1951–52 Lancashire Cup

The 1951–52 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-ninth occasion on which rugby league's Lancashire Cup competition was held. It was won by Wigan who defeated Leigh in the final.

1951–52 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Leigh
← 1950–51 1952–53 →

Background

Overall, the number of teams entering this year's competition remained the same as last year's total of 14. The same pre-war fixture format was retained. This season saw no bye but one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. There was also one bye but no "blank" fixture" in the second round. As last season, all the first round matches of the competition will be played on the basis of two legged, home and away, ties – and the remainder of the rounds remaining on straight forward knock-out basis.

Competition and results

Round 1 – first leg

Involved 7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs.^[1]

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Barrow		52–5		Liverpool City	Craven Park
2	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Rochdale Hornets		7–8		Oldham	Athletic Grounds
3	Sat 01 Sep 1951	St. Helens		4–8		Belle Vue Rangers	Knowsley Road		15,000			[2]
4	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Salford		7–14		Leigh	The Willows
5	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Swinton		16–28		Wigan	Station Road					[3]
6	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Warrington		6–16		Workington Town	Wilderspool					[4]
7	Sat 01 Sep 1951	Widnes		14–6		Whitehaven	Naughton Park					[5]
8		blank				blank

Round 1 – second leg

Involved 7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Thu 06 Sep 1951	Liverpool City		5–30		Barrow	Mill Yard, Knotty Ash	10–82
2	Tue 04 Sep 1951	Oldham		21–5		Rochdale Hornets	Watersheddings	29–12
3	Thu 06 Sep 1951	Belle Vue Rangers		2–2		St. Helens	Belle Vue Stadium	10–6	5,000			[2]
4	Wed 12 Sep 1951	Leigh		15–9		Salford	Kirkhall Lane	29–16
5	Wed 12 Sep 1951	Wigan		15–5		Swinton	Central Park	43–21				[3]
6	Mon 03 Sep 1951	Workington Town		20–3		Warrington	Borough Park	36–9				[4]
7	Wed 05 Sep 1951	Whitehaven		11–9		Widnes	Recreation Ground	14–23				[5]
8		blank				blank

Round 2 – quarterfinals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 24 Sep 1951	Oldham		17–9		Widnes	Watersheddings					[5]
2	Wed 26 Sep −1951	Belle Vue Rangers		12–2		Workington Town	Belle Vue Stadium
3	Thu 27 Sep 1951	Barrow		12–16		Leigh	Craven Park
4		Wigan				bye						[3]

Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Mon 15 Oct 1951	Wigan		22–9		Belle Vue Rangers	Central Park					[3]
2	Tue 16 Oct 1951	Oldham		10–14		Leigh	Watersheddings

Final

Wigan won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 14–6. The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 33,230 and receipts were £5,432. This was the sixth (and last) in Wigan's record breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	agg	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 27 October 1951	Wigan		14–6		Leigh	Station Road		33,230	£5,432	1	[3][6]

Teams and scorers

Wigan	No.	Leigh
	Teams
Jack Cunliffe	1	Jimmy Ledgard
Gordon Ratcliffe	2	Bill Kindon
George Roughley	3	Trevor Allan
Ernie Ashcroft	4	Norman Harris
Brian Nordgren	5	Frank Morgan
Jack Broome	6	Edward Kerwick
Johnny Alty	7	Ken Baxter
Ken Gee	8	Harry Edden
Ronald Mather	9	Joe Egan (c)
Frank Barton	10	Jeff Burke
Nat Silcock, Jr.	11	Charlie Pawsey
Jack Large	12	Walt Tabern
Harry Street	13	Peter Foster
	Coach	Joe Egan
14	score	6
3	HT	0
	Scorers
	Tries
Brian Nordgren (2)	T	Harris (1)
Jack Broome (1)	T	Morgan (1)
Jack Large (1)	T
	Goals
Ken Gee (1)	G
Referee		Albert Dobson, Pontefract

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

^[3]

The road to success

All the first round ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis.

The first club named in each of the first round ties played the first leg at home.

the scores shown in the first round are the aggregate score over the two legs.

	First round					Second round					Semifinals					Final
	Swinton		41
	Wigan		43
						Wigan
						bye
	blank
	blank
											Wigan		22
											Belle Vue Rangers		9
	St. Helens		6
	Belle Vue Rangers		10
						Belle Vue Rangers		12
						Workington Town		2
	Warrington		9
	Workington Town		36
																Wigan		14
																Leigh		6
	Rochdale Hornets		12
	Oldham		29
						Oldham		17
						Widnes		9
	Widnes		23
	Whitehaven		14
											Oldham		10
											Leigh		14
	Barrow		30
	Liverpool City		5
						Barrow		12
						Leigh		16
	Salford		16
	Leigh		29

Notes and comments

1 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1932 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

• 1951–52 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups