1961–62 was the forty-ninth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. St. Helens won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 25–9.
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 30,000, the last time the attendance at a Lancashire Cup final would reach 30,000, and receipts were £4,850.
This was the second of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the second of the seven victories in a period of nine successive seasons.
It was also the second of Swinton’s three successive Lancashire Cup final runner-up positions.
Background
With again no invitation to a junior club this season, 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
Round 1 Involved 7 matches (with no bye but one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Saturday 2 September 1961Barrow3-10OldhamCraven Park2Saturday 2 September 1961Liverpool City14-16SalfordMill Yard, Knotty Ash3Saturday 2 September 1961Rochdale Hornets3-22Blackpool BoroughAthletic Grounds4Saturday 2 September 1961St. Helens43-8LeighKnowsley Road21,8005Saturday 2 September 1961Swinton18-7WarringtonStation Road6Saturday 2 September 1961Widnes54-2WhitehavenNaughton Park7Saturday 2 September 1961Workington Town18-30WiganDerwent Park8blankblank
Round 2 - quarterfinals Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Monday 18 September 1961Salford22-10Blackpool BoroughThe Willows2Thursday 21 September 1961Widnes9-5WiganNaughton Park3Monday 2 October 1961St. Helens30-7OldhamKnowsley Road18,5004. Swintonbye
Round 3 – semifinals Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wednesday 4 October 1961Swinton10-5WidnesStation Road13,2502Tuesday 10 October 1961St. Helens21-2SalfordKnowsley Road18,000
Final Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 11 November 1961St. Helens25-9SwintonCentral Park30,000£4,8501
Teams and scorers
St. HelensNo.Swinton teams Austin Rhodes1Ken Gowers Tom van Vollenhoven2Bernard McMahonKen Large 3Malcolm CummingsBrian McGinn 4Bob FleetMick Sullivan5John SpeedWilf Smith 6George ParkinsonAlex Murphy7Albert CartwrightFred Leyland 8Arnold ThompsonBob Dagnall9Trevor RobertsCliff Watson10Bill BrethertonRay French11Ken RobertsDick Huddart12Peter NorburnVince Karalius (c) 13Albert Blan (c) 25score99HT4 Scorers Tries Austin Rhodes (1)TBill Bretherton (1)Tom van Vollenhoven (1)TKen Large (1)TMick Sullivan (1)TAlex Murphy (1)T Goals Austin Rhodes (5)GAlbert Blan (3)G Drop Goals DGReferee R. Gelder (Wilmslow) Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points
The road to success
Notes and comments 1 * 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 1961–62 Northern Rugby Football League season Rugby league county cups
References
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