The 1977–78 Lancashire Cup tournament was the sixty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup had been contested. For the first time in many years, there was a new name on the trophy as this time it was relative newcomers Workington Town who joined the league in 1945. Workington Town won the trophy by beating Wigan in the final by the score of 16-13. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, now in the County Palatine of Chester but (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 9,548 and receipts were £5,038. After relatively little success in the competition, Workington Town had reached the semi-final stage in 1973, 1974 and 1975, had been runner-up in 1976, and now winner in 1977. They would go on to be runners-up again in 1978 and 1979.
Background
The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part. The same fixture format was retained, but due to the number of participating clubs, this resulted in 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 one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sun 21 Aug 1977Blackpool Borough6-24WhitehavenBorough Park2Sun 21 Aug 1977Rochdale Hornets27-5BarrowAthletic Grounds3Sun 21 Aug 1977St. Helens49-3SwintonKnowsley Road30004Sun 21 Aug 1977Warrington19-13HuytonWilderspool5Sun 21 Aug 1977Widnes22-11LeighNaughton Park6Sun 21 Aug 1977Wigan42-5OldhamCentral Park7Sun 21 Aug 1977Workington Town17-12SalfordDerwent Park8blankblank
Round 2 - Quarter-finals Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Sun 28 Aug 1977Rochdale Hornets4-4St. HelensAthletic Grounds24852Sun 28 Aug 1977Wigan52-8WhitehavenCentral Park3Sun 28 Aug 1977Workington Town8-6WidnesDerwent Park4Warringtonbye
Round 2 - replays Involved 1 match and 2 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Tue 30 Aug 1977St. Helens16-5Rochdale HornetsKnowsley Road3500
Round 3 – Semi-finals Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 21 Sep 1977Workington Town5-4St. HelensDerwent Park51102Wed 28 Sep 1977Wigan17-8WarringtonCentral Park
Round 3 – Semi-finals - replays Involved 1 match and 2 clubs
Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef 1Wed 29 Sep 1977Workington Town26-15WarringtonDerwent Park
Final Game NoFixture dateHome team Score Away teamVenueAttRecNotesRef Saturday 29 October 1977Workington Town16-13WiganWilderspool9,5485,0381
Teams and scorers
Workington Town№Wigan teams Paul Charlton1Malcolm SwannDavid Collister2Green VigoJohn Risman3David WillicombeIan Wright4Steve Davies Iain McCorquodale5Jimmy HornbyRay Wilkins6Alan TaylorArnold "Boxer" Walker7Jimmy NultyDerek Watts8Brian HoganAlan Banks9Geoff AspinallEddie Bowman10Robert IrvingLes Gorley11Bill AshurstPeter Gorley12Bill MellingWilliam Pattinson13Bob BlackwoodDavid Atkinson (for Paul Charlton 62min)14John Burke (for Steve Davies 59min)Ian Hartley15David Regan (for Bill Melling 59min) 16score139HT8 Scorers Tries Ian Wright (1)TJimmy Nulty (1)Ray Wilkins (1)TBill Ashurst (1)TDavid Willicombe (1) Goals Iain McCorquodale (4)GJimmy Nulty (1)GJohn Burke (1) Drop Goals Arnold "Boxer" Walker (2)DGRefereeW H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)Man of the matchArnold "Boxer" Walker - Workington Town - sponsored byRugby LeaguerCompetition SponsorForshaws (Burtonwood Brewery Co Ltd) Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point
The road to success
Notes 1 * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 to the end of the 2003 Summer season when they moved into the new purpose built Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained as a sports/Ruugby League ground and is/was used by Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club.
The ground had a final capacity of 9,000 although the record attendance was set in a Challenge cup third round match on 13 March 1948 when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington lose to Wigan 10-13.
See also 1977–78 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