1978–79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

The 1978–79 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy was the 14th staging of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy competition, and was held in 1978.
Previous two times runner-up Widnes won the trophy by beating the previous year's winners and cup holders St. Helens by 13-7. The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. 10,250 fans attended, and the receipts were £7,017.

Background

This season Batley dropped out after only one season, but Bramley returned; thus the number of entrants remaining the same 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 6 matches and 12 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
P	Sat 26 Aug 1978	Leeds	47–11	Bramley	Headingley	10099		1 2
P	Sun 27 Aug 1978	Barrow	17–11	Oldham	Craven Park
P	Sun 27 Aug 1978	Wigan	27–10	Swinton	Central Park
P	Tue 5 Sep 1978	Hull Kingston Rovers	39–2	New Hunslet	Craven Park (1)
P	Tue 5 Sep 1978	Keighley	10–0	Dewsbury	Lawkholme Lane
P	Tue 12 Sep 1978	St. Helens	13–9	Warrington	Knowsley Road	5,000

First round

Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 26 Sep 1978	Castleford	20–11	Wakefield Trinity	Wheldon Road			3
2	Thu 28 Sep 1978	Barrow	17–5	Leigh	Craven Park
3	Tue 3 Oct 1978	Halifax	12–21	Hull Kingston Rovers	Thrum Hall			3
4	Tue 3 Oct 1978	Keighley	15–25	Huddersfield	Lawkholme Lane
5	Tue 3 Oct 1978	Widnes	17–13	Whitehaven	Naughton Park
6	Tue 10 Oct 1978	Leeds	8–14	Hull F.C.	Headingley
7	Tue 17 Oct 1978	Salford	15–17	St. Helens	The Willows	4,632		3
8	Tue 24 Oct 1978	Wigan	13–2	Rochdale Hornets	Central Park			3

Second round

Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 31 Oct 1978	Barrow	0–6	Hull F.C.	Craven Park
2	Tue 7 Nov 1978	St. Helens	47–5	Castleford	Knowsley Road	4,247		5
3	Wed 15 Nov 1978	Rochdale Hornets	10–9	Huddersfield	Athletic Grounds
4	Tue 21 Nov 1978	Hull Kingston Rovers	P	Widnes	Craven Park (1)			6

Replay

Involved 1 matches and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Tue 21 Nov 1978	Hull Kingston Rovers	10–13	Widnes	Craven Park (1)

Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 28 Nov 1978	Hull F.C.	5–13	St Helens	Boulevard	8,428		3
2	Tue 05 Dec 1978	Rochdale Hornets	P	Widnes	Athletic Grounds			7

Replay

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
R	Fri 08 Dec 1978	Rochdale Hornets	9–26	Widnes	Athletic Grounds

Final

Teams and scorers

Widnes	№	St. Helens

	teams
David Eckersley	1	Geoff Pimblett
Stuart Wright	2	Les Jones
Eric Hughes	3	Peter Glynn
Mal Aspey	4	Eddie Cunningham
Peter Shaw	5	Roy Mathias
Mick Burke	6	Bill Francis
Reg Bowden	7	Neil Holding
Brian Hogan	8	Dave Chisnall
Keith Elwell	9	Graham Liptrot
Jim Mills	10	Mel James
Mick Adams	11	George Nicholls
Alan Dearden	12	John Knighton
Doug Laughton	13	Harry Pinner
Doug Laughton	Coach	Eric Ashton

13	score	7
8	HT	5

	Scorers
	Tries
Stuart Wright	T	David "Dave" Chisnall
Mick Burke	T
	Goals
Mick Burke	G	Geoff Pimblett
Referee		J McDonald

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = two points

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures