1968–69 Lancashire Cup

The 1968–69 Rugby League Lancashire Cup competition was the fifty-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. St. Helens won the trophy by beating Oldham by the score of 30-2. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 17,008 and receipts were £4644. This was the second of two consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the seventh of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in nine successive seasons.

1968–69 Lancashire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams14
WinnersSt. Helens
Runners-upOldham

Background

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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

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[1]

Round 1

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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 06 Sep 1968 Rochdale Hornets 5-17 Oldham Athletic Grounds
2 Fri 06 Sep 1968 Salford 14-3 Warrington The Willows [2]
3 Fri 06 Sep 1968 Widnes 16-15 Huyton Naughton Park 1 [3]
4 Sat 07 Sep 1968 Leigh 15-15 Blackpool Borough Hilton Park
5 Sat 07 Sep 1968 St. Helens 19-16 Wigan Knowsley Road 13500 [4][5]
6 Sat 07 Sep 1968 Swinton 11-14 Workington Town Station Road
7 Sat 0704 Sep 1968 Whitehaven 19-9 Barrow Recreation Ground
8 blank blank

Round 1 - Replay

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Involved 1 match

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Wed 11 Sep 1968 Blackpool Borough 15-32 Leigh Borough Park

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

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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 16 Sep 1968 Oldham 7-5 Workington Town Watersheddings
2 Tue 18 Sep 1968 Widnes 17-20 St. Helens Naughton Park 10300 [3][5]
3 Sat 22 Sep 1968 Whitehaven 4-17 Salford Recreation Ground
4 Leigh bye

Round 3 – Semi-finals

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Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Mon 07 Oct 1968 Leigh 6-17 St. Helens Hilton Park 12750 [5]
2 Wed 09 Oct 1968 Salford 9-12 Oldham The Willows

Final

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Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Friday 25 October 1968 St. Helens 30-2 Oldham Central Park 17,008 £4,644 2 [5][6]

Teams and scorers

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St. Helens Oldham
teams
Austin Rhodes 1 Martin Murphy
Frank Wilson 2 Mike Elliott
Billy Benyon 3 Phil Larder
Frank Myler 4 Jim McCormack[1]
Cennyd Williams[2] 5 Derek Whitehead
Alan Whittle 6 Wilf Briggs[3]
Tommy Bishop 7 Thomas "Tom" /"Tommy" Canning[4]
John Warlow 8 Ken Wilson
Bill Sayer 9 Kevin Taylor
Cliff Watson 10 Geoff Fletcher
Graham Rees 11 Robert Irving
Eric Chisnall 12 Charlie McCourt[5]
Kel Coslett 13 Arthur Hughes[6]
John Houghton[7] 14 Trevor Buckley[8]
Brian Hogan 15 Dennis Maders[9] (for Geoff Fletcher)
Cliff Evans Coach
30 score 2
0 HT 2
Scorers
Tries
Frank Wilson (2) T
Cen Williams (1) T
Tommy Bishop (1) T
Graham Rees (1) T
Eric Chisnall (1) T
Goals
Kel Coslett (6) G Wilf Briggs (1)
Referee William "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)

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

[5][6][7]

The road to success

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First round Second round Semi-finals Final
            
Leigh 15-32
Blackpool Borough 15-15
Leigh
bye
blank
blank
Leigh 6
St. Helens 17
Widnes 16
Huyton 15
Widnes 17
St. Helens 20
St. Helens 19
Wigan 16
St. Helens 30
Oldham 2
Whitehaven 19
Barrow 9
Whitehaven 4
Salford 17
Salford 14
Warrington 3
Salford 9
Oldham 12
Rochdale Hornets 5
Oldham 17
Oldham 7
Workington Town 5
Swinton 11
Workington Town 14

Notes and comments

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1 * This was the first Lancashire Cup match played by new/newly renamed club Huyton (who were "homeless" for this their first season)
2 * 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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  4. ^ "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  6. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  7. ^ "Oldham Heritage Trust".
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