1965–66 Lancashire Cup


1965–66 was the fifty-third occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
Warrington won the trophy by beating Rochdale Hornets by the score of 16-5
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside,. The attendance was 21,360 and receipts were £3,800
It would be almost another 20 years before the attendance would again exceed 20,000

Background

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 and 14 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
1Fri 10 Sep 1965St. Helens7-8SwintonKnowsley Road14,500
2Sat 11 Sep 1965Blackpool Borough9-14Rochdale HornetsBorough Park
3Sat 11 Sep 1965Leigh21-7Liverpool CityHilton Park
4Sat 11 Sep 1965Oldham21-14BarrowWatersheddings
5Sat 11 Sep 1965Salford14-5Workington TownThe Willows
6Sat 11 Sep 1965Widnes9-12WarringtonNaughton Park
7Sat 11 Sep 1965Wigan25-23WhitehavenCentral Park
8blankblank

Round 2 - Quarter Finals

Involved 3 matches and 7 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
-
1Wed 15 Sep 1965Rochdale Hornets4-0SwintonAthletic Grounds
2Wed 15 Sep 1965Salford5-8LeighThe Willows
3Thu '16 Sep 1965Oldham28-13WiganWatersheddings
4Warringtonbye

Round 3 – Semi-Finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs
Game NoFixture DateHome TeamScoreAway TeamVenueAttRecNotesRef
-
1Thu 23 Sep 1965Rochdale Hornets19-0LeighAthletic Grounds
2Wed 06 Oct 1965Warrington21-10OldhamWilderspool

Final

Teams and Scorers

WarringtonRochdale Hornets
teams
Geoff Bootle1R Pritchard
Ray Fisher2Tony Pratt
Joe Pickavance3Graham Starkey
Jackie Melling4J Chamberlain
Brian Glover5G Unsworth
Willie Aspinall6M Garforth
John Smith7J Fishwick
Bill Payne8Peter Birchall
Geoffrey Oakes9Kevin Ashcroft
Charlie Winslade10Stan Owen
Geoff Robinson11Ken Parr
Mal Thomas12Apisai Toga
Bill Hayes13M Baxter
14D Drui -
15-
-
16score5
10HT5
Scorers
Tries
Jackie Melling TGraham Starkey
Brian Glover T
Ray Fisher T
Goals
Geoff Bootle GGraham Starkey
Drop Goals
DG-
RefereeEric Clay

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

The road to success