# 1966–67 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1966–67 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the second occasion on which the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition had been held.
Castleford won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 7-2 The match was played at Wheldon Road, Castleford, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 8,986 and receipts were £1,692 This was to be the second of Castleford's three victories in successive seasons in the first three Floodlit competitions

## Background

This season the original eight invitees were joined by Barrow, Rochdale Hornets and Salford bringing the total of entrants up to eleven, an increase of three. This involved the introduction of a preliminary knock-out round on a two legged home and away basis, to reduce the numbers to eight, followed by a mini-league and with the semi-finals and final stages again being on a knock out basis.

## Competition and results
### Preliminary round – first leg

Involved 3 matches and 6 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Mon 15 Aug 1966 | Leigh | 11-16 | Castleford | Hilton Park | | |
| 2 | Tue 6 Sep 1966 | Swinton | 21-5 | Rochdale Hornets | Station Road | | 1 |
| 3 | Wed 7 Sep 1966 | Salford | 10-19 | St. Helens | The Willows | 5000 | 2 |

### Preliminary round – second leg

Involved 3 matches and 6 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Agg | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Wed 7 Sep 1966 | Castleford | 39-18 | Leigh | Wheldon Road | 55-29 | | 3 |
| 2 | Wed 5 Oct 1966 | Rochdale Hornets | 14-14 | Swinton | Athletic Grounds | 19-35 | | 4 |
| 3 | Mon 26 Sep 1966 | St. Helens | 40-5 | Salford | Knowsley Road | 59-15 | 8500 | 5 |

### Round 1 – first qualifying round

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 4 Oct 1966 | Oldham | 7-10 | Barrow | Watersheddings | | 6 |
| 2 | Tue 11 Oct 1966 | Leeds | 11-11 | Castleford | Headingley | | |
| 3 | Tue 18 Oct 1966 | St. Helens | 11-9 | Swinton | Knowsley Road | 8500 | |
| 4 | Tue 25 Oct 1966 | Warrington | 4-14 | Widnes | Wilderspool | | |

### Round 2 – second qualifying round

Involved 4 matches with the same 8 clubs - but NOT reverse fixtures
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 1 Nov 1966 | Barrow | 11-11 | St. Helens | Craven Park | 6657 | 7 |
| 2 | Tue 8 Nov 1966 | Castleford | 31-10 | Warrington | Wheldon Road | | |
| 3 | Tue 22 Nov 1966 | Widnes | 11-14 | Oldham | Naughton Park | | |
| 4 | Tue 29 Nov 1966 | Swinton | 10-4 | Leeds | Station Road | | |

### Qualifying league table

| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | PD |
| 1 | Castleford | 2 | 1 | 1 | | 42 | 21 | 21 | 3 |
| 2 | Widnes | 2 | 1 | | 1 | 25 | 18 | 7 | 2 |
| 3 | Swinton | 2 | 1 | | 1 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | Barrow | 2 | 1 | 1 | | 21 | 18 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | St. Helens | 2 | 1 | 1 | | 22 | 20 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Oldham | 2 | 1 | | 1 | 21 | 21 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Leeds | 2 | | 1 | 1 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 1 |
| 8 | Warrington | 2 | | | 2 | 14 | 45 | -31 | 0 |
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

#### To progress to the next stage

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 Castleford, Widnes, Swinton and Barrow

### 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 6 Dec 1966 | Castleford | 21-5 | Barrow | Wheldon Road | | | | |
| 2 | Tue 13 Dec 1966 | Widnes | 6-19 | Swinton | Naughton Park | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Tuesday 20 December 1966 | Castleford | 7-2 | Swinton | Wheldon Road | 8,986 | 1,692 | 8 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Castleford | № | Swinton |
| | teams | |
| Derek Edwards | 1 | Ken Gowers (Capt.) |
| Keith Howe | 2 | Derek Whitehead |
| Ian Stenton | 3 | John Gomersall |
| Ron Willett | 4 | Alan Buckley |
| Jack Austin | 5 | Reg Williams |
| Alan "Chuck" Hardisty (capt.) | 6 | Bob Fleet |
| Keith Hepworth | 7 | Graham Williams |
| Denis Hartley | 8 | Ken Halliwell |
| Clive Dickinson | 9 | Derek Clarke |
| Harold McCartney | 10 | Bernard Scott |
| Wiliam "Bill" Bryant | 11 | Graham Rees |
| Peter Small | 12 | Malcolm Cummings |
| John Walker | 13 | David Robinson |
| Glyn Jones (unused) | 14 | William Davies |
| Tony Miller (unused) | 15 | Barry Simpson |
| George Clinton | Coach | Cliff Evans |
| 7 | score | 2 |
| 7 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Jack Austin (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Ron Willett (1) | G | Derek Whitehead (1) |
| Keith Hepworth (1) | G | |
| Referee | | J Manley (Warrington) |
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

### The play-offs

| Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 2 | St. Helens | 9 | | | |
| 3 | Swinton | 5 | | | |
| 3 | Swinton | 5 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 0 |
| | | | Castleford | Castleford | 4 |
| 1 | Widnes | 9 | Castleford | Castleford | 4 |
| 4 | Castleford | 12 | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Rochdale Hornets join the competition and play first game in the competition 2 * Salford join the competition and play first game in the competition, and first at home in the competition 3 * At the time this was the highest score, highest aggregate score and greatest winning margin, but to be broken three weeks later 4 * Rochdale Hornets play their first game at home in the competition 5 * At the time this was the highest score, highest aggregate score and greatest winning margin 6 * Barrow join the competition and play first game in the competition 7 * Barrow play their first game at home in the competition 8 * Wheldon Road is the home ground of Castleford. The first match was played there in 1927 and the current capacity in the region of 13,000 although the record attendance was 25,449 set in 1935 in a Challenge Cup match against Hunslet.