbard
Graham Evans	3	Mike Smith
Phil Coupland	4	Bernard Watson
Steve Dennison	5	Clive Sullivan (c)
John Newlove	6	Dave Hall
Keith Hepworth	7	Allan Agar
Keith Tindall	8	Roy Holdstock
Ron Wileman	9	Graham Tyreman
Vince Farrar (c)	10	Brian Lockwood
Charlie Stone	11	Phil Lowe
Keith Boxall	12	Geoff Clarkson
Steve Norton	13	Phil Hogan
	Subs
Graham Walters	14	Steve Hartley
Charlie Birdsall	15	John Millington
Arthur Bunting	Coach	Roger Millward

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Hull FC		34
	Huddersfield		2
						Hull FC		16
						Leeds		9
	Hunslet		10
	Leeds		12
											Hull FC		9
											Leigh		6
	Leigh		20
	Barrow		4
						Leigh		14
						Widnes		5
	Widnes		27
	Swinton		13
																Hull FC		13
																Hull Kingston Rovers		3
	Hull Kingston Rovers		25
	Castleford		12
						Hull Kingston Rovers		41
						Keighley		15
	Keighley		9
	Dewsbury		2
											Hull Kingston Rovers		10
											St. Helens		7
	St. Helens		45
	Rochdale Hornets		17
						St. Helens		15
						Salford		10
	Salford		24
	Wigan		6

Notes and comments

1 * the first BBC2 Floodlit Trophy match to end with a team scoring 1 point
2 * Played in daylight
3 * This match was televised
4 * At the time this was the third highest score

Postscript

To date, this was the last season for the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Competition, which had taken place annually only since its inauguration in the 1965-66 season.
Despite several minor disagreements between the BBC and the RFL, including over shirt sponsorship in the early 1970s, overall the competition had been a great success.
However financial cutbacks at the BBC lead to its cancellation after the 1979–80 competition.
Therefore, this season was to be the last. It was greatly missed by many, including those living in a non-Rugby League area

Records from the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Competition

^[12][13]

	Record		Holder
In Final
Team
	Most appearances	7	St. Helens
	Most wins	4	Castleford
	Highest Score	26-11	Hull Kingston Rovers	St. Helens 1977
	Widest margin	22-2	St. Helens 1977	Dewsbury 1975
	Biggest Attendance		18500	Hull F.C. v Hull Kingston Rovers 1979
	Highest receipts		16605	Hull F.C. v Hull Kingston Rovers 1979
Individual
	Most tries	2	Roy Mathias	St. Helens v Dewsbury 1975
		2	Peter Glynn	St. Helens v Hull Kingston Rovers 1977
		2	Gerald "Ged" Dunn	Hull Kingston Rovers v St. Helens 1977
		2	Stuart Wright	Widnes v St. Helens 1978
	Most goals	4	Ron Willett	Castleford v Leigh 1967
		4	Kel Coslett	St. Helens v Rochdale Hornets 1971
		4	Dave Hall	Hull Kingston Rovers v St. Helens 1977
	Most points	8		The last 3 goal kickers
In Competition
	Highest Score	51-0	St. Helens	Dewsbury (1977)
	Greatest winning margin	51-0	St. Helens	Dewsbury (1977)
	Highest Aggregate score	54-16	Leeds	Hull F.C. (1973)
	Other high scores	47-5	St. Helens	Castleford (1978)
		47-11	Leeds	Bramley (1978
		'45-17	St. Helens	Rochdale Hornets (1979)

See also

• 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season
• BBC2 Floodlit Trophy