1925–26 Lancashire Cup

The 1925–26 Lancashire Cup was the eighteenth tournament in the history of this regional rugby league competition, and another new name was added to the trophy. This time it was the turn of Swinton, one of the founding members of the Northern Union, whose previous best had been as runners up to Oldham in 1910.

1925–26 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout competition
Teams	13
Winners	Swinton
Runners-up	Wigan

Background

The number of teams entering this year's competition remained at 13 which resulted in 3 byes in the first round.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 5 matches (with three byes) and 13 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 10 October 1925	Leigh		10-7		Rochdale Hornets	Mather Lane
2	Sat 10 October 1925	Oldham		14-9		St. Helens	Watersheddings				[2]
3	Sat 10 October 1925	Wigan Highfield		6-7		Salford	Tunstall Lane
4	Sat 10 October 1925	Barrow		8-0		Widnes	Little Park, Roose				[3]
5	Sat 10 October 1925	Wigan		14-10		Warrington	Central Park				[4][5]
6		Broughton Rangers				bye
7		St Helens Recs				bye
8		Swinton				bye

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 19 October 1925	Oldham		8-5		Salford	Watersheddings
2	Wed 21 October 1925	Wigan		31-8		Broughton Rangers	Central Park				[4]
3	Thu 22 October 1925	Barrow		8-6		Leigh	Little Park, Roose
4	Thu 22 October 1925	St Helens Recs		7-8		Swinton	City Road

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 2 November 1925	Oldham		5-5		Wigan	Watersheddings				[4]
2	Wed 4 November 1925	Swinton		22-3		Barrow	Chorley Road ground	8,000
Replay
3	Wed 11 November 1925	Wigan		52-3		Oldham	Central Park				[4]

Final

The final was due to be played on Saturday, 21 November 1925 but was postponed due to bad weather, in this case fog. The weather during that short period was atrocious and in fact Wigan had 5 matches postponed due to either a waterlogged pitch, a frozen pitch, fog or other bad weather in the four-week period from early November to early December. The final was eventually played on Wednesday 9 December 1925 and Swinton beat Wigan by 15–11. The match was played at the Cliff, Broughton, Salford. The attendance was 15,000 and receipts £1,116.

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 21 November 1925	Swinton		post		Wigan	The Cliff			1	[4]
	Wednesday 9 December 1925	Swinton		15-11		Wigan	The Cliff	17,000	£1,115	2	[4][6]

Teams and scorers

Swinton	No.	Wigan[4]
	teams
Jack Pearson	1	Jim Sullivan
Frank Evans	2	Johnny Ring
Hector Halsall (c)	3	Tommy Howley
Jack Evans	4	David Booysen
Chris Brockbank	5	Attie van Heerden
Billo Rees	6	George Owens
Bryn Evans	7	Danny Hurcombe
Miller Strong	8	Wilf Hodder
Henry Blewer	9	Jack Bennett
Bert Morris	10	Bob Ilsley
Tom Halliwell	11	George van Rooyen
Harry Entwistle	12	Frank Stephens
Fred Beswick	13	Jack Price
15	score	11
5	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
Chris Brockbank (1)	T	Johnny Ring (3)
Jack Evans (1)	T
Bryn Evans (1)	T
	Goals
Bert Morris (3)	G	Jim Sullivan (1)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee

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
	St Helens Recs
	bye
						St Helens Recs		7
						Swinton		8
	Swinton
	bye
											Swinton		22
											Barrow		3
	Widnes		0
	Barrow		8
						Barrow		8
						Leigh		6
	Leigh		10
	Rochdale Hornets		7
																Swinton		15
																Wigan		11
	Wigan		14
	Warrington		10
						Wigan		31
						Broughton Rangers		8
	Broughton Rangers
	bye
											Oldham		5(52)
											Wigan		5(3)
	Oldham		14
	St. Helens		9
						Oldham		8
						Salford		5
	Wigan Highfield		6
	Salford		7

See also

• 1925–26 Northern Rugby Football League season

Notes

• 1 Match postponed due to fog
• 2 The Cliff was the home ground of Broughton Rangers from 1913 and until they moved out to Belle Vue in 1933.

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1925–26".
3. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1925–26".
4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
5. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1925".
6. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-1992. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.