# 1961–62 Lancashire Cup

1961–62 was the forty-ninth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. St. Helens won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 25–9.
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 30,000, the last time the attendance at a Lancashire Cup final would reach 30,000, and receipts were £4,850.
This was the second of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the second of the seven victories in a period of nine successive seasons.
It was also the second of Swinton’s three successive Lancashire Cup final runner-up positions.

## 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
### 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 |
| 1 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Barrow | 3-10 | Oldham | Craven Park | |
| 2 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Liverpool City | 14-16 | Salford | Mill Yard, Knotty Ash | |
| 3 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Rochdale Hornets | 3-22 | Blackpool Borough | Athletic Grounds | |
| 4 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | St. Helens | 43-8 | Leigh | Knowsley Road | 21,800 |
| 5 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Swinton | 18-7 | Warrington | Station Road | |
| 6 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Widnes | 54-2 | Whitehaven | Naughton Park | |
| 7 | Saturday 2 September 1961 | Workington Town | 18-30 | Wigan | Derwent Park | |
| 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 | Att |
| 1 | Monday 18 September 1961 | Salford | 22-10 | Blackpool Borough | The Willows | |
| 2 | Thursday 21 September 1961 | Widnes | 9-5 | Wigan | Naughton Park | |
| 3 | Monday 2 October 1961 | St. Helens | 30-7 | Oldham | Knowsley Road | 18,500 |
| 4 | . | Swinton | | bye | | |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wednesday 4 October 1961 | Swinton | 10-5 | Widnes | Station Road | 13,250 | | | |
| 2 | Tuesday 10 October 1961 | St. Helens | 21-2 | Salford | Knowsley Road | 18,000 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 11 November 1961 | St. Helens | 25-9 | Swinton | Central Park | 30,000 | £4,850 | 1 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| St. Helens | No. | Swinton |
| | teams | |
| Austin Rhodes | 1 | Ken Gowers |
| Tom van Vollenhoven | 2 | Bernard McMahon |
| Ken Large | 3 | Malcolm Cummings |
| Brian McGinn | 4 | Bob Fleet |
| Mick Sullivan | 5 | John Speed |
| Wilf Smith | 6 | George Parkinson |
| Alex Murphy | 7 | Albert Cartwright |
| Fred Leyland | 8 | Arnold Thompson |
| Bob Dagnall | 9 | Trevor Roberts |
| Cliff Watson | 10 | Bill Bretherton |
| Ray French | 11 | Ken Roberts |
| Dick Huddart | 12 | Peter Norburn |
| Vince Karalius (c) | 13 | Albert Blan (c) |
| 25 | score | 9 |
| 9 | HT | 4 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Austin Rhodes (1) | T | Bill Bretherton (1) |
| Tom van Vollenhoven (1) | T | |
| Ken Large (1) | T | |
| Mick Sullivan (1) | T | |
| Alex Murphy (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Austin Rhodes (5) | G | Albert Blan (3) |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | R. Gelder (Wilmslow) |
Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final | Final |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 43 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 8 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 30 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Oldham | Oldham | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 3 | Oldham | Oldham | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 10 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 10 | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 21 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 2 | | | | |
| Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 14 | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 2 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 16 | Salford | Salford | 22 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 3 | Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 22 | | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 25 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 9 |
| Swinton | Swinton | 18 | | | | | | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 9 |
| Warrington | Warrington | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 7 | Swinton | Swinton | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 54 | | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 2 | Widnes | Widnes | 9 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wigan | Wigan | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 18 | Wigan | Wigan | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 30 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959