# 1963–64 Lancashire Cup

1963–64 was the fifty-first occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
St. Helens won the trophy by beating Leigh by the score of 15-4
The match was played at Station Road, Pendlebury (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 21,231 and receipts were £3,857
This was the fourth of five consecutive Lancashire Cup final wins for St. Helens, and what is more, the fourth of the seven occasions on which the club will win the trophy in the nine-year period.

## 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 | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Barrow | 12-34 | Wigan | Craven Park | | |
| 2 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Blackpool Borough | 8-22 | Workington Town | Borough Park | | 1 |
| 3 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Liverpool City | 5-5 | Whitehaven | Mill Yard, Knotty Ash | | |
| 4 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Oldham | 10-5 | Widnes | Watersheddings | | |
| 5 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Rochdale Hornets | 7-19 | Leigh | Athletic Grounds | | |
| 6 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Salford | 0-31 | Warrington | The Willows | | |
| 7 | Sat 07 Sep 1963 | Swinton | 2-12 | St. Helens | Station Road | 15,474 | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | Recreation Ground | | |

### Round 1 - replays

Involved 1 match
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Wed 11 Sep 1963 | Whitehaven | 31-5 | Liverpool City | Recreation Ground | | | | |

### 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 1963 | St. Helens | 28-4 | Workington Town | Knowsley Road | 15,700 |
| 2 | Wed 18 Sep 1963 | Oldham | 35-4 | Whitehaven | Watersheddings | |
| 3 | Wed 18 Sep 1963 | Wigan | 5-7 | Leigh | Central Park | |
| 4 | | Warrington | | 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 23 Sep 1963 | Warrington | 14-21 | St. Helens | Wilderspool | 20,168 | | | |
| 2 | Mon 30 Sep 1963 | Leigh | 10-0 | Oldham | Hilton Park | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 26 October 1963 | St. Helens | 15-4 | Leigh | Station Road | 21,231 | £3,857 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| St. Helens | No. | Leigh |
| | teams | |
| Kel Coslett | 1 | Bev Risman |
| Len Killeen | 2 | Colin Tyrer |
| Tom van Vollenhoven | 3 | Gordon Lewis |
| Keith Northey | 4 | Mick Collins |
| Peter Harvey | 5 | Tony Leadbetter |
| Wilf Smith | 6 | Austin Rhodes |
| Alex Murphy | 7 | Terry Entwistle |
| John Tembey | 8 | Bill Robinson |
| Bob Dagnall | 9 | John Lewis |
| Cliff Watson | 10 | Stan Owen |
| Ray French | 11 | Mick Murphy |
| Keith Ashcroft | 12 | Mick Martyn |
| Bill Major | 13 | Derek Hurt |
| 15 | score | 4 |
| 5 | HT | 4 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Len Kileen (1) | T | |
| Tom van Vollenhoven (1) | T | |
| Wilf Smith (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Kel Coslett (3) | G | Colin Tyrer (2) |
| | G | |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | Ron 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 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| Salford | Salford | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 31 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 31 | Warrington | Warrington | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 14 | | | | |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 21 | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 2 | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 21 | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 12 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 28 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 8 | Workington Town | Workington Town | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 22 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 22 | | | | | | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 15 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 4 |
| Barrow | Barrow | 12 | | | | | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 4 |
| Wigan | Wigan | 34 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 34 | Wigan | Wigan | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leigh | Leigh | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 7 | Leigh | Leigh | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 19 | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 0 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 10 | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 0 | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 5 | Oldham | Oldham | 35 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 6-5 | Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 6-31 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Media coverage

The Lancashire Cup final was televised for the first time in its history. The match was broadcast on BBC TV's Grandstand programme.

## Notes and comments

1 * The first Lancashire Cup match to be played in Blackpool's new stadium 2 * Station Road was the home ground of Swinton from 1929 to 1992 and at its peak was one of the finest rugby league grounds in the country and it boasted a capacity of 60,000. The actual record attendance was for the Challenge Cup semi-final on 7 April 1951 when 44,621 watched Wigan beat Warrington 3-2