1971–72 Lancashire Cup

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)

1971–72 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Widnes
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

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	2	Dennis Brown
Bill Francis	3	Mick McLoughlin
Chris Fuller	4	Mal Aspey
Stuart Wright	5	Johnny Gaydon
David Hill	6	Dennis O'Neill
Warren Ayres	7	Reg Bowden
Dennis Ashcroft	8	John Warlow
Colin Clarke	9	John Foran
Geoff Fletcher	10	Joe Doughty
Bill Ashurst	11	John Kirwan
Kevin O'Loughlin	12	Alan Walsh
Doug Laughton	13	George Nicholls
Dave Gandy (for Stuart Wright)	14	Ged Lowe (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

• British rugby league system
• 1971–72 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups
• List of defunct rugby league clubs

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
3. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
4. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
5. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
6. 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.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org