1905 Lancashire Cup

Structure

Regional knockout championship

Number of teams

Winners

Runners-up

	Seasons	1906 >

The 1905 Lancashire Cup was the inaugural year for the rugby league Lancashire Cup competition. The cup was won by Wigan who beat Leigh in a replay at Wheater's Field, Broughton, Salford by a score of 8-0. The attendance was 10,000 and receipts £200. The initial final (which had taken place 9 days earlier at the same venue) had ended in a 0-0 draw before a crowd estimated at 16.000 and receipts of £400.

Background

Main article: Rugby league county cups

Following the great schism of 1895 which led to the formation of rugby league there was an interest in a competitive competition for clubs based in Lancashire. Prior to the breakaway from rugby union this was something that had been discouraged as it was feared that competition would lead to professionalism, as had happened in other sports like Association Football.

There appears to be very little, if any, details of how this came about, or any details of any of the instigators or of any campaign, but the County Cups became the last part of what would become known as the four cups.

The competitions were played on the same basis as was the Challenge Cup, i.e. a free draw with matches played on a sudden death straight knock-out basis, and with the final played (usually) on a neutral ground.

Competition and results ^[1]

Round 1

Involved 6 matches (with two byes) and 14 Clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref

1	Sat 14 October 1905	Barrow	11-0	Chadderton	Canendish Park		1
2	Sat 14 October 1905	Leigh	8-0	Runcorn	Frog Hall Field, Mather Lane
3	Sat 14 October 1905	Morecambe	0-5	Widnes	Moss Lane			^[2]
4	Sat 14 October 1905	Rochdale Hornets	0-10	Warrington	Athletic Grounds			^[3]
5	Sat 14 October 1905	Salford	3-0	Swinton	The Willows
6	Sat 14 October 1905	Wigan	18-0	St Helens	Central Park	8,000		^[4]^[5]
7		Broughton Rangers		bye
8		Oldham		bye

Round 2 – Quarter-finals

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Ref

1	Sat 28 October 1905	Salford	0-10	Oldham	The Willows
2	Sat 28 October 1905	Warrington	2-5	Leigh	Wilderspool	^[3]
3	Sat 28 October 1905	Widnes	9-0	Barrow	Lowerhouse Lane	^[2]
4	Sat 28 October 1905	Wigan	4-3	Broughton Rangers	Central Park	^[4]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Ref

1	Sat 18 November 1905	Oldham	7-11	Wigan	Watersheddings	^[4]
2	Wed 22 November 1905	Leigh	6-2	Widnes	Frog Hall Field, Mather Lane	^[2]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref

	Saturday 2 December 1905	Leigh	0-0	Wigan	Wheater's Field	16000	£400-0-0	2	^[4]^[6]
Replay	Monday 11 December 1905	Wigan	8-0	Leigh	Wheater's Field	10000	£200-0-0	2	^[4]^[6]

Teams and Scorers

Wigan^[4]	№	Leigh

	teams
Reuben Collier	1 Prop	team unknown
Frank Watkins	2 Hooker
Anthony Little	3 Prop
Jack Barton	4 Lock
Thomas Whittaker	5 Lock
Richard Tyrer	6 Flanker
Hilton	7 Flanker
Sam Moores	8 Number 8
Johnny Thomas	9 Scrum Half
William "Billy" Anderson	10 Fly Half
Harry Lowe	11 Winger
Naddy Jones	12 Centre
Bert Jenkins	13 Centre
Jim Leytham	14 Winger
Jack Mason	15 Full Back

0	score	0
0	HT	0

	Referee

	Replay

	teams
Reuben Collier	1 Prop	team unknown
Frank Watkins	2 Hooker
Peter Vickers	3 Prop
Jack Barton	4 Lock
Tom Whittaker	5 Lock
Richard Tyrer	6 Flanker
Jack Hilton	7 Flanker
Sam Moores	8 Number 8
Johnny Thomas	9 Scrum Half
Billy Anderson	10 Fly Half
Harry Lowe	11 Winger
Naddy Jones	12 Centre
Bert Jenkins	13 Centre
Jim Leytham	14 Winger
Jack Mason	15 Full Back

8	score	0
3	HT	0

	Scorers
	Tries
Bert Jenkins	T
Johnny Thomas	T
	Goals
Jim Leytham	G
	Referee

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = two (2) points

The road to success

First Round		Second Round		Semi Finals		Final


Salford	3

Swinton	0
		Salford	0

		Oldham	10
Oldham

bye
				Oldham	7

				Wigan	11
Wigan	18

St Helens	0
		Wigan	4

		Broughton Rangers	3
Broughton Rangers

bye
						Wigan	0 (8)

						Leigh	0 (0)
Rochdale Hornets	0

Warrington	10
		Warrington	2

		Leigh	5
Leigh	8

Runcorn	0
				Leigh	6

				Widnes	2
Morecambe	0

Widnes	5
		Widnes	9

		Barrow	0
Barrow	11

Chadderton	0

Notes and comments

1 * Chadderton was a junior (or amateur) club from Oldham

2 * Wheater's Field was the home ground of Broughton Rangers with a capacity of 20,000

References

↑ "Rugby League Project - Lancashire Cup".
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1905–1906".
↑ 3.0 3.1 "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1905".
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
↑ "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1905–06".
↑ 6.0 6.1 Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

Rugby league County Cup competitions

Lancashire Cup (1905–1992)	1905–1906 1906–1907 1907–1908 1908–1909 1909–1910 1910–1911 1911–1912 1912–1913 1913–1914 1914–1915 1915–1918: Competition not held 1918–1919 1919–1920 1920–1921 1921–1922 1922–1923 1923–1924 1924–1925 1925–1926 1926–1927 1927–1928 1928–1929 1929–1930 1930–1931 1931–1932 1932–1933 1933–1934 1934–1935 1935–1936 1936–1937 1937–1938 1938–1939 1939–1940 1940–1944: Competition not held 1945–1946 1946–1947 1947–1948 1948–1949 1949–1950 1950–1951 1951–1952 1952–1953 1953–1954 1954–1955 1955–1956 1956–1957 1957–1958 1958–1959 1959–1960 1960–1961 1961–1962 1962–1963 1963–1964 1964–1965 1965–1966 1966–1967 1967–1968 1968–1969 1969–1970 1970–1971 1971–1972 1972–1973 1973–1974 1974–1975 1975–1976 1976–1977 1977–1978 1978–1979 1979–1980 1980–1981 1981–1982 1982–1983 1983–1984 1984–1985 1985–1986 1986–1987 1987–1988 1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1993

Yorkshire Cup (1905–1992)	1905–1906 1906–1907 1907–1908 1908–1909 1909–1910 1910–1911 1911–1912 1912–1913 1913–1914 1914–1915 1915–1918: Competition not held 1918–1919 1919–1920 1920–1921 1921–1922 1922–1923 1923–1924 1924–1925 1925–1926 1926–1927 1927–1928 1928–1929 1929–1930 1930–1931 1931–1932 1932–1933 1933–1934 1934–1935 1935–1936 1936–1937 1937–1938 1938–1939 1939–1940 1940–1941 1941–1942 1942–1943 1943–1944 1944–1945 1945–1946 1946–1947 1947–1948 1948–1949 1949–1950 1950–1951 1951–1952 1952–1953 1953–1954 1954–1955 1955–1956 1956–1957 1957–1958 1958–1959 1959–1960 1960–1961 1961–1962 1962–1963 1963–1964 1964–1965 1965–1966 1966–1967 1967–1968 1968–1969 1969–1970 1970–1971 1971–1972 1972–1973 1973–1974 1974–1975 1975–1976 1976–1977 1977–1978 1978–1979 1979–1980 1980–1981 1981–1982 1982–1983 1983–1984 1984–1985 1985–1986 1986–1987 1987–1988 1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1993