1939–40 Lancashire Cup

The 1939–40 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-second occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. Due to the start of the Second World War, the competition was delayed until early 1940. Swinton won the trophy by beating Widnes on a two legged final by the score of 21-15 aggregate.

1939–40 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	12
Winners	Swinton
Runners-up	Widnes

The first leg was played at Naughton Park, Widnes, and the second led was played at Station Road, Swinton.

Swinton won both legs, 5-4 away and 16-11 at home.

The attendances were 5,500 at Widnes and 9,000 at Swinton.

Preamble to changes

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).

During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner.

The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Lancashire Cup competition in 1939.

But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.

The Lancashire Cup started on Saturday 2 March 1940 and was played on consecutive weekends.

Each and every match was played on a two-legged home and away basis.

Background

St Helens Recs had already withdrawn from the league immediately after the end on the 1938-39 season. The club had been struggling to survive for a few years with falling attendances and the economic depression and it was obviously not possible for the town to sustain two top teams.

The number of teams entering this year's competition decreased by one with the loss of St Helens Recs to a total of 12.

The same fixture format was retained. This season saw no byes but two “blank” or “dummy” fixture in the first round. The second round now had two byes.

The whole competition was played on the basis of two legged ties.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1 – First Leg

Involved 6 matches (with two “blank” fixture) and 12 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 02 Mar 1940	Barrow		5-5		Wigan	Craven Park					[2]
2	Sat 02 Mar 1940	Leigh		5-5		Liverpool Stanley	Mather Lane
3	Sat 02 Mar 1940	Oldham		5-15		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings
4	Sat 02 Mar 1940	St. Helens		26-7		Broughton Rangers	Knowsley Road					[3]
5	Sat 02 Mar 1940	Swinton		7-0		Salford	Station Road
6	Sat 02 Mar 1940	Widnes		10-7		Warrington	Naughton Park					[4][5]
7		blank				blank
8		blank				blank

Round 1 – Second Leg

Involved 6 matches (with two “blank” fixture) and 12 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Wigan		14-9		Barrow	Central Park	19-14				[2]
2	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Liverpool Stanley		6-0		Leigh	Stanley Greyhound Sadium	11-5
3	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Rochdale Hornets		2-4		Oldham	Athletic Grounds	17-9
4	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Broughton Rangers		10-3		St. Helens	Belle Vue Stadium	17-29				[3]
5	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Salford		6-6		Swinton	The Willows	6-13
6	Sat 09 Mar 1940	Warrington		2-4		Widnes	Wilderspool	9-14				[4][5]
7		blank				blank
8		blank				blank

Round 2 - Quarter Finals – First Leg

Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 16 Mar 1940	Liverpool Stanley		5-2		Rochdale Hornets	Stanley Greyhound Sadium
2	Sat 16 Mar 1940	Wigan		5-0		St. Helens	Central Park					[2][3]
3		Swinton				bye
4		Widnes				bye						[4]

Round 2 - Quarter Finals –Second Leg

Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 30 Mar 1940	Rochdale Hornets		10-0		Liverpool Stanley	Athletic Grounds	15-2
2	Sat 30 Mar 1940	St. Helens		10-4		Wigan	Knowsley Road	10-9				[2][3]
3		Swinton				bye
4		Widnes				bye						[4]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals – First Legs

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 06 Apr 1940	St. Helens		7-5		Widnes	Knowsley Road					[4][3]
2	Sat 06 Apr 04 1940	Swinton		14-6		Rochdale Hornets	Station Road

Round 3 – Semi-Finals – Second Legs

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 13 Apr 04 1940	Widnes		13-0		St. Helens	Naughton Park	18-7				[4][3]
2	Sat 13 Apr 1940	Rochdale Hornets		5-9		Swinton	Athletic Grounds	11-23

Final – First Leg

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Saturday 20 April 1940	Widnes		4-5		Swinton	Naughton Park		5,500			[4][6]

Final – Second Leg

The reverse fixture of the first leg

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Saturday 27 April 1940	Swinton		16-11		Widnes	Station Road	21-15	9,000			[4][6]

Teams and scorers

Widnes	№	Swinton
1939–40 Lancashire Cup Final - First Leg.
	teams
A. H. Woodward	1	Harold Palin
Harry Owen Snr.	2	Bill Hopkin
Peter Topping	3	Randall Lewis
Norman Rutledge	4	Billy Shaw
Alan Evans	5	Jack McGurk
Tommy Shannon	6	Tommy Bartram
Tommy McCue	7	Frank Bowyer
J. Sutcliffe	8	Joe Wright
Paddy Hynan	9	Tommy Armitt
Bill Hoey	10	Gomer Hughes
Hugh McDowell	11	Martin Hodgson
Bob Williamson	12	Cledwyn Williams
Bob Roberts	13	Fred Garner
4	score	5
2	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
	T	Fred Garner (1)
	Goals
Topping (2)	G	Martin Hodgson (1)
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee

Swinton	№	Widnes
1939–40 Lancashire Cup Final - Second Leg.
	teams
Harold Palin	1	A. H. Woodward
Bill Hopkin	2	A. H. Evans
Randall Lewis	3	Peter Topping
Billy Shaw	4	Norman Rutledge
Jack McGurk	5	Alan Evans
Arthur Hickman	6	Tommy Shannon
Frank Bowyer	7	Tommy McCue
Joe Wright	8	Bob Williamson
Tommy Armitt	9	Paddy Hynan
Gomer Hughes	10	Ernie Miller
Martin Hodgson	11	Hugh McDowell
Cledwyn Williams	12	Bob Roberts
Fred Garner	13	Bill Hoey
16	score	11
6	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Joe Wright (1)	T	Norman Rutledge (1)
Randall Lewis (1)	T
	Goals
Martin Hodgson (5)	G	Peter Topping (2)
	G	Tommy Shannon (1)
	G	Bill Hoey (1)
	Drop Goals
	DG	(One of the above goals was a DG)
Referee

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

[4]

The road to success

ALL ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis

The first club named in each tie played the first leg at home

The scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs

First Round

Second Round

Semi Finals

Final

Barrow

14

Wigan

19

Wigan

9

St. Helens

10

St. Helens

29

Broughton Rangers

17

St. Helens

7

Widnes

18

Swinton

13

Salford

6

Swinton

bye

blank

blank

Widnes

15

Swinton'

21

Widnes

14

Warrington

9

Widnes

bye

blank

blank

Swinton

23

Rochdale Hornets

11

Leigh

5

Liverpool Stanley

11

Liverpool Stanley

2

Rochdale Hornets

15

Oldham

9

Rochdale Hornets

17

Notes and comments

This would be the last year of the Lancashire Cup until season 1945-46.

In the in-between years, many Lancashire clubs were invited (and accepted the invitation) to take part in the Yorkshire Cup competition.

See also

• 1939–40 Northern Rugby Football League Wartime Emergency League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
3. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
4. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
5. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2010-07-06.
6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org