1967/8 season : Thu Dec 27, 2018 3:58 pm
With Alex Murphy installed as player captain coach and the recent signings of Kevin Ashcroft, Roy Lester,Jimmy Fiddler,Dave Cisnall, David Eckersley and Laurie Gilfedder, prospects were looking promising for the season, and so lt proved with a final position of 7th (out of 30) with 22 wins out of 34. A disappointing exit from the Lancashire Cup at Oldham was followed by 7 wins out of 9 in the league. Then a new competition commenced in October called the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy with the 2nd half of matches shown nationally on BBC2 on Tuesday nights. After close wins against Salford and Swinton a semi- final with Wigan at St Helens was our reward. and in front of 11,000, and a hint of what was to come under Alex, a no try game was decided by 10-2, with 4 penalties and a Murphy drop goal. Unfortunately the final at Headingley against Cas was a drab affair with Leigh scoring the only try but losing 8-5. 17 December 1967, was another first for Leigh RLFC when they became the first professional club in England in either professional rugby or soccer to host a game on a Sunday with a hard fought 15-10 win over Dewsbury. The Challenge Cup started with an 11-5 win over the Wire at Hilton Park in front of 12,000. The subsequent draw resulted in the most eagerly waited match of recent years - Wigan at home!! On Sat. February 1968, in an all ticket match, I was crammed into the Railway end unable to change ends at half time for the very first time in a barely believable crowd of 22,660. Inevitably, not for the first time they let us down and crumpled to a 2-20 defeat. Nevertheless we had qualified for a home top 16 tie for the first time, thrashing Worky 43-4, but losing at Hull KR in the next 3-22. Even so things were looking up.........
