Floodlights are a massive part of a sports ground. Think floodlights in Hull and you were instantly drawn to the massive towers that once stood at Hull City’s Boothferry Park, but Hull FC’s Boulevard ground, with its first set of lights sat on columns behind both the Threepenny and Best Stands, also packed a punch.

However, while they are synonymous today at the MKM Stadium and far beyond, floodlights weren’t always prevalent to a sporting ground's fabric. In fact, few clubs saw the need for them, with weekend fixtures during the winter months reversed by half an hour to 2:30 kick-offs in the hope that matches would be completed before it got dark.

But things started to change, and with their installation across the country, floodlights soon became a thing across sport, and rugby league wasn’t going to miss its opportunity to cash in on them. Cue the birth of the BBC 2 Floodlit Trophy knockout competition, which ran through the 60’s and 70's and is a trophy that Hull still hold as the last ever winners in 1979.

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How the trophy was born

In 1965, the BBC 2 channel manufactured a new rugby league competition with who else but David Attenborough, yes, really, to meet the demands of TV, and voila, the BBC 2 Floodlit Trophy was born. But straight away there was a massive problem; not many teams had floodlights, with Bradford Northern the first club to have them at Odsal back in 1951. Leeds had them at Headingley too, but they weren’t popular; Hull, for one, waited until 1967 to install them at the Boulevard.

So in true rugby league fashion, the competition was met with strong opposition from clubs and their supporters, but they all soon realised how much money a new televised tournament could give to participating teams, and no fewer than 21 clubs installed floodlights in what seemed to be no time at all. A year after launching with just eight teams taking part in 1965, the Floodlit Trophy experimented with limited tackles for the first time (four to begin with before increasing to six in 1972), and this, as we all know, became revolutionary for the game we all idolise today.

The make-up and Hull’s entry to the competition

The Floodlit Trophy was staged in the autumn months, and at least one match would be under the lights on a Tuesday evening, with the second half broadcasted live on BBC 2. Non-televised matches were played at various times and were dependent on the club's success in other competitions, with the only catch to entry being that they had to have floodlights. Though it didn’t matter how good the floodlights were, as with the case with Barrow and Bramley, who had substandard floodlights, and their home games could not be televised.

Meanwhile, Hull entered the Floodlit Trophy competition in its third year after floodlights were installed at the Boulevard. Then chairmen J.L. Spooner oversaw the installation that cost £7,138. Hull’s first game under lights was actually at Craven Park in the preliminary round of the Floodlit competition, and they lost 12-8 in front of 6,000. The club’s first game in front of their own set of lights was the following week in a Yorkshire Cup semi-final tie against Leeds in front of 12,000. The following season, 1968/69, Hull won their first Floodlit Trophy game under their own lights against Widnes, beating them 22-13.

The 1979 final

The first Floodlit Trophy was won by Castleford, who actually won the first three competitions and hold the record for the most with four. In 1974, Bramley beat Widnes in the final, and it was to be the only trophy that the famous old West Yorkshire club would ever win. The Floodlit Trophy survived for fifteen years before a BBC cutback in their support grant and a freeze on their license fee ended the competition.

However, its last final 45 years ago proved to be its most memorable: a Hull Derby on Tuesday, 18 December 1979, in front of a packed-out and competition record 18,500 Boulevard crowd. Both clubs were soon to rule the rugby league world, with Arthur Bunting’s Hull side, who would go on to win just about every honour in the game, just back in the topflight following the 'Invincibles' promotion campaign the season before.

Captained by Vince Farrar and boasting forward supremacy in the shape of Charlie Stone and Steve Norton, the Airlie Birds were slowly beginning to find their feet, and this magical night at the famous old Boulevard ground was to be the first major trophy of the best silverware adorning spell in the club’s history.

Hull beat Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, and Leigh (all at home) to reach the final, with a 13-3 win over the Rovers coming courtesy of tries from Graham Evans, Steve Dennison, and Charlie Birdsall. It was a freezing night, one proudly recalled by Ian Tomlinson, father of Hull Live’s Hull FC reporter Dan Tomlinson.

"Upon entering Boulevard from Anlaby Road, there was a magical glow from the floodlights that lit up all the rooftops around the ground," Ian said. "The old place was packed, and that includes the hundreds who stood outside the gates on Airlie Street without a ticket. Luckily, my brother Terry and I had our tickets, and the atmosphere was incredible. For the first time in what seemed forever, all the bulbs above the Best Stand and Threepenny sides were on, and the old place looked fantastic.

"Hull were massive underdogs going into the final. Rovers had just won the first division the season before and the press had labelled Hull as a team of 'has been’s with a smattering of real class.' Knocker was in his prime, but Hull had stalwarts of the 70s in Keith Tindall and Keith Boxall, not to mention the massive frame of John Newlove in the halves with 38-year-old Keith Hepworth, who played most of the game with a broken hand. But it was the underdogs and 'has beens' that would be cheering long into the night."

Ian continued: "The final was a typical high-tempo and fiery derby affair with no shortage of big hits and biff. Hull raised their game and were unlucky to only go in 5-0 up at the break from Dennison’s hack and chase after a Rovers mistake. In the second half the pressure turned into points much more easily, and it wasn’t long before Evans crashed over after some great work by Man of the Match Paul Woods, who had a great game at fullback. He probed all night and came with the sort of aggression that saw poor Phil Hogan stretched off and taken straight to hospital after trying to stop him.

"Steve Hubbard then pulled one back for the old enemy diving over in the corner, before Birdsall charged through the line to eventually roll over and score. This kicked off a massive chant of Old Faithful, and the place was rocking long after Vince Farrar went up to receive the little trophy, before parading it around the Boulevard for all to see, with, as we all know now, the best times still to come."

Proudly on show at the club’s St Stephen’s store today, the 1979 Floodlit Trophy final was Hull’s fifth match in sixteen days, and it was during a run where the side would only lose two of 25 games in a season that ended with one of Hull’s most famous sporting occasions: Wembley 1980.

"They’d rub that in our faces for 36 long years," Ian added. "But on this famous night Hull were the king's, and nobody could knock us off our perch."

Teams and Scorers

Hull Starting XIII: 1. Paul Woods, 2. Graham Bray, 3. Graham Evans, 4. Phil Coupland, 5. Steve Dennison, 6. John Newlove, 7. Keith Hepworth, 8. Keith Tindall, 9. Ronnie Wileman, 10. Vince Farrar, 11. Charlie Stone, 12. Keith Boxall, 13. Steve Norton. Bench: 14. Charlie Birdsall

Hull Tries: Evans, Dennison, Birdsall. Goals: Dennison 2

Rovers Starting XIII: 1. Ian Robinson, 2. Steve Hubbard, 3. Mike Smith, 4. Bernard Watson, 5. Clive Sullivan, 6. Dave Hall, 7. Allan Agar, 8. Roy Holdstock, 9. Graham Tryeman, 10. Brian Lockwood, 11. Geoff Clarkson, 12. Phil Lowe, 13. Phil Hogan.

Rovers Tries: Hubbard.

Referee: Mick Naughton (Widnes)

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