# 1973–74 Lancashire Cup

The 1973–74 Lancashire Cup was the sixty-first occasion of the Lancashire Cup. Wigan won the trophy by beating Salford by the score of 19–9 in the final. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington. The attendance was 8,012 and receipts were £2,750.

## Background

The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part. The same fixture format was retained, but due to the decrease in the number of participating clubs, resulted in one "blank" or "dummy" fixtures in the first round, and one bye in the second round.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Fri 31 August 1973 | Barrow | 4-24 | Swinton | Craven Park | 1,200 | |
| 2 | Fri 31 September 1973 | Salford | 12-11 | Widnes | The Willows | 5,399 | |
| 3 | Sat 1 September 1973 | Huyton | 12-29 | Rochdale Hornets | Alt Park, Huyton | 350 | |
| 4 | Sat 1 September 1973 | Oldham | 12-20 | Wigan | Watersheddings | 2,410 | |
| 5 | Sun 2 September 1973 | Blackpool Borough | 8-15 | Whitehaven | Borough Park | 850 | 1 |
| 6 | Sun 2 September 1973 | Warrington | 20-15 | Leigh | Wilderspool | 7,984 | |
| 7 | Sun 2 September 1973 | Workington Town | 11-5 | St. Helens | Derwent Park | 1,800 | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | | |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| 1 | Sat 8 September 1973 | Workington Town | 11-7 | Swinton | Derwent Park | 1,664 |
| 2 | Tue 11 September 1973 | Whitehaven | 19-8 | Warrington | Recreation Ground | 3,309 |
| 3 | Fri 4 September 1973 | Salford | 24-3 | Rochdale Hornets | The Willows | 6,365 |
| 4 | | Wigan | | bye | | |

### 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 | Thu 20 September 1973 | Workington Town | 4-20 | Wigan | Derwent Park | 3,040 | | | |
| 2 | Tue 25 September 1973 | Whitehaven | 9-23 | Salford | Recreation Ground | 5,000 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 13 October 1973 | Wigan | 19-9 | Salford | Wilderspool | 8,012 | 2,750 | 2 3 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Wigan | № | Salford |
| | teams | |
| Bill Francis | 1 | Paul Charlton |
| Green Vigo | 2 | Keith Fielding |
| David Hill | 3 | David Watkins |
| Keiron O'Loughlin | 4 | Chris Hesketh |
| Stuart Wright | 5 | Holland |
| Terry Cassidy | 6 | Ken Gill |
| Warren Ayres | 7 | Peter Banner |
| Peter Smethurst | 8 | Graham Mackay |
| Colin Clarke | 9 | Walker |
| John Gray | 10 | Davies |
| Robert Irving | 11 | Colin Dixon |
| Dave Robinson | 12 | Kear |
| Eddie Cunningham | 13 | Eric Prescott |
| ? | 14 | Knighton (for Kear 47min) |
| ? | 15 | Grice (for Davies 65min) |
| 19 | score | 9 |
| 7 | HT | 4 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Keiron O'Loughlin (2) | T | David Watkins (1) |
| Stuart Wright (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Warren Ayres (1) | G | David Watkins (3) |
| John Gray (4) | G | |
| Referee | | W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield) |
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 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 11 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 5 | Workington Town | Workington Town | 11 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Swinton | Swinton | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 4 | Swinton | Swinton | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 24 | | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 4 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 20 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 12 | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 20 | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 20 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 20 | Wigan | Wigan | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 19 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 9 |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 9 |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 15 | Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 19 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Warrington | Warrington | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 20 | Warrington | Warrington | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 15 | | | | Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 9 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 23 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 12 | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 23 | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 11 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 11 | Salford | Salford | 24 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Huyton | Huyton | 12 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 29 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75 gives the score as 8-15 (4 goals to 3 converted tries) - The RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives the score as 2-15 2 * The John Player Yearbook 1974–75 gives the attendance as 8,522 (HT 7-4) - The RUGBYLEAGUEproject gives the attendance as 8,556 - Other sources including the Rothmans Yearbook of 1991-92 show it as 8,012 3 * 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.