1970–71 Lancashire Cup

The 1970–71 Lancashire Cup was the fifty-eighth staging of the tournament. Leigh won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 7-4 in the final. The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 10,776 and receipts were £3,136.

1970–71 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	St. Helens

Background

The total number of teams entering the competition remained the same at a total of 16. Once again two junior (or amateur) clubs were invited St Helens Amateurs and this year, Whitehaven Amateurs.
The same fixture format was retained, and due to the number of participating clubs, resulted in a full fixture list with no byes or “blank” or “dummy” fixtures.

Competition and results

[1]

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no bye or “blank” fixture) and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 28-08-1970	Rochdale Hornets		14-11		Whitehaven	Athletic Grounds
2	Fri 28-08-1970	Warrington		9-21		Leigh	Wilderspool				[2]
3	Sat 29-08-1970	Blackpool Borough		10-10		Widnes	Borough Park				[3]
4	Sat 29-08-1970	Huyton		3-30		St. Helens	Alt Park, Huyton	2,121			[4]
5	Sat 29-08-1970	Oldham		12-35		Salford	Watersheddings
6	Sat 29-08-1970	Swinton		51-21		St Helens Amateurs	Station Road			1
7	Sat 29-08-1970	Wigan		32-2		Barrow	Central Park				[5]
8	Sun 30-08-1970	Workington Town		49-7		Whitehaven Amateurs	Derwent Park			2

Round 1 Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Thu 03-09-1970	Widnes		41-6		Blackpool Borough	Naughton Park				[3]

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches (with no bye) and 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 07-09-1970	Widnes		32-5		Rochdale Hornets	Naughton Park				[3]
2	Sun 13-09-1970	Salford		12-12		Wigan	The Willows				[5]
3	Wed 16-09-1970	Leigh		12-8		Workington Town	Hilton Park
4	Thu 17-09-1970	St. Helens		20-7		Swinton	Knowsley Road	7,500			[4]

Round 2 – Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sun 20-09-1970	Wigan		32-6		Salford	Central Park				[5]

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	Sun 04-10-1970	Widnes		10-13		Leigh	Naughton Park				[3][6]
2	Sat 10-10-1970	Wigan		0-23		St. Helens	Central Park	23,508			[4][5]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 28 November 1970	Leigh		7-4		St. Helens	Station Road	10,776	£3,136	HT 0-0	[4][7]

Teams and scorers

[4][7]

Leigh	№	St. Helens
	teams
Stuart Ferguson	1	Frank Barrow[8]
Rod Tickle	2	Les Jones
Les Chisnall	3	Billy Benyon
Mick Collins	4	Johnny Walsh
Joseph Walsh	5	Frank Wilson
David Eckersley	6	Frank Myler
Alex Murphy	7	Alan Whittle
Dave Chisnall	8	Albert Halsall
Kevin Ashcroft	9	Tony Karalius
Derek Watts	10	Graham Rees
Paul Grimes	11	John Mantle
Geoffrey Clarkson	12	Eric Chisnall
Mick Mooney	13	Kel Coslett
Thomas "Tom" /"Tommy" Canning (for Rod Tickle)	14	Jeff Heaton (not used)
	15	Eric Prescott (for Graham Rees)
7	score	4
0	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
David Eckersley (1)	T
	Goals
Stuart Ferguson (2)	G	Kel Coslett (2)
Referee		W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)
		-

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

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Blackpool Borough		10-6
	Widnes		10-41
						Widnes		32
						Rochdale Hornets		5
	Rochdale Hornets		14
	Whitehaven		11
											Widnes		10
											Leigh		13
	Warrington		9
	Leigh		21
						Leigh		12
						Workington Town		8
	Workington Town		49
	Whitehaven Amateurs		7
																Leigh		7
																St. Helens		4
	Oldham		12
	Salford		35
						Salford		12-6
						Wigan		12-32
	Wigan		32
	Barrow		2
											Wigan		0
											St. Helens		23
	Huyton		3
	St. Helens		30
						St. Helens		20
						Swinton		7
	Swinton		51
	St Helens Amateurs		21

Notes and comments

1 * St Helens Amateurs were a junior (or amateur) club from St Helens
2 * Whitehaven Amateurs are a junior (or amateur) club from Whitehaven
3 * 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

• British rugby league system
• 1970–71 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups
• List of defunct rugby league clubs

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
3. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
4. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
5. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
6. Club Programme dept. Match Programme. Widnes RLFC.
7. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby Lague Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
8. http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=10&num=14864

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