# 1972–73 Lancashire Cup

The 1972–73 Lancashire Cup was the sixtieth occasion on which the competition was held. Salford won the trophy by beating Swinton by the score of 25-11 in the final. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 6,865 and receipts were £3,321.00

## 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 |
| 1 | Fri 1 September 1972 | Salford | 41-17 | Oldham | The Willows | |
| 2 | Fri 1 September 1972 | Wigan | 15-7 | Workington Town | Central Park | |
| 3 | Sun 3 September 1972 | Huyton | 12-18 | Barrow | Alt Park, Huyton | |
| 4 | Sun 3 September 1972 | Leigh | 6-20 | Widnes | Hilton Park | |
| 5 | Sun 3 September 1972 | Swinton | 28-25 | Blackpool Borough | Station Road | |
| 6 | Sun 3 September 1972 | Warrington | 16-18 | St. Helens | Wilderspool | 8,500 |
| 7 | Sun 3 September 1972 | Whitehaven | 19-24 | Rochdale Hornets | Recreation Ground | |
| 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 | Notes |
| 1 | Wed 13 September 1972 | Widnes | 11-2 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 9,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Fri 15 September 1972 | Barrow | 4-7 | Swinton | Craven Park | | |
| 3 | Fri 15 September 1972 | Salford | 46-13 | Rochdale Hornets | The Willows | | |
| 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 5 October 1972 | Widnes | 4-13 | Swinton | Naughton Park | | | | |
| 2 | Thu 6 October 1972 | Wigan | 2-14 | Salford | Central Park | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 21 October 1972 | Salford | 25-11 | Swinton | Wilderspool | 6,865 | 3,321 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Salford | № | Swinton |
| | teams | |
| Paul Charlton | 1 | Paul Jackson |
| Eastham | 2 | Bob Fleay |
| David Watkins | 3 | John Cooke |
| Chris Hesketh | 4 | Alan Buckley |
| Maurice Richards | 5 | John Gomersall |
| Ken Gill | 6 | Peter Kenny |
| Peter Banner | 7 | Ken Gowers |
| Mackay | 8 | Albert Halsall |
| Walker | 9 | Graham Evans |
| Johnny Ward | 10 | Harold Bate |
| Whitehead | 11 | Rod Smith |
| Colin Dixon | 12 | Granville Hoyle |
| Eric Prescott | 13 | Bill Pattinson |
| ? | 14 | Mick Philbin (for Peter Kenny) |
| ? | 15 | Bill Holliday (for Rod Smith) |
| Cliff Evans | Coach | |
| 25 | score | 11 |
| 10 | HT | 4 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Peter Banner (1) | T | Bob Fleay (1) |
| Eastham (1) | T | |
| David Watkins (1) | T | |
| Maurice Richards (1) | T | |
| Paul Charlton (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| David Watkins (5) | G | Ken Gowers (3) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | Peter Kenny (1) |
| Referee | | W. "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 |
| Wigan | Wigan | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 7 | Wigan | Wigan | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 14 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 41 | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 14 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 17 | Salford | Salford | 46 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 19 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 24 | | | | | | | | Salford | Salford | 25 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 11 |
| Leigh | Leigh | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 11 |
| Widnes | Widnes | 20 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 20 | Widnes | Widnes | 11 | | | | | | | |
| | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 16 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 2 | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 18 | | | | Widnes | Widnes | 4 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | |
| Huyton | Huyton | 12 | | | | | | | Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 18 | Barrow | Barrow | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Swinton | Swinton | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 28 | Swinton | Swinton | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 25 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * The score of 13-2 is shows in the official St. Helens archives and also in the official Widnes archives . RUGBYLEAGUEproject shows the score as being 11-2 2 * 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.