1952–53 Lancashire Cup

1952–53 was the fortieth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
Leigh won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 22-5.
The match was played at Station Road, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 34,785 and receipts were £5,793.

1952–53 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	St. Helens

Background

Overall, the number of teams entering this 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

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Barrow		21-24		St. Helens	Craven Park		12,000			[2]
2	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Oldham		25-6		Swinton	Watersheddings
3	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Liverpool City		14-58		Workington Town	Mill Yard, Knotty Ash
4	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Rochdale Hornets		21-16		Belle Vue Rangers	Athletic Grounds
5	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Salford		17-19		Warrington	The Willows					[3]
6	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Whitehaven		4-15		Leigh	Recreation Ground
7	Sat 30 Aug 1952	Widnes		15-24		Wigan	Naughton 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 03 Sep 1952	St. Helens		23-5		Barrow	Knowsley Road	47-26	19,000			[2]
2	Wed 03 Sep 1952	Swinton		18-19		Oldham	Station Road	24-44
3	Mon 01 Sep 1952	Workington Town		29-18		Liverpool City	Borough Park	87-32
4	Mon 01 Sep 1952	Belle Vue Rangers		7-17		Rochdale Hornets	Belle Vue Stadium	23-38
5	Wed 03 Sep 1952	Warrington		30-8		Salford	Wilderspool	49-25				[3]
6	Wed 03 Sep 1952	Leigh		43-2		Whitehaven	Kirkhall Lane	58-6
7	Wed 03 Sep 1952	Wigan		38-5		Widnes	Central Park	62-20				[4][5]
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	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 22 Sep 1952	Leigh		19-8		Wigan	Kirkhall Lane					[4]
2	Tue 23 Sep 1952	St. Helens		31-7		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road		16,957			[2]
3	Wed 24 Sep 1952	Workington Town		13-10		Oldham	Borough Park
4		Warrington				bye						[3]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 13 Oct 1952	Workington Town		9-13		Leigh	Borough Park
2	Tue 14 Oct 1952	Warrington		10-17		St. Helens	Wilderspool		28,800			[2][3]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 29 November 1952	Leigh		22-5		St. Helens	Station Road		34,785	£5,793	1 2	[2][6]

Teams and scorers

Leigh	№	St. Helens
	teams
	1	Jimmy Lowe
	2	Steve Llewellyn
	3	Doug Greenall
Edward Kerwick	4	Don Gullick
Frank Kitchen	5	Stan McCormick
	6	Jimmy Honey
	7	George Langfield
	8	Alan Prescott
Joe Egan	9	Reg Blakemore
	10	Bill Whittaker
	11	George Parsons
	12	Bill Bretherton
	13	Ray Cale
Joe Egan	coach
22	score	5
15	HT	2
	Scorers
	Tries
	T	Don Gullick (1)
	T
	T
	T
	Goals
	G	George Langfield (1)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee

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

[2]

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					Semi Finals					Final
	Liverpool City		32
	Workington Town		87
						Workington Town		13
						Oldham		10
	Oldham		44
	Swinton		24
											Workington Town		9
											Leigh		13
	Whitehaven		6
	Leigh		58
						Leigh		19
						Wigan		8
	Widnes		20
	Wigan		62
																Leigh		22
																St. Helens		5
	Salford		25
	Warrington		45
						Warrington
						bye
	blank
	blank
											Warrington		10
											St. Helens		17
	Barrow		26
	St. Helens		47
						St. Helens		31
						Rochdale Hornets		7
	Rochdale Hornets		38
	Belle Vue Rangers		23

Notes and comments

1 * Attendance given in official St. Helens archives as 34,541 - data given in Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991[6] as 34,785
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 60,000. 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

• 1952–53 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
3. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2010-07-06.
4. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
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.

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