1959–60 Lancashire Cup

The 1959–60 Lancashire Cup was the forty-seventh occasion on which the competition had been held. Warrington won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 5-4.

1959–60 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Warrington
Runners-up	St. Helens

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

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Widnes		21-15		Barrow	Naughton Park				[3]
2	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Leigh		12-12		Blackpool Borough	Hilton Park			1
3	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Salford		45-8		Liverpool City	The Willows
4	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Whitehaven		23-5		Oldham	Recreation Ground
5	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Wigan		39-20		Rochdale Hornets	Central Park				[4]
6	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Swinton		9-17		St. Helens	Station Road	14,000			[5]
7	Sat 29 Aug 1959	Workington Town		12-33		Warrington	Derwent Park				[6]
8		blank				blank

Round 1 - Replay

Involved 1 match

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Thu 03 Sep 1959	Blackpool Borough		7-13		Leigh	St Anne's Road Greyhound Stadium

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	Mon 07 Sep 1959	Wigan		39-15		Salford	Central Park				[4]
2	Wed 09 Sep 1959	Leigh		2-27		Warrington	Kirkhall Lane				[6]
3	Wed 09 Sep 1959	Widnes		9-24		St. Helens	Naughton Park	16,630			[3][5]
4		Whitehaven				bye

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 15 Sep 1959	Wigan		13-15		Warrington	Central Park				[4][6]
2	Tue 29 Sep 1959	Whitehaven		2-18		St. Helens	Recreation Ground	12,500		2	[5]

Final

The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 39,237 and receipts were £6,424. This is the last time the attendance at a Lancashire Cup final would approach 40,000.

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 31 October 1959	Warrington		5-4		St. Helens	Central Park	39,237	£6,424	1	[2][5][6][7]

Teams and Scorers

Warrington	№	St. Helens
	teams
Eric Fraser	1	Austin Rhodes
Brian Bevan	2	Tom van Vollenhoven
Jim Challinor (position uncertain)	3	Doug Greenall
Albert Naughton (position uncertain)	4	Brian McGinn
	5	Jan Prinsloo
Bobby Greenough	6	Wilf Smith
	7	Alex Murphy
Nat Silcock, Jr. (position uncertain)	8	Abe Terry
	9	Tom McKinney
Alistair Brindle	10	Alan Prescott
	11	Brian Briggs
	12	Dick Huddart
	13	Fred Terry
5	score	4
5	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Brian Bevan (1)	T
	Goals
Eric Fraser (1)	G	Austin Rhodes (2)
Referee

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

[5][6]

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Wigan		39
	Rochdale Hornets		20
						Wigan		39
						Salford		15
	Salford		45
	Liverpool City		8
											Wigan		13
											Warrington		15
	Leigh		12-13
	Blackpool Borough		7-12
						Leigh		7
						Warrington		13
	Workington Town		12
	Warrington		33
																Warrington		5
																St. Helens		4
	Whitehaven		23
	Oldham		5
						Whitehaven
						bye
	blank
	blank
											Whitehaven		2
											St. Helens		18
	Widnes		21
	Barrow		15
						Widnes		2
						St. Helens		27
	Swinton		9
	St. Helens		17

Notes and comments

1 * The first Lancashie Cup match to be played since the stadium was renamed after the former chairman James Hilton
2 * The fixture date was given in the official St. Helens archives[5] as Wednesday 30 September - but RUGBY LEAGUE review[1] gives the date as Tuesday 29 September
3 * 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

• 1959–60 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. David Jack and Malcolm Gunn (1959). Empire News Football Annual 1959–60 - 73rd year. Empire News and Sunday Chronicle.
3. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
5. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
6. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2010-07-06.
7. 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