1949–50 Lancashire Cup

1949–50 Lancashire Cup
1949–50 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Leigh
	← 1948–49 1950–51 →

The 1949–50 Lancashire Cup competition was the 37th Rugby League Lancashire Cup. In the final, Wigan beat Leigh 20–7 to win the trophy. Thirty-five thousand people attended the match, which took place at Wilderspool, Warrington with receipts of £4,751. The attendance was the second-highest to date for the competition (for further information see Rugby league county cups). This was the fourth of Wigan's record-breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.

Background

Overall, 14 teams entered this competition, the same number as in 1948, with Whitehaven being newly elected into the Rugby League at the start of the 1949–50 season, replacing the prior season's junior/amateur club entrant. No junior/amateur club took part during the 1949–50 season. The same pre-war fixture format was retained, with no bye, but one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. The second round contained one bye, but no "blank" fixture. As in the 1948–49 competition, all the first round matches were played on the basis of two legged (home and away) ties, and the remainder of the rounds on straight forward knock-out basis.

Competition and results

^[1]

Round 1

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

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Belle Vue Rangers	18–2	Rochdale Hornets	Belle Vue Stadium
2	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Liverpool Stanley	0–41	Leigh	Stanley Greyhound Stadium
3	Sat 27 Aug 1949	St. Helens	0–7	Workington Town	Knowsley Road	15,000		^[2]
4	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Salford	9–22	Warrington	The Willows			^[3]
5	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Whitehaven	3–2	Swinton	Recreation Ground		1
6	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Widnes	11–2	Barrow	Naughton Park			^[4]
7	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Wigan	45–14	Oldham	Central Park			^[5]
8		blank		blank

Round 1 – second leg

7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) involving 14 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Ref

1	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Rochdale Hornets	5–5	Belle Vue Rangers	Athletic Grounds	7–23
2	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Leigh	38–7	Liverpool Stanley	Kirkhall Lane	79–7
3	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Workington Town	7–4	St. Helens	Borough Park	14–4	14,256	^[2]
4	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Warrington	17–2	Salford	Wilderspool	39–11		^[3]
5	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Swinton	23–2	Whitehaven	Station Road	25–5
6	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Barrow	7–5	Widnes	Craven Park	9–16		^[4]
7	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Oldham	19–9	Wigan	Watersheddings	33–54		^[5]
8		blank		blank

Round 2 – quarterfinals

3 matches (with one bye) involving 7 clubs.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Ref

1	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Warrington	45–7	Belle Vue Rangers	Wilderspool	^[3]
2	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Wigan	33–13	Swinton	Central Park	^[5]
3	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Workington Town	18–5	Widnes	Borough Park	^[4]
4		Leigh		bye

Round 3 – semifinals

2 matches involving 4 clubs.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Ref

1	Mon 03 Oct 1949	Leigh	10–7	Warrington	Kirkhall Lane	^[3]
2	Mon 03 Oct 1949	Wigan	30–17	Workington Town	Central Park	^[5]

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

	Saturday 29 October 1949	Wigan		20–7		Leigh	Wilderspool		35,000	£4,751	2	^[5]^[6]

Teams and scorers

Wigan	№	Leigh

Martin Ryan	1	Jimmy Ledgard
Jack Hilton	2	Jack Wood
Jack Cunliffe	3	Norman Harris
Ernie Ashcroft	4	Edward Kerwick
Brian Nordgren	5	Nebby Cleworth
Ces Mountford	6	Jimmy Rowe
Tommy Bradshaw	7	Peter Riley
Ken Gee	8	Alf Edge
Joe Egan	9	Terry Stephens
Ted Slevin	10	Reg Wheatley
Bill Hudson	11	Ces Ryan
Frank Barton	12	Charlie Pawsey
Billy Blan	13	Jeff Burke

20	score	7
8	HT	2

	Scorers
	Tries
Brian Nordgren (4)	T	Cleworth (1)
Billy Blan (1)	T
Jack Hilton (1)	T
	Goals
Ken Gee (1)	G	Jimmy Ledgard (2)
Referee		G. S. Phillips, Widnes

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

^[5]

Tournament bracket

All the first round ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis. The first club named in the first round 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		Semifinals		Final

Wigan	54

Oldham	33
		Wigan	33

		Swinton	13
Whitehaven	5

Swinton	25
				Wigan	30

				Workington Town	17
St. Helens	4

Workington Town	14
		Workington Town	18

		Widnes	5
Widnes	16

Barrow	9
						Wigan	20

						Leigh	7
Liverpool Stanley	7

Leigh	79
		Leigh

		bye
blank

blank
				Leigh	10

				Warrington	7
Salford	11

Warrington	39
		Warrington	45

		Belle Vue Rangers	7
Belle Vue Rangers	23

Rochdale Hornets	7

Notes and comments

1 * This was the first Lancashire Cup match to be played by Whitehaven as well as being the first match at this stadium.
2 * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 through the 2003 summer season, after which they moved into the new Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained a sports/Rugby League facility, used by the Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club. It had a final capacity of 9,000 although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup third round match on 13 March 1948, when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington lose to Wigan 13–10.

References

^ "Rugby League Project".
^ ^a ^b "Saints Heritage Society — History — Season 1896–97".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Warrington Wolves — Results Archive – 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Widnes Vikings — History — Season In Review – 1896–97".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
^ Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links

[RLP.orgMisc-1] "Rugby League Project".

[SaintsMisc-2] "Saints Heritage Society — History — Season 1896–97".

[WiresMisc-3] "Warrington Wolves — Results Archive – 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.

[ChemicsMisc-4] "Widnes Vikings — History — Season In Review – 1896–97".

[CherryMisc-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".

[Roth1991-92Misc-6] Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

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