1965–66 Lancashire Cup
# 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, (historically in the county of Lancashire). 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 (with no bye but one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Fri 10 Sep 1965 | St. Helens | 7-8 | Swinton | Knowsley Road | 14,500 |
| 2 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Blackpool Borough | 9-14 | Rochdale Hornets | Borough Park | |
| 3 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Leigh | 21-7 | Liverpool City | Hilton Park | |
| 4 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Oldham | 21-14 | Barrow | Watersheddings | |
| 5 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Salford | 14-5 | Workington Town | The Willows | |
| 6 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Widnes | 9-12 | Warrington | Naughton Park | |
| 7 | Sat 11 Sep 1965 | Wigan | 25-23 | Whitehaven | Central Park | |
| 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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wed 15 Sep 1965 | Rochdale Hornets | 4-0 | Swinton | Athletic Grounds |
| 2 | Wed 15 Sep 1965 | Salford | 5-8 | Leigh | The Willows |
| 3 | Thu '16 Sep 1965 | Oldham | 28-13 | Wigan | Watersheddings |
| 4 | | Warrington | | 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 23 Sep 1965 | Rochdale Hornets | 19-0 | Leigh | Athletic Grounds | | | | |
| 2 | Wed 06 Oct 1965 | Warrington | 21-10 | Oldham | Wilderspool | | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Friday 29 October 1965 | Warrington | 16-5 | Rochdale Hornets | Knowsley Road | 21,360 | £3,800 | 1 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Warrington | № | Rochdale Hornets |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| Geoff Bootle | 1 | Roy Pritchard |
| Ray Fisher | 2 | Tony Pratt |
| Joe Pickavance | 3 | Graham Starkey |
| Jackie Melling | 4 | J Chamberlain |
| Brian Glover | 5 | Gerry Unsworth |
| Willie Aspinall | 6 | M Garforth |
| John Smith | 7 | Johnny Fishwick |
| Bill Payne | 8 | Peter Birchall |
| Geoffrey Oakes | 9 | Kevin Ashcroft |
| Charlie Winslade | 10 | Stan Owen |
| Geoff Robinson | 11 | Ken Parr |
| Mal Thomas | 12 | Apisai Toga |
| Bill Hayes | 13 | Mick Baxter |
| | 14 | Voate Drui (for Parr) |
| | 15 | |
| 16 | score | 5 |
| 10 | HT | 5 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Jackie Melling (2) | T | Graham Starkey |
| Brian Glover (1) | T | |
| Ray Fisher (1) | T | |
| | Goals | |
| Geoff Bootle (2) | G | Graham Starkey (2) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| | DG | |
| Referee | | Eric Clay (Rothwell) |

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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Widnes | Widnes | 9 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Warrington | Warrington | 12 | Warrington | Warrington | | | | | | | | |
| | | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | bye | bye | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | | | | | | | |
| blank | blank | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 21 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 10 | | | | |
| Oldham | Oldham | 21 | | | | | | | Oldham | Oldham | 10 | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Barrow | Barrow | 14 | Oldham | Oldham | 28 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Wigan | Wigan | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Wigan | Wigan | 25 | Wigan | Wigan | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 23 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Whitehaven | Whitehaven | 23 | | | | | | | | Warrington | Warrington | 16 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 5 |
| Blackpool Borough | Blackpool Borough | 9 | | | | | | | | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 5 |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 14 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 14 | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 4 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Swinton | Swinton | 0 | | | | | | | |
| St. Helens | St. Helens | 7 | Swinton | Swinton | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Swinton | Swinton | 8 | | | | Rochdale Hornets | Rochdale Hornets | 19 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 0 | | | | |
| Salford | Salford | 14 | | | | | | | Leigh | Leigh | 0 | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Workington Town | Workington Town | 5 | Salford | Salford | 5 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Leigh | Leigh | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Leigh | Leigh | 21 | Leigh | Leigh | 8 | | | | | | | |
| Liverpool City | Liverpool City | 7 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Knowsley Road was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 to 2010. The final capacity was in the region of 18,000, although the actual record attendance was 35,695, set on 26 December 1949, for a league game between St Helens and Wigan

