# 1956–57 Lancashire Cup

1956–57 was the forty-fourth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. Oldham won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 10-3 The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The excellent attendance was 39,544 and receipts were £6,274
This was the first of Oldham's three consecutive triumphs. 1958 would be the last time they would win the trophy, although they did later appear 4 times as runners-up (in 1966, 1969, 1987 and 1989

## Background

With the invitation to junior club “County Amateurs”, the number of clubs remained the same at 15. The same pre-war fixture format was retained, and due to the number of clubs this resulted in one bye in the first round.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one bye but no “blank” fixture) and 15 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Blackpool Borough | 15-12 | Whitehaven | St Anne's Road Greyhound Stadium | | |
| 2 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Liverpool City | 24-7 | County Amateurs | Mill Yard, Knotty Ash | | 1 |
| 3 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | St. Helens | 27-7 | Swinton | Knowsley Road | 17,000 | |
| 4 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Salford | 17-9 | Workington Town | The Willows | | |
| 5 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Warrington | 31-8 | Rochdale Hornets | Wilderspool | | |
| 6 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Widnes | 7-17 | Barrow | Naughton Park | | |
| 7 | Sat 01 Sep 1956 | Wigan | 16-18 | Oldham | Central Park | | |
| 8 | | Leigh | | bye | | | |

### Round 2 - quarterfinals

Involved 3 matches (with no bye) and 8 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| 1 | Tue 11 Sep 1956 | St. Helens | 34-3 | Liverpool City | Knowsley Road | 9,000 |
| 2 | Tue 11 Sep 1956 | Salford | 0-31 | Oldham | The Willows | |
| 3 | Wed 12 Sep 1956 | Leigh | 25-3 | Blackpool Borough | Kirkhall Lane | |
| 4 | Thu 13 Sep 1956 | Warrington | 5-2 | Barrow | Wilderspool | |

### Round 3 – semifinals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 19 Sep 1956 | Leigh | 9-18 | Oldham | Kirkhall Lane | | | | |
| 2 | Thu 20 Sep 1956 | Warrington | 9-17 | St. Helens | Wilderspool | 26,000 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 20 October 1956 | Oldham | 10-3 | St. Helens | Central Park | 39,544 | £6,274 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Oldham | No. | St. Helens |
| | teams | |
| Bernard Ganley | 1 | Glyn Moses |
| Richard Cracknell | 2 | Steve Llewellyn |
| Dennis Ayres | 3 | Doug Greenall |
| Alan Davies | 4 | Bill Finnan |
| John Etty | 5 | Frank Carlton |
| Frank Stirrup (c) | 6 | Austin Rhodes |
| Frank Pitchford | 7 | John Dickinson |
| Ken Jackson | 8 | Alan Prescott |
| Jack Keith | 9 | Len McIntyre |
| Don Vines | 10 | Nat Silcock, Jr. |
| Sid Little | 11 | George Parsons |
| Charlie Winslade | 12 | Josh Gaskell |
| Derek Turner | 13 | Vince Karalius |
| 10 | score | 3 |
| 7 | HT | 3 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| John Etty (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| | G | |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | |
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 |
| Leigh | Leigh | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | | | | | | | | | | |
| bye | bye | | Leigh | Leigh | 25 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 15 | Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 12 | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 9 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 18 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 17 | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 18 | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 9 | Salford | Salford | 0 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Oldham | Oldham | 31 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 16 | Oldham | Oldham | 31 | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 18 | | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 10 |
| | | | | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 3 |
| Warrington | Warrington | 31 | | | | | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 3 |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 8 | Warrington | Warrington | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Barrow | Barrow | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 7 | Barrow | Barrow | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 17 | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 9 | | | | |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 17 | | | | |
| #REF! | | 27 | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 17 | | | | |
| | Swinton | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Swinton | 7 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 34 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 3 | | | | | | | |
| Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 24 | Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 3 | | | | | | | |
| County Amateurs | County Amateurs | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * County Amateurs were a Junior (amateur) club from ?? 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