1949–50 Lancashire Cup Explained

1949–50 Lancashire Cup
Structure:Regional knockout championship
Season Champs:Wigan
Season Champ Name:Winners
Runner-Up Name:Runner-up
Second Place:Leigh
Prevseason Link:1948 Lancashire Cup
Prevseason Year:1948–49
Nextseason Link:1950 Lancashire Cup
Nextseason Year:1950–51
No Of Teams:14

The 1949–50 Lancashire Cup competition was the 37th Rugby League Lancashire Cup. In the final, Wigan beat Leigh 20–7 to win the trophy. Thirty-five thousand people attended the match, which took place at Wilderspool, Warrington with receipts of £4,751. The attendance was the second-highest to date for the competition (for further information see Rugby league county cups). This was the fourth of Wigan's record-breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.

Background

Overall, 14 teams entered this competition, the same number as in 1948, with Whitehaven being newly elected into the Rugby League at the start of the 1949–50 season, replacing the prior season's junior/amateur club entrant. No junior/amateur club took part during the 1949–50 season. The same pre-war fixture format was retained, with no bye, but one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. The second round contained one bye, but no "blank" fixture. As in the 1948–49 competition, all the first round matches were played on the basis of two legged (home and away) ties, and the remainder of the rounds on straight forward knock-out basis.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) involving 14 clubs.

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Sat 27 Aug 1949Belle Vue Rangers18–2Rochdale HornetsBelle Vue Stadium
2Sat 27 Aug 1949Liverpool Stanley0–41LeighStanley Greyhound Stadium
3Sat 27 Aug 1949St. Helens0–7Workington TownKnowsley Road15,000[2]
4Sat 27 Aug 1949Salford9–22WarringtonThe Willows[3]
5Sat 27 Aug 1949Whitehaven3–2SwintonRecreation Ground1
6Sat 27 Aug 1949Widnes11–2BarrowNaughton Park[4]
7Sat 27 Aug 1949Wigan45–14OldhamCentral Park[5]
8blankblank

Round 1 – second leg

7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) involving 14 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg.

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Wed 31 Aug 1949Rochdale Hornets5–5Belle Vue RangersAthletic Grounds7–23
2Wed 31 Aug 1949Leigh38–7Liverpool StanleyKirkhall Lane79–7
3Wed 31 Aug 1949Workington Town7–4St. HelensBorough Park14–414,256
4Wed 31 Aug 1949Warrington17–2SalfordWilderspool39–11
5Wed 31 Aug 1949Swinton23–2WhitehavenStation Road25–5
6Wed 31 Aug 1949Barrow7–5WidnesCraven Park9–16
7Wed 31 Aug 1949Oldham19–9WiganWatersheddings33–54
8blankblank

Round 2 – quarterfinals

3 matches (with one bye) involving 7 clubs.

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Wed 14 Sep 1949Warrington45–7Belle Vue RangersWilderspool
2Wed 14 Sep 1949Wigan33–13SwintonCentral Park
3Wed 14 Sep 1949Workington Town18–5WidnesBorough Park
4Leighbye

Round 3 – semifinals

2 matches involving 4 clubs.

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Mon 03 Oct 1949Leigh10–7WarringtonKirkhall Lane
2Mon 03 Oct 1949Wigan30–17Workington TownCentral Park

Final

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Saturday 29 October 1949Wigan20–7LeighWilderspool35,000£4,7512[6]

Teams and scorers

width=280 abbr="Wigan"Wiganwidth=60 abbr="Number"width=280 abbr="Leigh"Leigh
Martin Ryan1Jimmy Ledgard
Jack Hilton2Jack Wood
Jack Cunliffe3Norman Harris
Ernie Ashcroft4Edward Kerwick
Brian Nordgren5Nebby Cleworth
Ces Mountford6Jimmy Rowe
Tommy Bradshaw7Peter Riley
Ken Gee8Alf Edge
Joe Egan9Terry Stephens
Ted Slevin10Reg Wheatley
Bill Hudson11Ces Ryan
Frank Barton12Charlie Pawsey
Billy Blan13Jeff Burke
20score7
8HT2
Scorers
Tries
Brian Nordgren (4)TCleworth (1)
Billy Blan (1)T
Jack Hilton (1)T
Goals
Ken Gee (1)GJimmy Ledgard (2)
RefereeG. S. Phillips, Widnes
Scoring: Try = three (3) points; Goal = two (2) points; Drop goal = two (2) points

[5]

Tournament bracket

All the first round ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis. The first club named in the first round played the first leg at home. The scores shown in the first round are the aggregate score over the two legs.

Notes and comments

1 * This was the first Lancashire Cup match to be played by Whitehaven as well as being the first match at this stadium.
2 * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 through the 2003 summer season, after which they moved into the new Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained a sports/Rugby League facility, used by the Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club. It had a final capacity of 9,000 although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup third round match on 13 March 1948, when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington lose to Wigan 13–10.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rugby League Project.
  2. Web site: Saints Heritage Society — History — Season 1896–97.
  3. Web site: Warrington Wolves — Results Archive – 1897 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100706043029/http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1897 . 2010-07-06 .
  4. Web site: Widnes Vikings — History — Season In Review – 1896–97.
  5. Web site: Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results.
  6. Book: Raymond Fletcher and David Howes. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. 1991. Queen Anne Press. 0 35617852 8.