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1939–40 Lancashire Cup

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1939–40 Lancashire Cup
StructureRegional knockout championship
Teams12
WinnersSwinton
Runners-upWidnes

The 1939–40 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-second occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition had been held. Due to the start of the Second World War, the competition was delayed until early 1940. Swinton won the trophy by beating Widnes on a two legged final by the score of 21–15 aggregate.

The first leg was played at Naughton Park, Widnes, and the second led was played at Station Road, Swinton.

Swinton won both legs, 5–4 away and 16–11 at home.

The attendances were 5,500 at Widnes and 9,000 at Swinton.

Preamble to changes

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Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).

During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner.

The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Lancashire Cup competition in 1939.

But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.

The Lancashire Cup started on Saturday 2 March 1940 and was played on consecutive weekends.

Each and every match was played on a two-legged home and away basis.

Background

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St Helens Recs had already withdrawn from the league immediately after the end on the 1938–39 season. The club had been struggling to survive for a few years with falling attendances and the economic depression and it was obviously not possible for the town to sustain two top teams.

The number of teams entering this year's competition decreased by one with the loss of St Helens Recs to a total of 12.

The same fixture format was retained. This season saw no byes but two "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. The second round now had two byes.

The whole competition was played on the basis of two legged ties.

Competition and results

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[1]

Round 1 – First Leg

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Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 02 Mar 1940 Barrow 5–5 Wigan Craven Park [2]
2 Sat 02 Mar 1940 Leigh 5–5 Liverpool Stanley Mather Lane
3 Sat 02 Mar 1940 Oldham 5–15 Rochdale Hornets Watersheddings
4 Sat 02 Mar 1940 St. Helens 26–7 Broughton Rangers Knowsley Road [3]
5 Sat 02 Mar 1940 Swinton 7–0 Salford Station Road
6 Sat 02 Mar 1940 Widnes 10–7 Warrington Naughton Park [4][5]
7 blank blank
8 blank blank

Round 1 – Second Leg

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Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Wigan 14–9 Barrow Central Park 19–14 [2]
2 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Liverpool Stanley 6–0 Leigh Stanley Greyhound Stadium 11–5
3 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Rochdale Hornets 2–4 Oldham Athletic Grounds 17–9
4 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Broughton Rangers 10–3 St. Helens Belle Vue Stadium 17–29 [3]
5 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Salford 6–6 Swinton The Willows 6–13
6 Sat 09 Mar 1940 Warrington 2–4 Widnes Wilderspool 9–14 [4][5]
7 blank blank
8 blank blank

Round 2 – quarterfinals – First Leg

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Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 16 Mar 1940 Liverpool Stanley 5–2 Rochdale Hornets Stanley Greyhound Stadium
2 Sat 16 Mar 1940 Wigan 5–0 St. Helens Central Park [2][3]
3 Swinton bye
4 Widnes bye [4]

Round 2 – quarterfinals –Second Leg

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Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 30 Mar 1940 Rochdale Hornets 10–0 Liverpool Stanley Athletic Grounds 15–2
2 Sat 30 Mar 1940 St. Helens 10–4 Wigan Knowsley Road 10–9 [2][3]
3 Swinton bye
4 Widnes bye [4]

Round 3 – semifinals – First Legs

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Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 06 Apr 1940 St. Helens 7–5 Widnes Knowsley Road [4][3]
2 Sat 06 Apr 04 1940 Swinton 14–6 Rochdale Hornets Station Road

Round 3 – semifinals – Second Legs

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Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 13 Apr 04 1940 Widnes 13–0 St. Helens Naughton Park 18–7 [4][3]
2 Sat 13 Apr 1940 Rochdale Hornets 5–9 Swinton Athletic Grounds 11–23

Final – First leg

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Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Saturday 20 April 1940 Widnes 4–5 Swinton Naughton Park 5,500 [4][6]

Final – Second leg

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The reverse fixture of the first leg

Game No Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue agg Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Saturday 27 April 1940 Swinton 16–11 Widnes Station Road 21–15 9,000 [4][6]

Teams and scorers

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Widnes № Swinton
1939–40 Lancashire Cup final – First Leg.
teams
A. H. Woodward [1] 1 Harold Palin
Harry Owen Snr.[2] 2 Bill Hopkin
Peter Topping [3] 3 Randall Lewis
Norman Rutledge [4] 4 Billy Shaw
Alan Evans [5] 5 Jack McGurk
Tommy Shannon 6 Tommy Bartram
Tommy McCue 7 Frank Bowyer
J. Sutcliffe [6] 8 Joe Wright
Paddy Hynan [7] 9 Tommy Armitt
Bill Hoey [8] 10 Gomer Hughes
Hugh McDowell 11 Martin Hodgson
Bob Williamson [9] 12 Cledwyn Williams
Bob Roberts 13 Fred Garner
4 score 5
2 HT 3
Scorers
Tries
T Fred Garner (1)
Goals
Topping (2) G Martin Hodgson (1)
Drop Goals
DG
Referee
Swinton № Widnes
1939–40 Lancashire Cup final – Second Leg.
teams
Harold Palin 1 A. H. Woodward
Bill Hopkin 2 A. H. Evans [10]
Randall Lewis 3 Peter Topping
Billy Shaw 4 Norman Rutledge
Jack McGurk 5 Alan Evans
Arthur Hickman 6 Tommy Shannon
Frank Bowyer 7 Tommy McCue
Joe Wright 8 Bob Williamson
Tommy Armitt 9 Paddy Hynan
Gomer Hughes 10 Ernie Miller [11]
Martin Hodgson 11 Hugh McDowell
Cledwyn Williams 12 Bob Roberts
Fred Garner 13 Bill Hoey
16 score 11
6 HT 2
Scorers
Tries
Joe Wright (1) T Norman Rutledge (1)
Randall Lewis (1) T
Goals
Martin Hodgson (5) G Peter Topping (2)
G Tommy Shannon (1)
G Bill Hoey (1)
Drop Goals
DG (One of the above goals was a DG)
Referee

Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points

[4]

The road to success

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ALL ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis

The first club named in each tie played the first leg at home

The scores shown are the aggregate score over the two legs

First round Second round Semifinals Final
            
Barrow 14
Wigan 19
Wigan 9
St. Helens 10
St. Helens 29
Broughton Rangers 17
St. Helens 7
Widnes 18
Swinton 13
Salford 6
Swinton
bye
blank
blank
Widnes 15
Swinton' 21
Widnes 14
Warrington 9
Widnes
bye
blank
blank
Swinton 23
Rochdale Hornets 11
Leigh 5
Liverpool Stanley 11
Liverpool Stanley 2
Rochdale Hornets 15
Oldham 9
Rochdale Hornets 17

Notes and comments

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This would be the last year of the Lancashire Cup until season 1945–46.

In the in-between years, many Lancashire clubs were invited (and accepted the invitation) to take part in the Yorkshire Cup competition.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b c d "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Saints Heritage Society – History – Season 1896–97".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Widnes Vikings – History – Season In Review – 1896–97".
  5. ^ a b "Warrington Wolves – Results Archive – 1897". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
  6. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
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