# 1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1974–75 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the tenth occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held. A new name was put on the trophy when Salford won by beating Warrington by the score of 10-5 in a replay. The final was played at The Willows, Salford, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 4,473, receipts were £1913 and the score 0-0. The replay was at Wilderspool. The attendance was 5,778, receipts were £2434 and the score 10-5. This was the first (and only) floodlit final to require a replay after a drawn first match.

## Background

This season saw New Hunslet join the competition, which increased the number of entrants by one, to a new high total of twenty-two. The format remained the same as the last season with the preliminary round (generally) played on a two-legged home and away basis and the rest of the tournament being played on a knock-out basis. The exceptions to the two-legged preliminary rounds were the two matches where the four clubs had agreed to play a sudden-death match to avoid fixture congestion. The preliminary round now involved twelve clubs, to reduce the numbers taking part in the competition proper to just sixteen.

## Competition and results
### Preliminary round

Involved six matches and 12 clubs. Huddersfield, Castleford, Hull and Keighley agreed to play one leg only; the four other ties were played over two legs.

#### First leg

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| P1 | Tue 10 Sep 1974 | Oldham | 8-7 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Watersheddings | 1,381 | |
| P1 | Wed 11 Sep 1974 | Huddersfield | 12-4 | Castleford | Fartown | 656 | |
| P1 | Tue 17 Sep 1974 | Hull F.C. | 12-2 | Keighley | Boulevard | 1,500 | |
| P1 | Tue 17 Sep 1974 | St. Helens | 21-12 | Wakefield Trinity | Knowsley Road | 3,272 | 1 |
| P1 | Tue 17 Sep 1974 | Widnes | 15-13 | Barrow | Naughton Park | 3,000 | |
| P1 | Tue 24 Sep 1974 | Leigh | 19-5 | Bramley | Hilton Park | 2,000 | |

#### Second leg

Involved 4 matches and the same 8 Clubs in reverse fixtures (the other two matches were on a single leg basis)
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att |
| P2 | Tue 17 Sep 1974 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 19-11 | Oldham | Craven Park (1) | 26-19 | 2,252 |
| P2 | Tue 24 Sep 1974 | Wakefield Trinity | 18-15 | St. Helens | Belle Vue | 30-36 | 2,583 |
| P2 | Tue 1 Oct 1974 | Barrow | 3-8 | Widnes | Craven Park | 16-23 | 870 |
| P2 | Wed 2 Oct 1974 | Bramley | 15-9 | Leigh | McLaren Field | 20-28 | 1.100 |

### First round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 1 Oct 1974 | Warrington | 10-5 | Swinton | Wilderspool | 3,552 | |
| 2 | Tue 8 Oct 1974 | Halifax | 15-4 | Whitehaven | Thrum Hall | 750 | |
| 3 | Tue 15 Oct 1974 | St. Helens | 30-2 | Leeds | Knowsley Road | 3,576 | 4 |
| 4 | Tue 22 Oct 1974 | Dewsbury | 8-14 | Leigh | Crown Flatt | 1,400 | 5 |
| 5 | Wed 23 Oct 1974 | New Hunslet | 12-5 | Widnes | Elland Road Greyhound Stadium | 1,250 | 6 |
| 6 | Tue 29 Oct 1974 | Salford | 16-2 | Huddersfield | The Willows | 2,926 | |
| 7 | Wed 30 Oct 1974 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20-10 | Wigan | Craven Park (1) | 2,009 | |
| 8 | Wed 30 Oct 1974 | Rochdale Hornets | 14-4 | Hull F.C. | Athletic Grounds | 780 | |

### Second Round

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 5 Nov 1974 | Warrington | 36-17 | New Hunslet | Wilderspool | 2,144 | |
| 2 | Tue 12 Nov 1974 | St. Helens | 7-11 | Salford | Knowsley Road | 4,474 | 7 |
| 3 | Tue 19 Nov 1974 | Leigh | 8-0 | Rochdale Hornets | Hilton Park | 2,000 | |
| 4 | Tue 26 Nov 1974 | Halifax | 24-28 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Thrum Hall | 752 | |

### Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Tue 3 Dec 1974 | Salford | 27-10 | Hull Kingston Rovers | The Willows | 3,727 | | 3 | |
| 2 | Tue 10 Dec 1974 | Warrington | 32-0 | Leigh | Wilderspool | 2,495 | | 3 | |

### Final

* 17 December 1974
| Salford | 0 – 0 | Warrington |
* The Willows, Salford Attendance: 4,473 Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)
| Salford | No | Warrington |
| | Teams | |
| Paul Charlton | 1 | Derek Whitehead |
| Keith Fielding | 2 | Dave Sutton |
| Chris Hesketh | 3 | Dave Cunliffe |
| Gordon Graham | 4 | Alan Whittle |
| Maurice Richards | 5 | John Bevan |
| Tom Brophy | 6 | Wilf Briggs |
| Peter Banner | 7 | Parry Gordon |
| Mike Coulman | 8 | David "Dave" Chisnall |
| Ellis Devlin | 9 | Kevin Ashcroft |
| Alan Grice | 10 | Gilly Wright |
| John Knighton | 11 | Wayne Gaskell |
| Colin Dixon | 12 | Tommy Conroy |
| Eric Prescott | 13 | Barry Philbin |
| | Subs | |
| John Taylor (for Brophy) | 14 | John Lowe (for Cunliffe) |
| Graham MacKay | 15 | Peter Jewitt (for Philbin) |
| Les Bettinson | Coach | Alex Murphy |

#### Replay

An unusual occurrence, a "seven point try", was scored by Salford in the replay. Following the try scored by winger Keith Fielding, successfully converted by David Watkins, a further penalty was awarded because Fielding had been fouled after scoring. Watkins kicked the penalty goal to give Salford a 7–0 lead.
* 28 January 1975
| Warrington | 5 – 10 | Salford |
| Tries: Bevan Goals: Whitehead | | Tries: Fielding, Richards Goals: Watkins (2) |
* Wilderspool, Warrington Attendance: 5,778 Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)
| Warrington | No | Salford |
| | Teams | |
| Dave Cunliffe | 1 | Frank Stead |
| Derek Whitehead | 2 | Keith Fielding |
| Billy Pickup | 3 | David Watkins |
| Alan Whittle | 4 | Chris Hesketh |
| John Bevan | 5 | Maurice Richards |
| Derek Noonan | 6 | Ken Gill |
| Parry Gordon | 7 | Peter Banner |
| David "Dave" Chisnall | 8 | Alan Grice |
| Kevin Ashcroft | 9 | Peter Walker |
| Robert "Bobby" Wanbon | 10 | Graham MacKay |
| Tommy Conroy | 11 | Colin Dixon |
| Mike Nicholas | 12 | John Knighton |
| Barry Philbin | 13 | Eric Prescott |
| | Subs | |
| Wilf Briggs (for Noonan) | 14 | |
| Brian Brady (for Nicholas) | 15 | |
| Alex Murphy | Coach | Les Bettinson |

### 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 |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 2 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Salford | Salford | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 16 | Salford | Salford | 11 | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 2 | | | | Salford | Salford | 27 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10 | | | | |
| Halifax | Halifax | 15 | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10 | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 4 | Halifax | Halifax | 24 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 28 | | | | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 20 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 28 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 10 | | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 0 (10) |
| | | | | | | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 0 (5) |
| Warrington | Warrington | 10 | | | | | | | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 0 (5) |
| Swinton | Swinton | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 5 | Warrington | Warrington | 36 | | | | | | | |
| | | | New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 17 | | | | | | | |
| New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 12 | New Hunslet | New Hunslet | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 32 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 0 | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 8 | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 0 | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 14 | Leigh | Leigh | 8 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 14 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |