1977–78 Lancashire Cup

The 1977–78 Lancashire Cup tournament was the sixty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup had been contested. For the first time in many years, there was a new name on the trophy as this time it was relative newcomers Workington Town who joined the league in 1945. Workington Town won the trophy by beating Wigan in the final by the score of 16-13. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, now in the County Palatine of Chester but (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 9,548 and receipts were £5,038. After relatively little success in the competition, Workington Town had reached the semi-final stage in 1973, 1974 and 1975, had been runner-up in 1976, and now winner in 1977. They would go on to be runners-up again in 1978 and 1979.

1977–78 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Workington Town
Runners-up	Wigan

Background

The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part. The same fixture format was retained, but due to the number of participating clubs, this resulted in one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round.

Competition and Results

[1][2][3]

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	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Blackpool Borough		6-24		Whitehaven	Borough Park
2	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Rochdale Hornets		27-5		Barrow	Athletic Grounds
3	Sun 21 Aug 1977	St. Helens		49-3		Swinton	Knowsley Road	3000			[4]
4	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Warrington		19-13		Huyton	Wilderspool				[5]
5	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Widnes		22-11		Leigh	Naughton Park				[6]
6	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Wigan		42-5		Oldham	Central Park				[7][4]
7	Sun 21 Aug 1977	Workington Town		17-12		Salford	Derwent Park
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	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Rochdale Hornets		4-4		St. Helens	Athletic Grounds	2485			[4]
2	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Wigan		52-8		Whitehaven	Central Park				[7]
3	Sun 28 Aug 1977	Workington Town		8-6		Widnes	Derwent Park				[6]
4		Warrington				bye					[5]

Round 2 - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 30 Aug 1977	St. Helens		16-5		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	3500			[4]

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	Wed 21 Sep 1977	Workington Town		5-4		St. Helens	Derwent Park	5110			[4]
2	Wed 28 Sep 1977	Wigan		17-8		Warrington	Central Park				[7][5]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 29 Sep 1976	Workington Town		26-15		Warrington	Derwent Park				[5]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 29 October 1977	Workington Town		16-13		Wigan	Wilderspool	9,548	5,038	1	[7][8]

Teams and Scorers

[7][8]

Workington Town	№	Wigan
	teams
Paul Charlton	1	Malcolm Swann
David Collister	2	Green Vigo
John Risman	3	David Willicombe
Ian Wright	4	Steve Davies
Iain McCorquodale	5	Jimmy Hornby
Ray Wilkins	6	Alan Taylor
Arnold "Boxer" Walker	7	Jimmy Nulty
Derek Watts	8	Brian Hogan
Alan Banks	9	Geoff Aspinall
Eddie Bowman	10	Robert Irving
Les Gorley	11	Bill Ashurst
Peter Gorley	12	Bill Melling
William Pattinson	13	Bob Blackwood
David Atkinson (for Paul Charlton 62min)	14	John Burke (for Steve Davies 59min)
	15	David Regan (for Bill Melling 59min)
16	score	13
9	HT	8
	Scorers
	Tries
Ian Wright (1)	T	Jimmy Nulty (1)
Ray Wilkins (1)	T	Bill Ashurst (1)
	T	David Willicombe (1)
	Goals
Iain McCorquodale (4)	G	Jimmy Nulty (1)
	G	John Burke (1)
	Drop Goals
Arnold "Boxer" Walker (2)	DG
Referee		W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match		Arnold "Boxer" Walker - Workington Town - scrum-half
sponsored by		Rugby Leaguer
Competition Sponsor		Forshaws (Burtonwood Brewery Co Ltd)

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Workington Town		17
	Salford		12
						Workington Town		8
						Widnes		6
	Widnes		22
	Leigh		11
											Workington Town		5
											St. Helens		4
	Rochdale Hornets		27
	Barrow		5
						Rochdale Hornets		4-5
						St. Helens		4-16
	St. Helens		49
	Swinton		3
																Workington Town		16
																Wigan		13
	Wigan		42
	Oldham		5
						Wigan		52
						Whitehaven		8
	Blackpool Borough		6
	Whitehaven		24
											Wigan		17
											Warrington		8
	Warrington		19
	Huyton		13
						Warrington
						bye
	blank
	blank

Notes

1 * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 to the end of the 2003 Summer season when they moved into the new purpose built Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained as a sports/Ruugby League ground and is/was used by Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club.

The ground had a final capacity of 9,000 although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup third round match on 13 March 1948 when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington lose to Wigan 10-13.

See also

• 1977–78 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
3. Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1976). News of the World Football Annual 1976–77 - 90th year. News of the World Ltd.
4. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
5. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
6. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
7. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
8. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague 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