1961–62 Lancashire Cup Explained

1961–62 Lancashire Cup
Structure:Regional knockout championship
Season Champs:St. Helens
Season Champ Name:Winners
Runner-Up Name:Runner-up
Second Place:Swinton
Prevseason Link:1960 Lancashire Cup
Prevseason Year:1960–61
Nextseason Link:1962 Lancashire Cup
Nextseason Year:1962–63
No Of Teams:14

1961–62 was the forty-ninth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. St. Helens won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 25–9.

The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 30,000, the last time the attendance at a Lancashire Cup final would reach 30,000, and receipts were £4,850.

This was the second of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the second of the seven victories in a period of nine successive seasons.

It was also the second of Swinton’s three successive Lancashire Cup final runner-up positions.

Background

With again no invitation to a junior club this season, the total number of teams entering the competition remained the same at 14.

The same fixture format was retained, and due to the number of clubs this resulted in no bye but one “blank” or “dummy” fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with no bye but one “blank” fixture) and 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=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Saturday 2 September 1961Barrow3-10OldhamCraven Park
2Saturday 2 September 1961Liverpool City14-16SalfordMill Yard, Knotty Ash
3Saturday 2 September 1961Rochdale Hornets3-22Blackpool BoroughAthletic Grounds
4Saturday 2 September 1961St. Helens43-8LeighKnowsley Road21,800[2]
5Saturday 2 September 1961Swinton18-7WarringtonStation Road[3]
6Saturday 2 September 1961Widnes54-2WhitehavenNaughton Park[4]
7Saturday 2 September 1961Workington Town18-30WiganDerwent Park[5]
8blankblank

Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 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=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Monday 18 September 1961Salford22-10Blackpool BoroughThe Willows
2Thursday 21 September 1961Widnes9-5WiganNaughton Park
3Monday 2 October 1961St. Helens30-7OldhamKnowsley Road18,500
4. Swintonbye

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 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=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Wednesday 4 October 1961Swinton10-5WidnesStation Road13,250
2Tuesday 10 October 1961St. Helens21-2SalfordKnowsley Road18,000

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=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Saturday 11 November 1961St. Helens25-9SwintonCentral Park30,000£4,8501[6]

Teams and scorers

[2] [7]

width=280 abbr="St Helens"St. Helenswidth=60 abbr="Number"width=280 abbr="Swinton"Swinton
teams
Austin Rhodes1
Tom van Vollenhoven2Bernard McMahon
Ken Large http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=158043Malcolm Cummings
Brian McGinn http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=159534Bob Fleet
Mick Sullivan5John Speed
Wilf Smith http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=163576George Parkinson
Alex Murphy7Albert Cartwright
Fred Leyland http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=158438Arnold Thompson
Bob Dagnall9Trevor Roberts
Cliff Watson10Bill Bretherton
Ray French11Ken Roberts
Dick Huddart12Peter Norburn
Vince Karalius (c) 13Albert Blan (c)
25score9
9HT4
Scorers
Tries
Austin Rhodes (1)TBill Bretherton (1)
Tom van Vollenhoven (1)T
Ken Large (1)T
Mick Sullivan (1)T
Alex Murphy (1)T
Goals
Austin Rhodes (5)GAlbert Blan (3)
G
Drop Goals
DG
RefereeR. Gelder (Wilmslow)
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The road to success

Notes and comments

1 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

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.
  7. Web site: Swinton Lions Tales.