# 1939–40 Lancashire Cup

The 1939–40 Lancashire Cup was the thirty-second occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition had been held. Due to the start of the Second World War, the competition was delayed until early 1940. Swinton won the trophy by beating Widnes on a two legged final by the score of 21–15 aggregate.
The first leg was played at Naughton Park, Widnes, and the second led was played at Station Road, Swinton.
Swinton won both legs, 5–4 away and 16–11 at home.
The attendances were 5,500 at Widnes and 9,000 at Swinton.

## Preamble to changes

Prior to the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, most clubs had played two or three fixtures (on Saturday 26, Thursday 31 August and Saturday 2 September).
During the following week, the Northern Rugby League decided, after publicity from the Government, to suspend the championship. They almost immediately inaugurated two regional (Lancashire and Yorkshire), Wartime Emergency Leagues, with the winner of each league meeting in a play-off final to decide the overall winner.
The Challenge Cup and both County Cups were suspended. There was to be no Lancashire Cup competition in 1939.
But later in the season both County Cups were resurrected.
The Lancashire Cup started on Saturday 2 March 1940 and was played on consecutive weekends.
Each and every match was played on a two-legged home and away basis.

### Background

St Helens Recs had already withdrawn from the league immediately after the end on the 1938–39 season.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.
The number of teams entering this year's competition decreased by one with the loss of St Helens Recs to a total of 12.
The same 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 whole competition was played on the basis of two legged ties.

## Competition and results
### Round 1 – First Leg

Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | Barrow | 5–5 | Wigan | Craven Park |
| 2 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | Leigh | 5–5 | Liverpool Stanley | Mather Lane |
| 3 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | Oldham | 5–15 | Rochdale Hornets | Watersheddings |
| 4 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | St. Helens | 26–7 | Broughton Rangers | Knowsley Road |
| 5 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | Swinton | 7–0 | Salford | Station Road |
| 6 | Sat 02 Mar 1940 | Widnes | 10–7 | Warrington | Naughton Park |
| 7 | | blank | | blank | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | |

### Round 1 – Second Leg

Involved 6 matches (with two "blank" fixture) and 12 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg |
| 1 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Wigan | 14–9 | Barrow | Central Park | 19–14 |
| 2 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Liverpool Stanley | 6–0 | Leigh | Stanley Greyhound Stadium | 11–5 |
| 3 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Rochdale Hornets | 2–4 | Oldham | Athletic Grounds | 17–9 |
| 4 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Broughton Rangers | 10–3 | St. Helens | Belle Vue Stadium | 17–29 |
| 5 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Salford | 6–6 | Swinton | The Willows | 6–13 |
| 6 | Sat 09 Mar 1940 | Warrington | 2–4 | Widnes | Wilderspool | 9–14 |
| 7 | | blank | | blank | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals – First Leg

Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Sat 16 Mar 1940 | Liverpool Stanley | 5–2 | Rochdale Hornets | Stanley Greyhound Stadium |
| 2 | Sat 16 Mar 1940 | Wigan | 5–0 | St. Helens | Central Park |
| 3 | | Swinton | | bye | |
| 4 | | Widnes | | bye | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals –Second Leg

Involved 2 matches (with two) and 6 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg |
| 1 | Sat 30 Mar 1940 | Rochdale Hornets | 10–0 | Liverpool Stanley | Athletic Grounds | 15–2 |
| 2 | Sat 30 Mar 1940 | St. Helens | 10–4 | Wigan | Knowsley Road | 10–9 |
| 3 | | Swinton | | bye | | |
| 4 | | Widnes | | bye | | |

### Round 3 – semifinals – First Legs

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Sat 06 Apr 1940 | St. Helens | 7–5 | Widnes | Knowsley Road | | | | | |
| 2 | Sat 06 Apr 04 1940 | Swinton | 14–6 | Rochdale Hornets | Station Road | | | | | |

### Round 3 – semifinals – Second Legs

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs. The reverse fixtures of the first leg
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Sat 13 Apr 04 1940 | Widnes | 13–0 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 18–7 | | | | |
| 2 | Sat 13 Apr 1940 | Rochdale Hornets | 5–9 | Swinton | Athletic Grounds | 11–23 | | | | |

### Final – First leg

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Saturday 20 April 1940 | Widnes | 4–5 | Swinton | Naughton Park | | 5,500 | | | |

### Final – Second leg

The reverse fixture of the first leg
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Saturday 27 April 1940 | Swinton | 16–11 | Widnes | Station Road | 21–15 | 9,000 | | | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Widnes | № | Swinton |
| 1939–40 Lancashire Cup final – First Leg. |||
| | teams | |
| A. H. Woodward | 1 | Harold Palin |
| Harry Owen Snr. | 2 | Bill Hopkin |
| Peter Topping | 3 | Randall Lewis |
| Norman Rutledge | 4 | Billy Shaw |
| Alan Evans | 5 | Jack McGurk |
| Tommy Shannon | 6 | Tommy Bartram |
| Tommy McCue | 7 | Frank Bowyer |
| J. Sutcliffe | 8 | Joe Wright |
| Paddy Hynan | 9 | Tommy Armitt |
| Bill Hoey | 10 | Gomer Hughes |
| Hugh McDowell | 11 | Martin Hodgson |
| Bob Williamson | 12 | Cledwyn Williams |
| Bob Roberts | 13 | Fred Garner |
| 4 | score | 5 |
| 2 | HT | 3 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| | T | Fred Garner (1) |
| | Goals | |
| Topping (2) | G | Martin Hodgson (1) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | |
| Swinton | № | Widnes |
| 1939–40 Lancashire Cup final – Second Leg. |||
| | teams | |
| Harold Palin | 1 | A. H. Woodward |
| Bill Hopkin | 2 | A. H. Evans |
| Randall Lewis | 3 | Peter Topping |
| Billy Shaw | 4 | Norman Rutledge |
| Jack McGurk | 5 | Alan Evans |
| Arthur Hickman | 6 | Tommy Shannon |
| Frank Bowyer | 7 | Tommy McCue |
| Joe Wright | 8 | Bob Williamson |
| Tommy Armitt | 9 | Paddy Hynan |
| Gomer Hughes | 10 | Ernie Miller |
| Martin Hodgson | 11 | Hugh McDowell |
| Cledwyn Williams | 12 | Bob Roberts |
| Fred Garner | 13 | Bill Hoey |
| 16 | score | 11 |
| 6 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Joe Wright (1) | T | Norman Rutledge (1) |
| Randall Lewis (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Martin Hodgson (5) | G | Peter Topping (2) |
| | G | Tommy Shannon (1) |
| | G | Bill Hoey (1) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | (One of the above goals was a DG) |
| Referee | | |
Scoring – Try = three (3) points – Goal = two (2) points – Drop goal = two (2) points

### The road to success

ALL ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis
The first club named in each tie played the first leg at home
The scores shown 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 |
| Barrow | Barrow | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 19 | Wigan | Wigan | 9 | | | | | | | |
| | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 10 | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 29 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 10 | | | | | | | |
| Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Broughton Rangers | Broughton Rangers | 17 | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 18 | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 18 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 6 | Swinton | Swinton | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 15 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Swinton' | Swinton' | 21 |
| Widnes | Widnes | 14 | | | | | | | | | | | Swinton' | Swinton' | 21 |
| Warrington | Warrington | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 9 | Widnes | Widnes | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 23 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 11 | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 5 | | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 11 | | | | |
| Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 11 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 11 | Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 15 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 9 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 15 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

This would be the last year of the Lancashire Cup until season 1945–46.
In the in-between years, many Lancashire clubs were invited (and accepted the invitation) to take part in the Yorkshire Cup competition.