1949–50 Lancashire Cup

1949–50 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Leigh

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

Round 1

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

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	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
4	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Salford		9–22		Warrington	The Willows
5	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Whitehaven		3–2		Swinton	Recreation Ground				1
6	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Widnes		11–2		Barrow	Naughton Park
7	Sat 27 Aug 1949	Wigan		45–14		Oldham	Central Park
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	Rec	Notes	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
4	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Warrington		17–2		Salford	Wilderspool	39–11
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
7	Wed 31 Aug 1949	Oldham		19–9		Wigan	Watersheddings	33–54
8		blank				blank

Round 2 – quarterfinals

3 matches (with one bye) involving 7 clubs.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Warrington		45–7		Belle Vue Rangers	Wilderspool
2	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Wigan		33–13		Swinton	Central Park
3	Wed 14 Sep 1949	Workington Town		18–5		Widnes	Borough Park
4		Leigh				bye

Round 3 – semifinals

2 matches involving 4 clubs.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 03 Oct 1949	Leigh		10–7		Warrington	Kirkhall Lane
2	Mon 03 Oct 1949	Wigan		30–17		Workington Town	Central Park

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

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

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.

See also

• 1949–50 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

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