1963–64 Lancashire Cup

1963–64 was the fifty-first occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.

1963–64 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	St. Helens
Runners-up	Leigh
← 1962–63 1964–65 →

St. Helens won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 15-4

The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 21,231 and receipts were £3,857

This was the fourth of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the fourth of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in the nine-year period.

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

^[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with no bye but one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Barrow		12-34		Wigan	Craven Park				^[3]
2	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Blackpool Borough		8-22		Workington Town	Borough Park			1
3	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Liverpool City		5-5		Whitehaven	Mill Yard, Knotty Ash
4	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Oldham		10-5		Widnes	Watersheddings				^[4]
5	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Rochdale Hornets		7-19		Leigh	Athletic Grounds
6	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Salford		0-31		Warrington	The Willows				^[5]
7	Sat 07 Sep 1963	Swinton		2-12		St. Helens	Station Road	15,474			^[6]
8		blank				blank	Recreation Ground

Round 1 - replays

Involved 1 match

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 11 Sep 1963	Whitehaven		31-5		Liverpool City	Recreation Ground

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 16 Sep 1963	St. Helens		28-4		Workington Town	Knowsley Road	15,700			^[6]
2	Wed 18 Sep 1963	Oldham		35-4		Whitehaven	Watersheddings
3	Wed 18 Sep 1963	Wigan		5-7		Leigh	Central Park				^[3]
4		Warrington				bye					^[5]

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	Mon 23 Sep 1963	Warrington		14-21		St. Helens	Wilderspool	20,168			^[5]^[6]
2	Mon 30 Sep 1963	Leigh		10-0		Oldham	Hilton Park

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 26 October 1963	St. Helens		15-4		Leigh	Station Road	21,231	£3,857	2	^[2]^[6]^[7]

Teams and scorers

St. Helens	No.	Leigh
	teams
Kel Coslett	1	Bev Risman
Len Killeen	2	Colin Tyrer
Tom van Vollenhoven	3	Gordon Lewis
Keith Northey [1]	4	Mick Collins
Peter Harvey [2]	5	Leadbetter
Wilf Smith [3]	6	Austin Rhodes
Alex Murphy	7	T Entwistle
John Tembey	8	Bill Robinson
Bob Dagnall	9	J Lewis
Cliff Watson	10	Stan Owen
Ray French	11	Mick Murphy
Keith Ashcroft [4]	12	Mick Martyn
Bill Major [5]	13	Derek Hurt
15	score	4
5	HT	4
	Scorers
	Tries
Len Kileen (1)	T
Tom van Vollenhoven (1)	T
Wilf Smith (1)	T
	Goals
Kel Coslett (3)	G	Colin Tyrer (2)
	G
	Drop Goals
	DG
Referee		Ron Gelder (Wilmslow)

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

^[6]

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Salford		0
	Warrington		31
						Warrington
						bye
	blank
	blank
											Warrington		14
											St. Helens		21
	Swinton		2
	St. Helens		12
						St. Helens		28
						Workington Town		4
	Blackpool Borough		8
	Workington Town		22
																St. Helens		15
																Leigh		4
	Barrow		12
	Wigan		34
						Wigan		5
						Leigh		7
	Rochdale Hornets		7
	Leigh		19
											Leigh		10
											Oldham		0
	Oldham		10
	Widnes		5
						Oldham		35
						Whitehaven		4
	Liverpool City		6-5
	Whitehaven		6-31

Media coverage

The Lancashire Cup final was televised for the first time in its history.^[8] The match was broadcast on BBC TV's Grandstand programme.^[9]

Notes and comments

1 * The first Lancashire Cup match to be played in Blackpool's new stadium
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

• 1963–64 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Frank Butler and Malcolm Gunn (1977). News of the World & Empire News Football Annual 1963–64 - 74th year. News of the World Ltd.
3. . Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
4. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
5. . Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
6. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
7. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
8. "Final On TV". Sports Mail. Hull Daily Mail. No. 24187. 27 July 1963. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "BBC Programme Index - Grandstand". BBC Genome. Retrieved 1 January 2024.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97