1967–68 Lancashire Cup

1967–68 was the fifty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
In the final, held on Saturday 7 October at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire), St. Helens drew 2-2 with Warrington. At half time Warrington were leading St Helens by 2-0.
The attendance at this match was 16,897, receipts were £3,886, and the half time score 0-2.

1967–68 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	St. Helens
Runners-up	Warrington

In the replay held eight weeks later on 2 December, St. Helens won the trophy by beating Warrington by the score of 13-10
The replay was held at Station Road, Pendlebury, Lancashire) and the half time score was 3-3
The attendance at the replay was only 7,577 and receipts were £2,485-0-0
This was the first of two consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the sixth of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in the successive nine years.

Background

The total number of teams entering the competition remained the same at 14.
The same fixture format was retained, and due to the number of clubs this resulted in no bye but one “blank” or “dummy” fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with no bye but one “blank” fixture) and 14 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 18 Aug 1967	St. Helens		7-4		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	6,000			[2]
2	Fri 18 Aug 1967	Widnes		9-12		Swinton	Naughton Park				[3]
3	Sat 19 Aug 1967	Oldham		17-11		Leigh	Watersheddings
4	Sat 19 Aug 1967	Warrington		17-10		Blackpool Borough	Wilderspool				[4]
5	Sat 19 Aug 1967	Whitehaven		10-13		Liverpool City	Recreation Ground
6	Sat 19 Aug 1967	Wigan		14-18		Salford	Central Park				[5]
7	Sat 19 Aug 1967	Workington Town		35-6		Barrow	Derwent Park
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	Mon 04 Sep 1967	Workington Town		33-0		Salford	Derwent Park
2	Wed 06 Sep 1967	Warrington		14-5		Liverpool City	Wilderspool				[4]
3	Thu 07 Sep 1967	Swinton		11-8		Oldham	Station Road
4		St. Helens				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	Sat 16 Sep 1967	Workington Town		13-23		Warrington	Derwent Park				[4]
2	Tue 19 Sep 1967	Swinton		8-12		St. Helens	Station Road	10,733			[2]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 7 October 1967	St. Helens		2-2		Warrington	Central Park	16,897	£3,886	1	[2][4][6]

Final – Replay

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 2 December 1967	St. Helens		13-10		Warrington	Station Road	7,577	£2485-0-0	2	[2][4][6]

Teams and Scorers

St. Helens	№	Warrington
	teams
Frank Barrow	1	Keith Affleck
Tom van Vollenhoven	2	John Coupe
Billy Benyon	3	Jackie Melling
Alan Whittle	4	Peter Harvey
Tony Barrow	5	Brian Glover
Peter Douglas	6	Willie Aspinall
Tommy Bishop	7	Parry Gordon
John Warlow	8	Kevin Ashcroft
Bill Sayer	9	Dave Harrison
Cliff Watson	10	Brian Brady
Brian Hogan	11	Ken Parr
John Mantle	12	Barry Briggs
Kel Coslett	13	Ray Clarke
Peter Gartland	14	Joe Pickavance (for Peter Harvey)
Tony Karalius	15	?
2	score	2
0	HT	2
	Scorers
	Goals
Kel Coslett (1)	G
	Drop Goals
	DG	Willie Aspinall (1)
Referee		G. Fred Lindop (Wakefield)
Replay	Replay	Replay
Frank Barrow	1	Tommy Conroy
Tom van Vollenhoven	2	John Coupe
Wilf Smith	3	Jackie Melling
Billy Benyon	4	Bill Allen
Les Jones	5	Brian Glover
Peter Douglas	6	Tony Scahill
Tommy Bishop	7	Parry Gordon
John Warlow	8	Kevin Ashcroft
Bill Sayer	9	Dave Harrison
Cliff Watson	10	Joe Price
Eric Chisnall	11	Barry Briggs
Kel Coslett	12	Ken Parr
John Houghton (for Peter Douglas)	13	Ray Clarke
	14
	15
Cliff Evans	Coach	Joe Egan
13	score	10
3	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
Les Jones (1)	T	Jackie Melling (1)
John Warlow (1)	T	Parry Gordon (1)
Eric Chisnall (1)	T
	Goals
John Houghton (2)	T	Bill Allen (2)
Referee		G. Fred Lindop (Wakefield)

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

[2][6]

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Widnes		9
	Swinton		12
						Swinton		11
						Oldham		8
	Oldham		17
	Leigh		11
											Swinton		8
											St. Helens		12
	St. Helens		7
	Rochdale Hornets		4
						St. Helens
						bye
	blank
	blank
																St. Helens		2-13
																Warrington		2-10
	Workington Town		35
	Barrow		6
						Workington Town		33
						Salford		0
	Wigan		14
	Salford		18
											Workington Town		13
											Warrington		23
	Warrington		17
	Blackpool Borough		10
						Warrington		14
						Liverpool City		5
	Whitehaven		10
	Liverpool City		13

Notes and comments

1 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959
2 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1992 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

• 1967–68 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

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