1992–93 Lancashire Cup

1992 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	St. Helens

The 1992 Lancashire Cup was the eightieth occasion on which the completion had been held. Wigan won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 5-4 in the final. The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 20,534.

Background

The failure of London Crusaders to enter, due primarily to financial pressures, resulted in the number of entrants this year decreasing by one to 16.
This resulted in a full fixture list, with no requirement for a preliminary round, nor any “blank” or “dummy” fixtures or any byes.

Competition and Results

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 11 Sep 1992	Rochdale Hornets		8-36		Wigan	Spotland	2936
2	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Barrow		2-36		St. Helens	Craven Park	2317
3	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Blackpool Gladiators		8-22		Workington Town	Jepson Way, Blackpool	736		1
4	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Leigh		50-9		Chorley Borough (2)	Hilton Park	1332
5	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Oldham		33-20		Warrington	Watersheddings	4041
6	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Salford		60-8		Whitehaven	The Willows	1985
7	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Swinton		40-10		Highfield	Station Road	616
8	Sun 13 Sep 1992	Widnes		52-8		Carlisle	Naughton Park	3733		2

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 23 Sep 1992	Leigh		14-26		Oldham	Hilton Park	3395
2	Wed 23 Sep 1992	Salford		42-20		Workington Town	The Willows	2143
3	Tue 29 Sep 1992	Swinton		0-78		Wigan	Station Road	3501
4	Wed 30 Sep 1992	St. Helens		10-8		Widnes	Knowsley Road	12573

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Tue 06 Oct 1992	Wigan		48-8		Oldham	Central Park	8954
2	Wed 07 Oct 1992	St. Helens		18-5		Salford	Knowsley Road	9289

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Sunday 18 October 1992	Wigan		5-4		St. Helens	Knowsley Road	20534		3 4

Teams and Scorers

Wigan	№	St. Helens
	teams
Steve Hampson	1	Phil Veivers
Jason Robinson	2	Alan Hunte
Joe Lydon	3	Gary Connolly
Andrew Farrar	4	Jarrod McCracken
Martin Offiah	5	Anthony Sullivan
Frano Botica	6	Tea Ropati
Shaun Edwards	7	Jonathan Griffiths
Kelvin Skerrett	8	John Harrison[1]
Martin Dermott	9	Bernard Dwyer
Andy Platt	10	Kevin Ward
Denis Betts	11	Chris Joynt
Billy McGinty	12	Sonny Nickle
Dean Bell	13	Shane Cooper
Neil Cowie (for Steve Hampson 24min)	14	xGus O'Donnell[2] (for Phil Veivers 50min)
Martin Crompton (for Martin Offiah Half Time)	15	Paul Forber[3] (for John Harrison 65min)
John Monie	Coach	Mike McClennan
5	score	4
5	HT	0
	Scorers
	Goals
Frano Botica (2)	G	Bernard Dwyer (2)
	Drop Goals
Frano Botica (1)	DG
Referee		Stuart Cummings (Widnes)
Man of the match	?
sponsored by		Greenall Whitley
Competition Sponsor		Greenalls

Scoring - Try = four (4) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Swinton		40
	Highfield		10
						Swinton		0
						Wigan		78
	Rochdale Hornets		8
	Wigan		36
											Wigan		48
											Oldham		8
	Leigh		50
	Chorley Borough (2)		9
						Leigh		14
						Oldham		26
	Oldham		33
	Warrington		20
																Wigan		5
																St. Helens		4
	Barrow		2
	St. Helens		36
						St. Helens		10
						Widnes		8
	Widnes		52
	Carlisle		8
											St. Helens		18
											Salford		5
	Salford		60
	Whitehaven		8
						Salford		42
						Workington Town		20
	Blackpool Gladiators		8
	Workington Town		22

Notes and comments

1 * The attendance is given as 3,500 in the Widnes official archives - RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives it as 3,499||
2 * The official Widnes archives give the attendance as 3,700 - RUGBYLEAGUEproject data gives it as 3,733
3 * St Helens won the toss for the home advantage
4 * Knowsley Road was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 to 2010. The final capacity was in the region of 18,000, although the actual record attendance was 35,695 set on December 26, 1949, for a league game between St Helens and Wigan

Postscript

To date, this was the last season for the Lancashire (and Yorkshire) Cup competitions, which except for the break due to the two World Wars, had taken place annually since its inauguration in the 1905–06 season.
It was fitting that the last name on the cup should be the same as the first, that of Wigan, and that the last final should be between the two clubs which had the best records in the competition.
It was only after the two county finals had been played that it was announced that the competitions were to be scrapped; news which came as a major surprise and shock to the fans. The reasons given by the ruling body, the Rugby Football League, were that it was deemed the cup was adding to fixture congestion for more successful sides and also that a local county cup did not fit the modern image of Rugby League.

Records from the Lancashire Cup competition

Club and individual records

In the Final	Team
	Most appearances	Wigan	35
	Most wins	Wigan	21
	Highest Score	Wigan	34-8	v Warrington 1985
	Widest margin	St. Helens	30-2	v Oldham 1968
	Biggest Attendance	42795		St. Helens v Wigan (at Swinton) 1953
	Individual
	Most tries	Brian Nordgren	4	Wigan v Leigh 1949
	Most goals	Jim Ledgard	7	Leigh v Widnes 1955
		Steve Hesford	7	Warrington v Wigan 1980
		David Stephenson	7	Wigan v Warrington 1985
	Most points	Steve Hesford	17 (7g+1t)	Warrington v Widnes 1980
In the competition
	Highest Score	St. Helens	112-0	Carlisle 1986
	Other score over 100	St. Helens	104-12	v Trafford Borough 1991

Entrants, number of final & semi-Final appearances by clubs, and years

This table lists all the semi-professional clubs which have entered the competition and the number (and dates) of their cup final wins, cup final runner-up spots, and losing semi-Final appearances.

		No.	cup winner		No,	runner-up		No	losing Semi-Final appearances
Acton & Willesden
Barrow		2	1954, 1983		1	1937		9	1919 (spring), 1921, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1936, 1955, 1958, 1979
Broughton Rangers		2	1906, 1920,		1	1907		3	1930, 1937, 1945
Belle Vue Rangers					2	1946, 1947		2	1948, 1951
Blackpool Borough/successors								2	1960, 1966
Carlisle								2	1982, 1991
London Crusaders								1	1982
Huyton
Leigh		4	1952, 1955, 1970, 1981		8	1905 (after replay), 1909, 1920, 1922, 1949, 1951, 1963, 1969		13	1907, 1913, 1921, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1990
Liverpool Stanley								2	1934, 1938
Liverpool City
London Highfield
Oldham		9	1907, 1910, 1913, 1919, 1924, 1933, 1956, 1957, 1958		9	1908, 1911, 1919 (spring), 1921, 1954,1966, 1968, 1986, 1989		17	1905, 1906, 1923, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1980, 1992
Rochdale Hornets		3	1911, 1914, 1919 (spring),		4	1912, 1919, 1965, 1991		6	1969, 1910, 1939, 1947, 1957, 1969
Runcorn								2	1906, 1908, 1909
Runcorn Highfield
St. Helens		11	1926, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 (after replay), 1968, 1984, 1991		8	1932, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1970, 1982, 1992		15	1912, 1913, 1924, 1933, 1935, 1939, 1950, 1957, 1960, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1986,
St Helens Recs		2	1923, 1930		3	1924, 1926, 1933		3	1920, 1936, 1945
Salford		5	1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1972		7	1929, 1938, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1988, 1990		11	1907, 1912, 1926, 1927, 1932, 1961, 1968, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1992
Streatham & Mitcham
Swinton		4	1925, 1927, 1939, 1969		8	1910, 1923, 1931, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1972		9	1909, 1914, 1919 (Aut), 1929, 1934, 1967, 1971, 1983, 1987
Warrington		9	1921, 1929, 1932, 1967, 1959, 1965, 1980, 1982, 1989		6	1906, 1948, 1950, 1967 (after replay), 1985, 1987		21	1908, 1910, 1914, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1938, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1990,
Whitehaven								2	1959, 1973
Widnes		7	1945, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1990		6	1928, 1939, 1955, 1971, 1981, 1983		20	1905, 1911, 1919 (Aut), 1920, 1922, 1926, 1931, 1937, 1946, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1972, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
Wigan		21	1905 (after replay), 1908, 1909, 1912, 1922, 1928, 1938, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992		14	1913, 1914, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1945, 1953, 1957, 1977, 1980, 1984		11	1911, 1919 (Spring), 1932, 1933, 1959, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977, 1989, 1991
Wigan Highfield
Workington Town		1	1977		3	1976, 1978, 1979		9	1947, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1962, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975

See also

• 1992–93 Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

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