1971–72 Lancashire Cup

1971–72 Lancashire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams14
WinnersWigan
Runners-upWidnes

The 1971–72 Lancashire Cup was the fifty-ninth occasion on which the completion had been held. Wigan won the trophy by beating Widnes by the score of 15-8 in the final. The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 6,970 and receipts were £2,204.00 (the first final after the UK went decimal)

Background

The total number of teams entering the competition decreased by two down to a total of 14, due to no junior/amateur clubs taking part.
The same fixture format was retained, but due to the decrease in the number of participating clubs, resulted in one “blank” or “dummy” fixtures in the first round, and one bye in the second round.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Thu 05-08-1971 Huyton 6-16 Wigan Alt Park, Huyton [2]
2 Fri 06-08-1971 St. Helens 11-10 Leigh Knowsley Road 7,000 [3]
3 Fri 06-08-1971 Warrington 17-9 Whitehaven Wilderspool [4]
4 Fri 06-08-1971 Widnes 22-4 Blackpool Borough Naughton Park [5]
5 Sat 07-08-1971 Barrow 5-13 Rochdale Hornets Craven Park
6 Sun 08-08-1971 Salford 46-5 Workington Town The Willows
7 Sun 08-08-1971 Swinton 10-7 Oldham Station Road
8 blank blank

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Thu 12-08-1971 St. Helens 23-6 Warrington Knowsley Road 5,650 [3][4]
2 Sun 15-08-1971 Swinton 20-11 Salford Station Road
3 Sun 15-08-1971 Widnes 17-8 Rochdale Hornets Naughton Park [5]
4 Wigan bye [2]

Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Tue 17-08-1971 St. Helens 10-12 Widnes Knowsley Road 6,000 [3][5]
2 Wed 18-08-1971 Swinton 2-12 Wigan Station Road [2]

Final

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 28 August 1971 Wigan 15-8 Widnes Knowsley Road 6,970 2,204 1 [2][5][6][7]

Teams and scorers

[2][5][6]

Wigan № Widnes
teams
Colin Tyrer 1 Ray Dutton
Phil Eastham[1] 2 Dennis Brown
Bill Francis 3 Mick McLoughlin[2]
Chris Fuller [3] 4 Mal Aspey
Stuart Wright 5 Johnny Gaydon[4]
David Hill 6 Dennis O'Neill
Warren Ayres[5] 7 Reg Bowden[6]
Dennis Ashcroft[7] 8 John Warlow
Colin Clarke 9 John Foran[8]
Geoff Fletcher 10 Joe Doughty[9]
Bill Ashurst 11 John Kirwan[10]
Kevin O'Loughlin[11] 12 Alan Walsh[12]
Doug Laughton 13 George Nicholls
Dave Gandy[13] (for Stuart Wright) 14 Ged Lowe[14] (for Alan Walsh)
? 15 ?
Eric Ashton Coach ?
15 score 8
5 HT 3
Scorers
Tries
Warren Ayres (1) T Dennis O'Neill (1)
Bill Francis (1) T Johnny Gaydon (1)
Phil Eastham (1) T
Goals
Colin Tyrer (3) G Mal Aspey (1)
Referee W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The road to success

First round Second round Semi-finals Final
            
Swinton 10
Oldham 7
Swinton 20
Salford 11
Salford 46
Workington Town 5
Swinton 2
Wigan 12
Huyton 6
Wigan 16
Wigan
bye
blank
blank
Wigan 15
Widnes 8
St. Helens 11
Leigh 10
St. Helens 23
Warrington 6
Warrington 17
Whitehaven 9
St. Helens 10
Widnes 12
Widnes 22
Blackpool Borough 4
Widnes 17
Rochdale Hornets 8
Barrow 5
Rochdale Hornets 13

Notes and comments

1 * Knowsley Road was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 to 2010. The final capacity was in the region of 18,000, although the actual record attendance was 35,695 set on December 26, 1949, for a league game between St Helens and Wigan

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d e "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  4. ^ a b "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  6. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  7. ^ Club Programme dept. Match Programme. Wigan RLFC.