# 1945–46 Lancashire Cup

The 1945–46 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-third occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition had been held in rugby league, and the first since the end of the Second World War in Europe. For the first time for several seasons there is a new name on the trophy; that of one of the founder members of the Northern Union, Widnes, who won the trophy by beating Wigan by the score of 7–3. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 28,184 and receipts were £2,600.

## Background

The number of teams entering showed little change from before the war. St Helens Recs had already withdrawn from the league immediately after the end on the 1938–39 season.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. Leigh lost its ground to in August 1940 when Callender's Cable and Construction Company bought the Mather Lane site to store drums etc as part of the war effort. The club did not resume playing until the 1946–47 season when they found a temporary ground. Workington Town from Cumberland had joined the league. Overall, the number of teams entering this year's competition had decreased from the pre-war total by just one and was now 12. The same pre-war 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 first round of the competition was played on the basis of two legged, home and away, ties.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Barrow | 18–8 | Warrington | Craven Park | |
| 2 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Oldham | 7–5 | Wigan | Watersheddings | |
| 3 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Liverpool Stanley | 5–5 | Broughton Rangers | Stanley Greyhound Stadium | |
| 4 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Rochdale Hornets | 7–2 | Swinton | Athletic Grounds | |
| 5 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Widnes | 37–0 | Salford | Naughton Park | |
| 6 | Sat 22 Sep 1945 | Workington Town | 9–8 | St. Helens | Borough Park | 1 |
| 7 | | blank | | blank | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | |

### Round 1 – second leg

Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg |
| 1 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | Warrington | 13–8 | Barrow | Wilderspool | 21–26 |
| 2 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | Wigan | 19–0 | Oldham | Central Park | 24–7 |
| 3 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | Broughton Rangers | 22–0 | Liverpool Stanley | Belle Vue Stadium | 27–5 |
| 4 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | Swinton | 9–2 | Rochdale Hornets | Station Road | 11–9 |
| 5 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | Salford | 2–15 | Widnes | The Willows | 2–52 |
| 6 | Sat 29 Sep 1945 | St. Helens | 21–11 | Workington Town | Knowsley Road | 29–20 |
| 7 | | blank | | blank | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals

Involved 2 matches (with two byes) and 6 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Wed 10 Oct 1945 | Swinton | 2–8 | Wigan | Station Road |
| 2 | Wed 10 Oct 1945 | Widnes | 6–0 | Barrow | Naughton Park |
| 3 | | St. Helens | | bye | |
| 4 | | Broughton Rangers | | bye | |

### 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 | Wed 17 Oct 1945 | Wigan | 18–5 | St. Helens | Central Park | | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 18 Oct 1945 | Widnes | 10–3 | Broughton Rangers | Naughton Park | | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 27 October 1945 | Widnes | 7–3 | Wigan | Wilderspool | | 28184 | £2600-0-0 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Widnes | № | Wigan |
| | teams | |
| Joe Bourke | 1 | Martin Ryan |
| Mick Roberts | 2 | Gordon Ratcliffe |
| Colin Hutton | 3 | Ernie Ashcroft |
| Arthur Dagnall | 4 | Ted Toohey |
| Austin Malone | 5 | Ted Ward |
| Charlie Reynolds | 6 | Jack Fleming |
| Tommy McCue (c) | 7 | Tommy Bradshaw |
| Alec Higgins | 8 | Ken Gee |
| Jack Hayes | 9 | Joe Egan |
| Hugh McDowell | 10 | George Banks |
| Robert Roberts | 11 | Harry Atkinson |
| Fred Higgins | 12 | Frank Barton |
| Harry Millington | 13 | Jack Blan |
| 7 | score | 3 |
| 0 | HT | 0 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Charlie Reynolds (1) | T | Ted Toohey (1) |
| | Goals | |
| Colin Hutton (2) | G | |
| Referee | | |
Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points

### 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 | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Widnes | Widnes | 52 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 2 | Widnes | Widnes | 6 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Barrow | Barrow | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 26 | Barrow | Barrow | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 21 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 21 | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 3 | | | | |
| Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 5 | | | | | | | Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 3 | | | | |
| Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 27 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 27 | Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 3 |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 9 | | | | | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 3 |
| Swinton | Swinton | 11 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 11 | Swinton | Swinton | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wigan | Wigan | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 7 | Wigan | Wigan | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 24 | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 18 | | | | |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 5 | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 20 | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 5 | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 29 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 29 | St. Helens | St. Helens | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
1 * The first match in the Lancashire Cup competition to be played by the new club and at this ground (of Workington AFC) 2 * 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.