1977–78 Lancashire Cup

Rugby league season

1977–78 Lancashire Cup

Structure| Regional knockout championship
Teams| 14
Winners| Workington Town
Runners-up| Wigan

← 1976–77

1978–79 →

The 1977–78 Lancashire Cup tournament was the sixty-fifth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup had been contested. For the first time in many years, there was a new name on the trophy as this time it was relative newcomers Workington Town who joined the league in 1945. Workington Town won the trophy by beating Wigan in the final by the score of 16-13. The match was played at Wilderspool, Warrington, now in the County Palatine of Chester but (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 9,548 and receipts were £5,038. After relatively little success in the competition, Workington Town had reached the semi-final stage in 1973, 1974 and 1975, had been runner-up in 1976, and now winner in 1977. They would go on to be runners-up again in 1978 and 1979.

## Background

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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 number of participating clubs, this resulted in one "blank" or "dummy" fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round.

## Competition and results

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[1][2][3]

### Round 1

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Involved 7 matches (with one "blank" fixture) and 14 clubs

Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
1 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Blackpool Borough |  | 6-24 |  | Whitehaven | Borough Park |  |  |  |
2 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Rochdale Hornets |  | 27-5 |  | Barrow | Athletic Grounds |  |  |  |
3 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | St. Helens |  | 49-3 |  | Swinton | Knowsley Road | 3000 |  |  | [4]
4 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Warrington |  | 19-13 |  | Huyton | Wilderspool |  |  |  | [5]
5 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Widnes |  | 22-11 |  | Leigh | Naughton Park |  |  |  | [6]
6 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Wigan |  | 42-5 |  | Oldham | Central Park |  |  |  | [7][4]
7 | Sun 21 Aug 1977 | Workington Town |  | 17-12 |  | Salford | Derwent Park |  |  |  |
8 |  | blank |  |  |  | blank |  |  |  |  |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

[edit]

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
1 | Sun 28 Aug 1977 | Rochdale Hornets |  | 4-4 |  | St. Helens | Athletic Grounds | 2485 |  |  | [4]
2 | Sun 28 Aug 1977 | Wigan |  | 52-8 |  | Whitehaven | Central Park |  |  |  | [7]
3 | Sun 28 Aug 1977 | Workington Town |  | 8-6 |  | Widnes | Derwent Park |  |  |  | [6]
4 |  | Warrington |  |  |  | bye |  |  |  |  | [5]

### Round 2 - replays

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Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
1 | Tue 30 Aug 1977 | St. Helens |  | 16-5 |  | Rochdale Hornets | Knowsley Road | 3500 |  |  | [4]

### Round 3 – Semi-finals

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Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
1 | Wed 21 Sep 1977 | Workington Town |  | 5-4 |  | St. Helens | Derwent Park | 5110 |  |  | [4]
2 | Wed 28 Sep 1977 | Wigan |  | 17-8 |  | Warrington | Central Park |  |  |  | [7][5]

### Round 3 – Semi-finals - replays

[edit]

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
1 | Wed 29 Sep 1976 | Workington Town |  | 26-15 |  | Warrington | Derwent Park |  |  |  | [5]

### Final

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Game No  | Fixture date  | Home team  |  | Score  |  | Away team  | Venue  | Att  | Rec  | Notes  | Ref

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|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Saturday 29 October 1977 | Workington Town |  | 16-13 |  | Wigan | Wilderspool | 9,548 | 5,038 | 1 | [7][8]

#### Teams and scorers

[edit]

[7][8]

Workington Town | №  | Wigan

|
|

|  |
| teams |
Paul Charlton | 1 | Malcolm Swann[1]
David Collister | 2 | Green Vigo
John Risman | 3 | David Willicombe
Ian Wright[2] | 4 | Steve Davies[3]
Iain McCorquodale[4][5] | 5 | Jimmy Hornby[6]
Ray Wilkins | 6 | Alan Taylor[7]
Arnold "Boxer" Walker | 7 | Jimmy Nulty[8]
Derek Watts | 8 | Brian Hogan
Alan Banks | 9 | Geoff Aspinall[9]
Eddie Bowman | 10 | Robert Irving
Les Gorley | 11 | Bill Ashurst
Peter Gorley | 12 | Bill Melling[10]
William Pattinson | 13 | Bob Blackwood[11]
David Atkinson (for Paul Charlton 62min) | 14 | John Burke (for Steve Davies 59min)
Ian Hartley | 15 | David Regan[12] (for Bill Melling 59min)
|  |
16 | score | 13
9 | HT | 8
|  |
| Scorers |
| Tries |
Ian Wright (1) | T | Jimmy Nulty (1)
Ray Wilkins (1) | T | Bill Ashurst (1)
| T | David Willicombe (1)
| Goals |
Iain McCorquodale (4) | G | Jimmy Nulty (1)
| G | John Burke (1)
| Drop Goals |
Arnold "Boxer" Walker (2) | DG |
Referee |  | W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match |  | Arnold "Boxer" Walker - Workington Town - scrum-half
sponsored by |  | Rugby Leaguer
Competition Sponsor |  | Forshaws (Burtonwood Brewery Co Ltd)

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### The road to success

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| First round | | | Second round | | | Semi-finals | | | Final |

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|  |  |  | | |  |  |  | | |  |  |  | | |  |  |  |
| Workington Town | 17 | | | |
| Salford | 12 |
| | Workington Town | 8 |
|  |
| | | Widnes | 6 |
| Widnes | 22 |

| Leigh | 11 |
| | Workington Town | 5 |
|  |
| | | St. Helens | 4 |
| Rochdale Hornets | 27 | |

| Barrow | 5 |
| | Rochdale Hornets | 4-5 |
|  |
| | | St. Helens | 4-16 |
| St. Helens | 49 |

| Swinton | 3 |
| | Workington Town | 16 |
|  |
| | | Wigan | 13 |
| Wigan | 42 | | |

| Oldham | 5 |
| | Wigan | 52 |
|  |
| | | Whitehaven | 8 |
| Blackpool Borough | 6 |

| Whitehaven | 24 |
| | Wigan | 17 |
|  |
| | | Warrington | 8 |
| Warrington | 19 | |

| Huyton | 13 |
| | Warrington |  |
|  |
| | | bye |  |
| blank |  |

| blank |  |

## Notes

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1 * 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.

## See also

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* 1977–78 Northern Rugby Football League season
* Rugby league county cups

## References

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1. ^ "Rugby League Project".
2. ^ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975–76. Queen Anne Press.
3. ^ Frank Butler and Patrick Collins (1976). News of the World Football Annual 1976–77 - 90th year. News of the World Ltd.
4. ^ a b c d e "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
5. ^ a b c d "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
6. ^ a b "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
7. ^ a b c d e "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
8. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

## External links

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* Saints Heritage Society
* 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
* Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
* Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
* The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org

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