The 1925–26 Lancashire Cup was the eighteenth tournament in the history of this regional rugby league competition, and another new name was added to the trophy. This time it was the turn of Swinton, one of the founding members of the Northern Union, whose previous best had been as runners up to Oldham in 1910.
Background The number of teams entering this year's competition remained at 13 which resulted in 3 byes in the first round.
Competition and results
Round 1 Involved 5 matches (with three byes) and 13 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 10 October 1925Leigh10–7Rochdale HornetsMather Lane2Sat 10 October 1925Oldham14–9St. HelensWatersheddings3Sat 10 October 1925Wigan Highfield6–7SalfordTunstall Lane4Sat 10 October 1925Barrow8–0WidnesLittle Park, Roose5Sat 10 October 1925Wigan14–10WarringtonCentral Park6 Broughton Rangersbye7 St Helens Recsbye8 Swintonbye
Round 2 – quarterfinals Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Mon 19 October 1925Oldham8–5SalfordWatersheddings2Wed 21 October 1925Wigan31–8Broughton RangersCentral Park3Thu 22 October 1925Barrow8–6LeighLittle Park, Roose4Thu 22 October 1925St Helens Recs7–8SwintonCity Road
Round 3 – semifinals Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Mon 2 November 1925Oldham5–5WiganWatersheddings2Wed 4 November 1925Swinton22–3BarrowChorley Road ground8,000Replay3Wed 11 November 1925Wigan52–3OldhamCentral Park
Final The final was due to be played on Saturday, 21 November 1925 but was postponed due to bad weather, in this case fog. The weather during that short period was atrocious and in fact Wigan had 5 matches postponed due to either a waterlogged pitch, a frozen pitch, fog or other bad weather in the four-week period from early November to early December. The final was eventually played on Wednesday 9 December 1925 and Swinton beat Wigan by 15–11. The match was played at the Cliff, Broughton, Salford. The attendance was 15,000 and receipts £1,116.
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 21 November 1925SwintonpostWiganThe Cliff1Wednesday 9 December 1925Swinton15–11WiganThe Cliff17,000£1,1152
Teams and scorers SwintonNo.Wigan teams Jack Pearson1Jim SullivanFrank Evans2Johnny RingHector Halsall (c)3Tommy HowleyJack Evans4David BooysenChris Brockbank5Attie van HeerdenBillo Rees6George OwensBryn Evans7Danny HurcombeMiller Strong8Wilf HodderHenry Blewer9Jack BennettBert Morris10Bob IlsleyTom Halliwell11George van RooyenHarry Entwistle12Frank StephensFred Beswick13Jack Price 15score115HT0 Scorers Tries Chris Brockbank (1)TJohnny Ring (3)Jack Evans (1)TBryn Evans (1)T Goals Bert Morris (3)GJim Sullivan (1)G Drop Goals DGReferee Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points
The road to success
See also 1925–26 Northern Rugby Football League season
Notes 1 Match postponed due to fog 2 The Cliff was the home ground of Broughton Rangers from 1913 and until they moved out to Belle Vue in 1933.
References