1947–48 Lancashire Cup

The 1947–48 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition had been held.

1947–48 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Belle Vue Rangers
← 1946–47 1948–49 →

Wigan won the trophy by beating Belle Vue Rangers by the score of 10–7

The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 23,310 and receipts were £3,043.

This was the second of Wigan's record breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.

It was also to be the second of two consecutive finals to be competed for by these two teams.

Background

Overall, the number of teams entering this year's competition increased by one with the invitation to Lancashire Amateurs (a junior/amateur club) bringing the total up to 14.

The same pre-war fixture format was retained. This season saw no bye but one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. There was also one bye but no "blank" fixture" in the second round.

As last season, all the first round matches of the competition will be played on the basis of two legged, home and away ties. However this year, the second round becomes a straightforward knock-out basis.

Competition and results

^[1]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Barrow		14–12		Belle Vue Rangers	Craven Park
2	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Lancashire Amateurs		5–16		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings				1
3	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Leigh		0–15		St. Helens	Kirkhall Lane		16,000		2 3	[2]
4	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Liverpool Stanley		3–26		Oldham	Stanley Greyhound Stadium
5	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Swinton		2–19		Workington Town	Station Road
6	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Widnes		4–8		Salford	Naughton Park					[3]
7	Sat 30 Aug 1947	Wigan		16–13		Warrington	Central Park					[4][5]
8		blank				blank

Round 1 – second leg

Involved 7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 10 Sep 1947	Belle Vue Rangers		37–2		Barrow	Belle Vue Stadium	49–16
2	Tue 2 Sep 1947	Rochdale Hornets		7–2		Lancashire Amateurs	Athletic Grounds	23–7			1
3	Thu 4 Sep 1947	St. Helens		31–5		Leigh	Knowsley Road	46–5	17,000			[2]
4	Tue 2 Sep 1947	Oldham		16–3		Liverpool Stanley	Watersheddings	42–6
5	Wed 3 Sep 1947	Workington Town		15–12		Swinton	Borough Park	34–14
6	Wed 3 Sep 1947	Salford		9–4		Widnes	The Willows	17–8				[3]
7	Wed 3 Sep 1947	Warrington		10–15		Wigan	Wilderspool	23–31				[4][5]
8		blank				blank

Round 2 – quarterfinals – first leg

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 23 Sep 1947	Oldham		3–13		Workington Town	Watersheddings
2	Mon 29 Sep 1947	St. Helens		7–8		Wigan	Knowsley Road					[4][2]
3	Wed 1 Oct 1947	Belle Vue Rangers		10–5		Salford	Belle Vue Stadium
4		Rochdale Hornets				bye

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 8 Oct 1947	Belle Vue Rangers		15–8		Workington Town	Belle Vue Stadium
2	Wed 8 Oct 1947	Wigan		27–3		Rochdale Hornets	Central Park					[4]

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 1 November 1947	Wigan		10–7		Belle Vue Rangers	Wilderspool		23,110	£3,043	4	[4][6]

Teams and scorers

Wigan	No.	Belle Vue Rangers
	teams
Martin Ryan	1	W. Ratchford
Gordon Ratcliffe	2	Harry Pimblett
Ted Ward	3	Mel Tierney
George Roughley	4	Stan McCormick
Brian Nordgren	5	S. Jolley
Ernie Ashcroft	6	Ray Price
Tommy Bradshaw	7	Billy Watkins
Ken Gee	8	D. Thomas
Joe Egan	9	W. Flanagan
George Banks	10	Elwyn Gwyther
Les White	11	Doug Phillips
Billy Blan	12	Jack Fearnley
Jack Blan	13	Dick Manning
10	score	7
5	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
Gordon Ratcliffe (1)	T	Flanagan (1)
Brian Nordgren (1)	T
	Goals
Ted Ward (2)	G	D. Thomas (2)
Referee		S. Manley (Hull)

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

^[4]

The road to success

All the first round ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis.

The first club named in each of the first round ties played the first leg at home.

the scores shown in the first round are the aggregate score over the two legs.

	First round					Second round					Semifinals					Final
	Leigh		5
	St. Helens		46
						St. Helens		7
						Wigan		8
	Wigan		31
	Warrington		23
											Wigan		27
											Rochdale Hornets		3
	Lancashire Amateurs		7
	Rochdale Hornets		23
						Rochdale Hornets
						bye
	blank
	blank
																Wigan		10
																Belle Vue Rangers		7
	Barrow		16
	Belle Vue Rangers		49
						Belle Vue Rangers		10
						Salford		5
	Widnes		8
	Salford		17
											Belle Vue Rangers		15
											Workington Town		8
	Liverpool Stanley		6
	Oldham		42
						Oldham		3
						Workington Town		13
	Swinton		14
	Workington Town		34

Notes and comments

1 * Lancashire Amateurs were a junior (or amateur) club from Lancashire. The match was played at Watersheddings, Oldham

2 * The official St. Helens archive show as attendance of 16,000 (with 17,000 for the second leg at home) RUGBY LEAGUE projects^[1] show it as 17,000

3 * Leigh's first Lancashire Cup match at the newly completed purpose build stadium

4 * 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

• 1947–48 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Saints Heritage Society – History – Season 1896–97".
3. "Widnes Vikings – History – Season In Review – 1896–97".
4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
5. "Warrington Wolves – Results Archive – 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
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