1953–54 Lancashire Cup

1953–54 was the forty-first occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been 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.

1953–54 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	St. Helens
Runners-up	Wigan

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 05 Sep 1953	Barrow		14-13		St. Helens	Craven Park		11,921			[2]
2	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Liverpool City		2-14		Swinton	Mill Yard, Knotty Ash
3	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Rochdale Hornets		7-12		Workington Town	Athletic Grounds
4	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Salford		12-7		Wigan	The Willows					[3]
5	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Warrington		28-7		Belle Vue Rangers	Wilderspool					[4]
6	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Whitehaven		13-12		Oldham	Recreation Ground
7	Sat 05 Sep 1953	Widnes		9-14		Leigh	Naughton Park					[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 09 Sep 1953	St. Helens		21-17		Barrow	Knowsley Road	34-31	20,100			[2]
2	Wed 09 Sep 1953	Swinton		20-4		Liverpool City	Station Road	34-6
3	Wed 09 Sep 1953	Workington Town		10-5		Rochdale Hornets	Borough Park	22-12
4	Mon 07 Sep 1953	Wigan		28-2		Salford	Central Park	35-14				[3]
5	Tue 08 Sep 1953	Belle Vue Rangers		14-17		Warrington	Belle Vue Stadium	21-46				[4]
6	Mon 07 Sep 1953	Oldham		45-6		Whitehaven	Watersheddings	57-19
7	Wed 09 Sep 1953	Leigh		25-5		Widnes	Kirkhall Lane	39-14				[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	Wed 23 Sep 1953	St. Helens		38-9		Swinton	Knowsley Road		19,000			[2]
2	Wed 23 Sep 1953	Wigan		10-7		Workington Town	Central Park					[3]
3	Thu 24 Sep 1953	Warrington		12-11		Oldham	Wilderspool					[4]
4		Leigh				bye

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 28 Sep 1953	Wigan		11-6		Leigh	Central Park					[3]
2	Thu 01 Oct 1953	St. Helens		17-10		Warrington	Knowsley Road		23,184			[2][4]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 24 October 1953	St. Helens		16-8		Wigan	Station Road		42,793	£6,918	1 2	[2][3][6]

Teams and scorers

St. Helens	№	Wigan
	teams
Glyn Moses	1	Jack Cunliffe
Steve Llewellyn	2	Brian Nordgren
Doug Greenall	3	Jack Broome
Don Gullick	4	Ernie Ashcroft
Stan McCormick	5	Ronnie Hurst
Peter Metcalfe	6	Jack Fleming
Jimmy Honey	7	Johnny Alty
Alan Prescott	8	Ken Gee
Reg Blakemore	9	Ronald Mather
George Parr	10	Nat Silcock, Jr.
George Parsons	11	Frank Collier
Bill Bretherton	12	Tommy Horrocks
Vince Karalius	13	Harry Street
16	score	8
4	HT	8
	Scorers
	Tries
Jimmy Honey (1)	T	Jack Fleming (1)
Glyn Moses (1)	T	Harry Street (1)
	Goals
Peter Metcalfe (5)	G	Ken Gee (1)
Referee		M. 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.

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Barrow		31
	St. Helens		34
						St. Helens		38
						Swinton		9
	Liverpool City		6
	Swinton		34
											St. Helens		17
											Warrington		10
	Warrington		46
	Belle Vue Rangers		21
						Warrington		12
						Oldham		11
	Whitehaven		19
	Oldham		57
																St. Helens		16
																Wigan		8
	Salford		14
	Wigan		35
						Wigan		10
						Workington Town		7
	Rochdale Hornets		12
	Workington Town		22
											Wigan		11
											Leigh		6
	Widnes		14
	Leigh		39
						Leigh
						bye
	blank
	blank

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

• 1953–54 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

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