# 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

## 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
### Preliminary round

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

### First round

Involved eight matches and 16 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Tue 25 Sep 1979 | Keighley | 9–2 | Dewsbury | Lawkholme Lane | | |
| 2 | Sun 30 Sep 1979 | Hull F.C. | 34–2 | Huddersfield | Boulevard | | 2 |
| 3 | Tue 2 Oct 1979 | Widnes | 27–13 | Swinton | Naughton Park | | 3 |
| 4 | Tue 9 Oct 1979 | St Helens | 45–17 | Rochdale Hornets | Knowsley Road | 3,000 | 3 4 |
| 5 | Tue 9 Oct 1979 | Salford | 24–6 | Wigan | The Willows | | |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 3 | Tue 27 Nov 1979 | Hull F.C. | 16–9 | Leeds | Boulevard | | 3 |
| 4 | Tue 20 Nov 1979 | St Helens | P–P | Salford | Knowsley Road | | |
| R | Fri 30 Nov 1979 | St Helens | 15–10 | Salford | Knowsley Road | 4,500 | |

### 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 | |
| 2 | Tue 11 Dec 1979 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10–7 | St Helens | Knowsley Road | 7,766 | 3 | |

### Final

The attendance was a record for a BBC2 Floodlit Trophy final, never to be beaten.
* 18 December 1979
| Hull | 13 – 3 | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| Tries: Evans, Dennison, Birdsall Goals: Dennison (2) | | Tries: Hubbard |
* 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 | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Hull FC | Hull FC | 34 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 2 | Hull FC | Hull FC | 16 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leeds | Leeds | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 10 | Leeds | Leeds | 9 | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leeds | Leeds | 12 | | | | Hull FC | Hull FC | 9 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 6 | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 20 | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 6 | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 4 | Leigh | Leigh | 14 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 27 | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | | | | | Hull FC | Hull FC | 13 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 3 |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 25 | | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 3 |
| Castleford | Castleford | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 12 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 41 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Keighley | Keighley | 15 | | | | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 9 | Keighley | Keighley | 15 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 2 | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 45 | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 17 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 15 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Salford | Salford | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 24 | Salford | Salford | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | 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

| | 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) |