# 1949–50 Lancashire Cup

The 1949–50 Lancashire Cup competition was the 37th Rugby League Lancashire Cup. In the final, Wigan beat Leigh 20–7 to win the trophy. Thirty-five thousand people attended the match, which took place at Wilderspool, Warrington with receipts of £4,751. The attendance was the second-highest to date for the competition (for further information see Rugby league county cups). This was the fourth of Wigan's record-breaking run of six consecutive Lancashire Cup victories.

## Background

Overall, 14 teams entered this competition, the same number as in 1948, with Whitehaven being newly elected into the Rugby League at the start of the 1949–50 season, replacing the prior season's junior/amateur club entrant. No junior/amateur club took part during the 1949–50 season. The same pre-war fixture format was retained, with no bye, but one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round. The second round contained one bye, but no "blank" fixture. As in the 1948–49 competition, all the first round matches were played on the basis of two legged (home and away) ties, and the remainder of the rounds on straight forward knock-out basis.

## Competition and results
### Round 1

7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) involving 14 clubs.
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Notes |
| 1 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Belle Vue Rangers | 18–2 | Rochdale Hornets | Belle Vue Stadium | | |
| 2 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Liverpool Stanley | 0–41 | Leigh | Stanley Greyhound Stadium | | |
| 3 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | St. Helens | 0–7 | Workington Town | Knowsley Road | 15,000 | |
| 4 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Salford | 9–22 | Warrington | The Willows | | |
| 5 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Whitehaven | 3–2 | Swinton | Recreation Ground | | 1 |
| 6 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Widnes | 11–2 | Barrow | Naughton Park | | |
| 7 | Sat 27 Aug 1949 | Wigan | 45–14 | Oldham | Central Park | | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | | |

### Round 1 – second leg

7 matches (with no bye and one "blank" fixture) involving 14 clubs. These are the reverse fixture from the first leg.
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att |
| 1 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Rochdale Hornets | 5–5 | Belle Vue Rangers | Athletic Grounds | 7–23 | |
| 2 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Leigh | 38–7 | Liverpool Stanley | Kirkhall Lane | 79–7 | |
| 3 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Workington Town | 7–4 | St. Helens | Borough Park | 14–4 | 14,256 |
| 4 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Warrington | 17–2 | Salford | Wilderspool | 39–11 | |
| 5 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Swinton | 23–2 | Whitehaven | Station Road | 25–5 | |
| 6 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Barrow | 7–5 | Widnes | Craven Park | 9–16 | |
| 7 | Wed 31 Aug 1949 | Oldham | 19–9 | Wigan | Watersheddings | 33–54 | |
| 8 | | blank | | blank | | | |

### Round 2 – quarterfinals

3 matches (with one bye) involving 7 clubs.
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue |
| 1 | Wed 14 Sep 1949 | Warrington | 45–7 | Belle Vue Rangers | Wilderspool |
| 2 | Wed 14 Sep 1949 | Wigan | 33–13 | Swinton | Central Park |
| 3 | Wed 14 Sep 1949 | Workington Town | 18–5 | Widnes | Borough Park |
| 4 | | Leigh | | bye | |

### Round 3 – semifinals

2 matches involving 4 clubs.
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| 1 | Mon 03 Oct 1949 | Leigh | 10–7 | Warrington | Kirkhall Lane | | | | | |
| 2 | Mon 03 Oct 1949 | Wigan | 30–17 | Workington Town | Central Park | | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | agg | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| | Saturday 29 October 1949 | Wigan | 20–7 | Leigh | Wilderspool | | 35,000 | £4,751 | 2 | |

#### Teams and scorers

| Wigan | № | Leigh |
| Martin Ryan | 1 | Jimmy Ledgard |
| Jack Hilton | 2 | Jack Wood |
| Jack Cunliffe | 3 | Norman Harris |
| Ernie Ashcroft | 4 | Edward Kerwick |
| Brian Nordgren | 5 | Nebby Cleworth |
| Ces Mountford | 6 | Jimmy Rowe |
| Tommy Bradshaw | 7 | Peter Riley |
| Ken Gee | 8 | Alf Edge |
| Joe Egan | 9 | Terry Stephens |
| Ted Slevin | 10 | Reg Wheatley |
| Bill Hudson | 11 | Ces Ryan |
| Frank Barton | 12 | Charlie Pawsey |
| Billy Blan | 13 | Jeff Burke |
| 20 | score | 7 |
| 8 | HT | 2 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Brian Nordgren (4) | T | Cleworth (1) |
| Billy Blan (1) | T | |
| Jack Hilton (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Ken Gee (1) | G | Jimmy Ledgard (2) |
| Referee | | G. S. Phillips, Widnes |
Scoring: Try = three (3) points; Goal = two (2) points; Drop goal = two (2) points

### Tournament bracket

All the first round ties were played on a two leg (home and away) basis. The first club named in the first round played the first leg at home. The scores shown in the first round 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 |
| Wigan | Wigan | 54 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 33 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 33 | Wigan | Wigan | 33 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 5 | Swinton | Swinton | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 25 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 25 | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 30 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 17 | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 4 | | | | | | | Workington Town | Workington Town | 17 | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 14 | Workington Town | Workington Town | 18 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Widnes | Widnes | 16 | Widnes | Widnes | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 9 | | | | | | | | Wigan | Wigan | 20 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 7 |
| Liverpool Stanley | Liverpool Stanley | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 7 |
| Leigh | Leigh | 79 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 79 | Leigh | Leigh | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 10 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 7 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 11 | | | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 7 | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 39 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 39 | Warrington | Warrington | 45 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 23 | Belle Vue Rangers | Belle Vue Rangers | 7 | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * This was the first Lancashire Cup match to be played by Whitehaven as well as being the first match at this stadium. 2 * Wilderspool was the home ground of Warrington from 1883 through the 2003 summer season, after which they moved into the new Halliwell Jones Stadium. Wilderspool remained a sports/Rugby League facility, used by the Woolston Rovers/Warrington Wizards junior club. It 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 13–10.