1963–64 Lancashire Cup Explained

1963–64 Lancashire Cup
Structure:Regional knockout championship
Season Champs:St. Helens
Season Champ Name:Winners
Runner-Up Name:Runner-up
Second Place:Leigh
Prevseason Link:1962 Lancashire Cup
Prevseason Year:1962–63
Nextseason Link:1964 Lancashire Cup
Nextseason Year:1964–65
No Of Teams:14

1963–64 was the fifty-first occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.

St. Helens won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 15-4

The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 21,231 and receipts were £3,857

This was the fourth of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the fourth of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in the nine-year period.

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] [2]

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
1Sat 07 Sep 1963Barrow12-34WiganCraven Park[3]
2Sat 07 Sep 1963Blackpool Borough8-22Workington TownBorough Park1
3Sat 07 Sep 1963Liverpool City5-5WhitehavenMill Yard, Knotty Ash
4Sat 07 Sep 1963Oldham10-5WidnesWatersheddings[4]
5Sat 07 Sep 1963Rochdale Hornets7-19LeighAthletic Grounds
6Sat 07 Sep 1963Salford0-31WarringtonThe Willows[5]
7Sat 07 Sep 1963Swinton2-12St. HelensStation Road15,474[6]
8blankblankRecreation Ground

Round 1 - replays

Involved 1 match

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
1Wed 11 Sep 1963Whitehaven31-5Liverpool CityRecreation Ground

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

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
1Mon 16 Sep 1963St. Helens28-4Workington TownKnowsley Road15,700
2Wed 18 Sep 1963Oldham35-4WhitehavenWatersheddings
3Wed 18 Sep 1963Wigan5-7LeighCentral Park
4Warringtonbye

Round 3 – Semi-finals

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
1Mon 23 Sep 1963Warrington14-21St. HelensWilderspool20,168
2Mon 30 Sep 1963Leigh10-0OldhamHilton 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=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Saturday 26 October 1963St. Helens15-4LeighStation Road21,231£3,8572[7]

Teams and scorers

width=280 abbr="St Helens"St. Helenswidth=60 abbr="Number"No.width=280 abbr="Leigh"Leigh
teams
Kel Coslett1Bev Risman
Len Killeen2Colin Tyrer
Tom van Vollenhoven3Gordon Lewis
Keith Northey http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=160674Mick Collins
Peter Harvey http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=155465Tony Leadbetter
Wilf Smith http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=163576Austin Rhodes
Alex Murphy7Terry Entwistle
John Tembey8Bill Robinson
Bob Dagnall9John Lewis
Cliff Watson10Stan Owen
Ray French11Mick Murphy
Keith Ashcroft http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=1482112Mick Martyn
Bill Major http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=1588713Derek Hurt
15score4
5HT4
Scorers
Tries
Len Kileen (1)T
Tom van Vollenhoven (1)T
Wilf Smith (1)T
Goals
Kel Coslett (3)GColin Tyrer (2)
G
Drop Goals
DG
RefereeRon Gelder (Wilmslow)
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

[6]

The road to success

Media coverage

The Lancashire Cup final was televised for the first time in its history.[8] The match was broadcast on BBC TV's Grandstand programme.[9]

Notes and comments

1 * The first Lancashire Cup match to be played in Blackpool's new stadium
2 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1992 and at its peak was one of the finest rugby league grounds in the country and it boasted a capacity of 60,000. The actual record attendance was for the Challenge Cup semi-final on 7 April 1951 when 44,621 watched Wigan beat Warrington 3-2

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rugby League Project.
  2. Book: Frank Butler and Malcolm Gunn. News of the World & Empire News Football Annual 1963–64 - 74th year. 1977. News of the World Ltd.
  3. Web site: Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results. 15 February 2014. 21 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140221234707/http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3199. dead.
  4. Web site: Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97.
  5. 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 .
  6. Web site: Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97.
  7. Book: Raymond Fletcher and David Howes. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. 1991. Queen Anne Press. 0 35617852 8.
  8. News: Final On TV . Hull Daily Mail . Sports Mail . 24187 . 27 July 1963 . 1 . . subscription.
  9. Web site: BBC Programme Index - Grandstand . BBC Genome . 1 January 2024.