# 1968–69 Lancashire Cup

The 1968–69 Rugby League Lancashire Cup competition was the fifty-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. St. Helens won the trophy by beating Oldham by the score of 30-2. The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 17,008 and receipts were £4644. This was the second of two consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the seventh of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in nine successive seasons.

## Background

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 | Notes |
| 1 | Fri 06 Sep 1968 | Rochdale Hornets | 5-17 | Oldham | Athletic Grounds | | |
| 2 | Fri 06 Sep 1968 | Salford | 14-3 | Warrington | The Willows | | |
| 3 | Fri 06 Sep 1968 | Widnes | 16-15 | Huyton | Naughton Park | | 1 |
| 4 | Sat 07 Sep 1968 | Leigh | 15-15 | Blackpool Borough | Hilton Park | | |
| 5 | Sat 07 Sep 1968 | St. Helens | 19-16 | Wigan | Knowsley Road | 13500 | |
| 6 | Sat 07 Sep 1968 | Swinton | 11-14 | Workington Town | Station Road | | |
| 7 | Sat 0704 Sep 1968 | Whitehaven | 19-9 | Barrow | Recreation Ground | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | | |

### Round 1 - Replay

Involved 1 match
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 11 Sep 1968 | Blackpool Borough | 15-32 | Leigh | Borough Park | | | | |

### 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 | Mon 16 Sep 1968 | Oldham | 7-5 | Workington Town | Watersheddings | |
| 2 | Tue 18 Sep 1968 | Widnes | 17-20 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 10300 |
| 3 | Sat 22 Sep 1968 | Whitehaven | 4-17 | Salford | Recreation Ground | |
| 4 | | Leigh | | 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 | Mon 07 Oct 1968 | Leigh | 6-17 | St. Helens | Hilton Park | 12750 | | | |
| 2 | Wed 09 Oct 1968 | Salford | 9-12 | Oldham | The Willows | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Friday 25 October 1968 | St. Helens | 30-2 | Oldham | Central Park | 17,008 | £4,644 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| St. Helens | № | Oldham |
| | teams | |
| Austin Rhodes | 1 | Martin Murphy |
| Frank Wilson | 2 | Mike Elliott |
| Billy Benyon | 3 | Phil Larder |
| Frank Myler | 4 | Jim McCormack |
| Cennyd Williams | 5 | Derek Whitehead |
| Alan Whittle | 6 | Wilf Briggs |
| Tommy Bishop | 7 | Thomas "Tom" /"Tommy" Canning |
| John Warlow | 8 | Ken Wilson |
| Bill Sayer | 9 | Kevin Taylor |
| Cliff Watson | 10 | Geoff Fletcher |
| Graham Rees | 11 | Robert Irving |
| Eric Chisnall | 12 | Charlie McCourt |
| Kel Coslett | 13 | Arthur Hughes |
| John Houghton | 14 | Trevor Buckley |
| Brian Hogan | 15 | Dennis Maders (for Geoff Fletcher) |
| Cliff Evans | Coach | |
| 30 | score | 2 |
| 0 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Frank Wilson (2) | T | |
| Cen Williams (1) | T | |
| Tommy Bishop (1) | T | |
| Graham Rees (1) | T | |
| Eric Chisnall (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Kel Coslett (6) | G | Wilf Briggs (1) |
| Referee | | William "Billy" H. 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 |
| Leigh | Leigh | 15-32 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 15-15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 15-15 | Leigh | Leigh | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 6 | | | | |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 17 | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 16 | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 17 | | | | |
| Huyton | Huyton | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huyton | Huyton | 15 | Widnes | Widnes | 17 | | | | | | | |
| | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 20 | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 19 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 20 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 16 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 16 | | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 30 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 2 |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 19 | | | | | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 2 |
| Barrow | Barrow | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 9 | Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Salford | Salford | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 14 | Salford | Salford | 17 | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 3 | | | | Salford | Salford | 9 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 12 | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 5 | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 12 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 17 | Oldham | Oldham | 7 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 11 | Workington Town | Workington Town | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * This was the first Lancashire Cup match played by new/newly renamed club Huyton (who were "homeless" for this their first season) 2 * 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