1967–68 was the fifty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. In the final, held on Saturday 7 October at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire), St. Helens drew 2–2 with Warrington. At half-time Warrington were leading St Helens by 2–0.<br/ > The attendance at this match was 16,897, receipts were £3,886, and the half time score 0–2.
In the replay held eight weeks later on 2 December, St. Helens won the trophy by beating Warrington by the score of 13–10. The replay was held at Station Road, Pendlebury, Lancashire) and the halftime score was 3–3.<br/ > The attendance at the replay was only 7,577 and receipts were £2,485-0-0. This was the first of two consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the sixth of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in the successive nine years.
Background
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 1Fri 18 Aug 1967St. Helens7-4Rochdale HornetsKnowsley Road6,0002Fri 18 Aug 1967Widnes9-12SwintonNaughton Park3Sat 19 Aug 1967Oldham17-11LeighWatersheddings4Sat 19 Aug 1967Warrington17-10Blackpool BoroughWilderspool5Sat 19 Aug 1967Whitehaven10-13Liverpool CityRecreation Ground6Sat 19 Aug 1967Wigan14-18SalfordCentral Park7Sat 19 Aug 1967Workington Town35-6BarrowDerwent Park8 blankblank
Round 2 - Quarter-finals Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Mon 04 Sep 1967Workington Town33-0SalfordDerwent Park2Wed 06 Sep 1967Warrington14-5Liverpool CityWilderspool3Thu 07 Sep 1967Swinton11-8OldhamStation Road4 St. Helensbye
Round 3 – Semi-finals Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sat 16 Sep 1967Workington Town13-23WarringtonDerwent Park2Tue 19 Sep 1967Swinton8-12St. HelensStation Road10,733
Final Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 7 October 1967St. Helens2-2WarringtonCentral Park16,897£3,8861
Final – Replay Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 2 December 1967St. Helens13-10WarringtonStation Road7,577£2485-0-02
Teams and scorers
St. HelensNo.Warrington teams Frank Barrow1Keith Affleck Tom van Vollenhoven2John Coupe Billy Benyon3Jackie MellingAlan Whittle4Peter Harvey Tony Barrow5Brian GloverPeter Douglas6Willie AspinallTommy Bishop7Parry GordonJohn Warlow8Keith AshcroftBill Sayer9Dave Harrison Cliff Watson10Brian Brady Brian Hogan11Ken ParrJohn Mantle12Barry Briggs Kel Coslett13Ray Clarke Peter Gartland14Joe Pickavance (for Peter Harvey)Tony Karalius15? 2score20HT2 Scorers Goals Kel Coslett (1)G Drop Goals DGWillie Aspinall (1)RefereeG. Fred Lindop (Wakefield) ReplayReplay ReplayFrank Barrow1Tommy Conroy Tom van Vollenhoven2John Coupe Wilf Smith3Jackie MellingBilly Benyon4Bill Allen Les Jones5Brian GloverPeter Douglas6Tony Scahill Tommy Bishop7Parry GordonJohn Warlow8Keith AshcroftBill Sayer9Dave Harrison Cliff Watson10Joe Price Eric Chisnall11Barry Briggs Kel Coslett12Ken ParrJohn Houghton (for Peter Douglas)13Ray Clarke 1415Cliff EvansCoachJoe Egan13score103HT3 Scorers Tries Les Jones (1)TJackie Melling (1)John Warlow (1)TParry Gordon (1)Eric Chisnall (1)T Goals John Houghton (2)TBill Allen (2)RefereeG. Fred Lindop (Wakefield)
- 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 2 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1992 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 1967–68 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