# 1947–48 Lancashire Cup

The 1947–48 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition had been held.
Wigan won the trophy by beating Belle Vue Rangers by the score of 10–7
The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 23,310 and receipts were £3,043.
This was the second of Wigan's record breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.
It was also to be the second of two consecutive finals to be competed for by these two teams.

## Background

Overall, the number of teams entering this year's competition increased by one with the invitation to Lancashire Amateurs (a junior/amateur club) bringing the total up to 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. However this year, the second round becomes a straightforward knock-out basis.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Barrow | 14–12 | Belle Vue Rangers | Craven Park | | |
| 2 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Lancashire Amateurs | 5–16 | Rochdale Hornets | Watersheddings | | 1 |
| 3 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Leigh | 0–15 | St. Helens | Kirkhall Lane | 16,000 | 2 3 |
| 4 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Liverpool Stanley | 3–26 | Oldham | Stanley Greyhound Stadium | | |
| 5 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Swinton | 2–19 | Workington Town | Station Road | | |
| 6 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Widnes | 4–8 | Salford | Naughton Park | | |
| 7 | Sat 30 Aug 1947 | Wigan | 16–13 | Warrington | Central Park | | |
| 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 | Notes |
| 1 | Wed 10 Sep 1947 | Belle Vue Rangers | 37–2 | Barrow | Belle Vue Stadium | 49–16 | | |
| 2 | Tue 2 Sep 1947 | Rochdale Hornets | 7–2 | Lancashire Amateurs | Athletic Grounds | 23–7 | | 1 |
| 3 | Thu 4 Sep 1947 | St. Helens | 31–5 | Leigh | Knowsley Road | 46–5 | 17,000 | |
| 4 | Tue 2 Sep 1947 | Oldham | 16–3 | Liverpool Stanley | Watersheddings | 42–6 | | |
| 5 | Wed 3 Sep 1947 | Workington Town | 15–12 | Swinton | Borough Park | 34–14 | | |
| 6 | Wed 3 Sep 1947 | Salford | 9–4 | Widnes | The Willows | 17–8 | | |
| 7 | Wed 3 Sep 1947 | Warrington | 10–15 | Wigan | Wilderspool | 23–31 | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | | | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals – first leg

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Tue 23 Sep 1947 | Oldham | 3–13 | Workington Town | Watersheddings |
| 2 | Mon 29 Sep 1947 | St. Helens | 7–8 | Wigan | Knowsley Road |
| 3 | Wed 1 Oct 1947 | Belle Vue Rangers | 10–5 | Salford | Belle Vue Stadium |
| 4 | | Rochdale Hornets | | 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 8 Oct 1947 | Belle Vue Rangers | 15–8 | Workington Town | Belle Vue Stadium | | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 8 Oct 1947 | Wigan | 27–3 | Rochdale Hornets | Central Park | | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 1 November 1947 | Wigan | 10–7 | Belle Vue Rangers | Wilderspool | | 23,110 | £3,043 | 4 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Wigan | No. | Belle Vue Rangers |
| | teams | |
| Martin Ryan | 1 | W. Ratchford |
| Gordon Ratcliffe | 2 | Harry Pimblett |
| Ted Ward | 3 | Mel Tierney |
| George Roughley | 4 | Stan McCormick |
| Brian Nordgren | 5 | S. Jolley |
| Ernie Ashcroft | 6 | Ray Price |
| Tommy Bradshaw | 7 | Billy Watkins |
| Ken Gee | 8 | D. Thomas |
| Joe Egan | 9 | W. Flanagan |
| George Banks | 10 | Elwyn Gwyther |
| Les White | 11 | Doug Phillips |
| Billy Blan | 12 | Jack Fearnley |
| Jack Blan | 13 | Dick Manning |
| 10 | score | 7 |
| 5 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Gordon Ratcliffe (1) | T | Flanagan (1) |
| Brian Nordgren (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Ted Ward (2) | G | D. Thomas (2) |
| Referee | | S. Manley (Hull) |
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 |
| Leigh | Leigh | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 46 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 46 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wigan | Wigan | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 31 | Wigan | Wigan | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 23 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 23 | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 27 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 3 | | | | |
| Lancashire Amateurs | Lancashire Amateurs | 7 | | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 3 | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 23 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 23 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 10 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 7 |
| Barrow | Barrow | 16 | | | | | | | | | | | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 7 |
| Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 49 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 49 | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 10 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Salford | Salford | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 8 | Salford | Salford | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 17 | | | | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 15 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 8 | | | | |
| Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 6 | | | | | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 8 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 42 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 42 | Oldham | Oldham | 3 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 14 | Workington Town | Workington Town | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 34 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Lancashire Amateurs were a junior (or amateur) club from Lancashire. The match was played at Watersheddings, Oldham
2 * The official St. Helens archive show as attendance of 16,000 (with 17,000 for the second leg at home) RUGBY LEAGUE projects show it as 17,000
3 * Leigh's first Lancashire Cup match at the newly completed purpose build stadium
4 * 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.