1953–54 Lancashire Cup Explained

1953–54 Lancashire Cup
Structure:Regional knockout championship
Season Champs:St. Helens
Season Champ Name:Winners
Runner-Up Name:Runner-up
Second Place:Wigan
Prevseason Link:1952 Lancashire Cup
Prevseason Year:1952–53
Nextseason Link:1954 Lancashire Cup
Nextseason Year:1954–55
No Of Teams:14

The 1953–54 Lancashire Cup was the forty-first occasion on which the RFL Lancashire Cup competition was held.

St. Helens won the trophy by beating Wigan by the score of 16–8.

The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 42,793 and receipts were £6,918.

The attendance was again a record, albeit only beating the previous record by about 250.

Sport in general was now at its height of popularity, brought about by the ending of the Second World War, the new peace, the new affluence and more free time. Rugby League was no exception and this particular attendance record would never be broken.

Background

Overall, the number of teams entering that year's competition remained the same as last year's total of 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 – and the remainder of the rounds remaining on straight forward knock-out basis.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1 – first leg

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

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Sat 05 Sep 1953Barrow14–13St. HelensCraven Park11,921[2]
2Sat 05 Sep 1953Liverpool City2–14SwintonMill Yard, Knotty Ash
3Sat 05 Sep 1953Rochdale Hornets7–12Workington TownAthletic Grounds
4Sat 05 Sep 1953Salford12–7WiganThe Willows[3]
5Sat 05 Sep 1953Warrington28–7Belle Vue RangersWilderspool[4]
6Sat 05 Sep 1953Whitehaven13–12OldhamRecreation Ground
7Sat 05 Sep 1953Widnes9–14LeighNaughton Park[5]
8blankblank

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

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Wed 09 Sep 1953St. Helens21–17BarrowKnowsley Road34–3120,100
2Wed 09 Sep 1953Swinton20–4Liverpool CityStation Road34–6
3Wed 09 Sep 1953Workington Town10–5Rochdale HornetsBorough Park22–12
4Mon 07 Sep 1953Wigan28–2SalfordCentral Park35–14
5Tue 08 Sep 1953Belle Vue Rangers14–17WarringtonBelle Vue Stadium21–46
6Mon 07 Sep 1953Oldham45–6WhitehavenWatersheddings57–19
7Wed 09 Sep 1953Leigh25–5WidnesKirkhall Lane39–14
8blankblank

Round 2 – quarterfinals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Wed 23 Sep 1953St. Helens38–9SwintonKnowsley Road19,000
2Wed 23 Sep 1953Wigan10–7Workington TownCentral Park
3Thu 24 Sep 1953Warrington12–11OldhamWilderspool
4Leighbye

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=30 abbr="Att" Attwidth=30 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
1Mon 28 Sep 1953Wigan11–6LeighCentral Park
2Thu 01 Oct 1953St. Helens17–10WarringtonKnowsley Road23,184

Final

width=20 abbr="No" Game Nowidth=100 abbr="Date"Fixture datewidth=150 abbr="Home team"Home teamwidth=5 abbr="space" width=20 abbr="Score" Scorewidth=5 abbr="space" width=150 abbr="Away team" Away teamwidth=150 abbr="Venue" Venuewidth=50 abbr="agg" aggwidth=45 abbr="Att" Attwidth=60 abbr="Rec" Recwidth=20 abbr="Notes" Noteswidth=30 abbr="Ref" Ref
Saturday 24 October 1953St. Helens16–8WiganStation Road42,793£6,9181 2 [6]

Teams and scorers

width=280 abbr="St Helens"St. Helenswidth=60 abbr="Number"No.width=280 abbr="Wigan"Wigan
teams
Glyn Moses1Jack Cunliffe
Steve Llewellyn2Brian Nordgren
Doug Greenall3Jack Broome
Don Gullick4Ernie Ashcroft
Stan McCormick5Ronnie Hurst http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=563
Peter Metcalfe6Jack Fleming
Jimmy Honey http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=156207Johnny Alty http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=102
Alan Prescott8Ken Gee
Reg Blakemore9Ronald Mather
George Parr http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=1611210Nat Silcock, Jr.
George Parsons11Frank Collier
Bill Bretherton http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=14958http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=21312Tommy Horrocks http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=549
Vince Karalius13Harry Street
16score8
4HT8
Scorers
Tries
Jimmy Honey (1)TJack Fleming (1)
Glyn Moses (1)THarry Street (1)
Goals
Peter Metcalfe (5)GKen Gee (1)
RefereeM. Coates, Pudsey
Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points

[2] [3]

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.

Notes and comments

1 * The attendance of 42,793 was again a record, albeit only beating the previous record by about 250 This attendance record would never ever be equalled or beaten.
The receipts were also a new record, but this would only stand for 5 years.
2 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1932 and at its peak was one of the finest rugby league grounds in the country and it boasted a capacity of 40,000. The actual record attendance was for the Challenge Cup semi-final on 7 April 1951 when 44,621 watched Wigan beat Warrington 3–2

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rugby League Project.
  2. Web site: Saints Heritage Society – History – Season 1896–97.
  3. Web site: Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results.
  4. Web site: Warrington Wolves – Results Archive – 1897 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100706043029/http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1897 . 2010-07-06 .
  5. Web site: Widnes Vikings – History – Season In Review – 1896–97.
  6. Book: Raymond Fletcher and David Howes. Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. 1991. Queen Anne Press. 0 35617852 8.