1938 Lancashire Cup

The Lancashire Cup. A long lost Trophy that should still be played for, but sadly those days seem to have gone, never to return. Wigan are of course the most successful club to have won the trophy, a mere 21 times including the first time it was played for in 1905, and the last in 1992. Here, we will look at the story of the 1938 competition.

With the summer of 1938 in full flow, attention started as always to turn to the forthcoming Rugby League season of 1938/39. As usual, the Lancashire Cup competition was first to set up committee meetings and make arrangements for fixtures whilst the sun was at it's highest in the sky.

Wigan were six time winners of the Lancashire Cup, winning the inaugural competition against Leigh in 1905 at Wheater's Field, Broughton, and also in 1908, 1909, 1912, 1922 and 1928. Wigan were looking to add a seventh title. Wigan could have had way more titles in their cabinet. Eight-time runners up, to this point, was the grim statistic that all Wiganers wanted to change. Wigan had lost to Salford three years on the trot between 1934-6 and were desperate to gain their first triumph in a decade.

The First Round was drawn in mid-June, 1938, with ties to be played on September 10th:

St. Helens v. Liverpool Stanley

Rochdale Hornets v. Widnes

St. Helens Recreation v. Barrow

Leigh v. Warrington

Wigan v. Swinton

Broughton Rangers v. Salford

Oldham, a bye.

Wigan were in a bit of a dark patch. Having won the Championship in 1934, they hadn't won much else since. As stated, losing three times to Salford in successive years didn't help their cause. A big drop in gate receipts meant Wigan lost £1,314 for the year and were in need of changing their fortunes around. The solution, the Wigan Club thought, was Harry Sunderland.

It had been discussed for a while that Harry Sunderland should take up a position at Wigan and help run the club in an enterprising fashion. A salary of £400 a year, ten percent on gross profits, and a win or draw bonus, was cabled to Harry in Australia during the summer. Signings in the form of Percy Moxey, Jack Bowen and Gwyn Williams also added some freshness into the Wigan pack before the start of the season.

Luckily for Wigan, Harry Sunderland accepted terms and started to make arrangements to come to England and set up shop by October.

As Wigan trained in the sun, the League was fast approaching. A week before the start of the season on August 27th, Wigan and Warrington played a pre-season friendly. A Cup was played for, for the first time: The "Warrington - Wigan Challenge Cup", later to be known as the Locker Cup as we know it today, was won by Warrington on the toss of a coin. The game finished 17-all.

Jim Sullivan had by now asked the Wigan club to choose a new captain. He had had enough, and wanted to give the duties to someone else for a change. There were rumours that he had a falling out with the Wigan directors and he didn't lead the team out against Warrington. However, when Wakefield Trinity turned up at Central Park in the first game of the season, Jim was back to his normal duties.

Wigan started the League campaign with two wins and a loss, against Leeds, before the first round of the Lancashire Cup against Swinton on September 10th. Harry Sunderland was about to board a ship and come across to England, via New Zealand, Fiji, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Chicago, Niagara Falls before reaching New York, sailing on the Queen Mary. £400 a year, you can have your own world tour in between jobs! He was due to arrive in Wigan at the end of October, just after the scheduled Lancashire Cup final.

Swinton had won the Cup twice previous: in 1927 (against Wigan at Watersheddings), and in 1925 (against Wigan, at The Cliff, Broughton). The Lions had started their season similar to Wigan, having played twice, winning one and losing the other. The game was thought to be an attractive one from a spectator's view point. Swinton would be without their fullback Barnes, who sustained a broken hand in their match against Hull, else they were at full strength.

The two teams had met on ten previous occasions, with Wigan winning seven, Swinton thrice. The two teams met at the same stage the previous year, where a 9-9 draw at Station Road meant a first round replay, in which Wigan won comfortably 24-5. The Colliermen were hoping for a more straightforward path to Round Two this time around.

12,000 souls troubled the turnstile operators with the visit of Swinton to Central Park in Round One. The receipts of £595 were most welcome to the directors. Also welcome was the match itself.

With Jim Sullivan winning the toss, he chose to face the sun and have the advantage of the wind behind him. Swinton had the better of the opening exchanges, with their attacks being well organised. Wigan did well to hold on initially. No tries were scored in the first half, only two goals each.

Wigan took the lead in the second half after, Jenkins scored for Wigan after tricking the Swintonian defence to dart through and ground the ball. The surpirse of the match fell to George Banks. The Yorkshire heavyweight raced away as if his life depended on it from near half-way. He never showed any sign of trying to pass the ball, his only target was the try line. With adrenaline surging through his big bones, Banks raced away in fine style, his legs not turning to jelly in the process to score.

Wigan's defence was sound all through the match, with Swinton failing to trouble the score board operator in the tries scored column for the rest of the match. A much needed 12-8 victory propelled Wigan into Round Two.

The draw for the second round of the Lancashire Cup was made the Monday after:

Warrington v. Widnes

St. Helens Recreation v. Liverpool Stanley

Oldham v. Wigan

Salford a bye.

The Second Round was scheduled to be played on Wednesday 21st September. Mr. R.F. Anderton, the Warrington secretary, stated that their match against Widnes would have been played on the Thursday except that it would have clashed with the Peter Kane v. Jurich fight at Liverpool. That would have knocked a lot off their gates.

A 5-45 p.m. kick off awaited Wigan and Oldham at Watersheddings. After being four points behind to Oldham, Wigan gave a much improved performance and gained a clear-cut victory. A loss to Castleford in the League a week previous, and an unconvincing win against Rochdale Hornets paved the way for doom and gloom in the town. Jim Sullivan played his fiftieth consecutive Lancashire Cup tie too!

Jack Morley was starved of action, yet the only time he received a pass during the game, he scored a try. Milestone Jim gave a fine performance at fullback. His defence was superb and his touch finding, especially from long kicks from penalties, was uncanny in its accuracy. Around 6,000 souls turned up to see Wigan advance to the semi finals. It was a tough start however, Wigan going in at half time 0-4. It was only a pep talk by Jim in the changing rooms that Wigan came out a different team. 

The game was marred with errors due to the new play the ball rule. This was a new rule introduced into rugby league and most of the players were still getting to grips with it! It would never take off would it. But Wigan came out 13-4 winners.

A shocking 36-8 loss away at Warrington did nothing to lighten the spirits of Wiganers. The Semi Finals of the Lancashire Cup looked like this:

Wigan v. Liverpool Stanley

Warrington v. Salford

Wigan and Liverpool Stanley had met before in the competition, in 1934, at the semi final stage. In a stirring game, Wigan ended up winning 13-10, mainly thanks to five goals from Jim Sullivan. With much drama so far during the season, and September not being over with, Stanley were in the mood for a Cup upset.

The Wednesday evening fixture saw 7,000 souls at Central Park. They witnessed one of the most dramatic finishes seen in a cup tie at Central Park for many years as Wigan needed a last minute try to defeat Liverpool. Stanley had made a wonderful recovery after being six points behind and took the lead eight minutes from time. When the game seemed to have been lost, Holder scored in dramatic fashion and won the match.

Local sportsman Peter Kane, of Golborne, the champion fly-weight boxer of the world, kicked off.

After an opening bout of kicking, Wigan managed to secure possession in the Stanley "25" when they had their first real opportunity to score points. A penalty was awarded but Sullivan missed his mark. Play was extremely poor for some time, neither side developing open play. This prompted Jim Sullivan to take a long distance shot at goal from another penalty but missed again.

The first nice bit of play worthy of note saw the ball pass through the hands of Hector Gee, Jack Garvey, Ted Ward and Joe Jones in a nice sweeping move. Jones found his man Eddie Holder and the New Zealander lost no time in racing into the corner. He was certain to score had it not been for the exploits of Stanley's wingman Maloney who raced across to cover just in time. The crowd were warmed up a little bit from this play and Wigan got their reward after twenty two minutes when they took the lead. Sullivan finally kicked a penalty goal after a Stanley knock-on. Wigan could have extended their lead shortly afterward but a forward pass from Hector Gee to Trevor Thomas meant play was pulled back.

Wigan continued to do all the attacking and finally new boy Jack Bowen got over. Alas, it was not meant to be as another forward pass in the build up was announced by the referee. With half time approaching, Sullivan kicked his second and third penalties of the match to give Wigan a 6-0 lead at the interval.

It didn't take long before Liverpool got onto the scoresheet. Two minutes had elapsed after the restart when their kicker Nolan slotted over his own penalty. With another Sullivan penalty, Stanley upped their game. A reverse pass from their half back Salmon to loose forward Grundy had the Wigan defence beaten. Grundy then kicked to the Wigan line and a foot race ensued. Woodcock won it, and scored Liverpool and the game's first try. Stanley were now a point behind when they attacked again with the match edging towards it's conclusion. The referee over ruled a linesman decision of a good tackle, and awarded Liverpool Stabley a penalty. Nolan was within distance of goal but it was a difficult one to hit. The ball seemed to be missing until the last moment when it slotted over the cross bar. With eight minutes remaining, they led Wigan 9-8.

Stanley were now the better team and their lead told amongst their players. They were jubilant as the clocked ticked towards the eightieth minute. Half-back Salmon had a drop at goal but it sailed just under the crossbar. With a minute left for play, Wigan snatched it. There had been a passing movement towards the Wigan left and the ball came loose near touch. Holder, quick to see an opening, rushed through, took the ball in a dribble and picked up to score a try. There had been some doubt in many of the spectators' eyes nearby whether or not Holder knocked on, but the referee didn't see anything untoward. Sullivan kicked the goal to make wigan 13-9 winners and send them through to yet another Lancashire Cup final.

In the other semi final, Salford overcame a spirited Warrington. Given Wigan's advancement, the venue for the Final was still to be decided. The Leigh and Swinton clubs had applied to host the game whereas Warrington were not much encouraged by the idea as hosting the match would be financially poor for them, as they were due to face Leeds at Headingley on October 22nd. Leigh were under financial strain (what's new?) mainly due to most of their early season matches being hosted in Yorkshire. Home gates were still to come for the Leythers and an attractive match between Salford and Wigan, again, would be much needed for the Mather Lane club.

Despite a change in fortunes for the Wigan club on the field, their form was still regarded to be 'poor'. A 27-17 victory over Batley, 19-0 versus Leigh and a 25-13 win against Halifax on October 15th didn't raise spirits amongst Wiganers. Some people were suggesting that Hector Gee, the Australian half back, was to blame. He rarely got the ball away quickly. Garvey or Emlyn Jenkins, Gee's half back partner, lacked pace. The forwards were being shouted at for not getting the ball heeled out quickly enough. Jim Sullivan even got a few people upset by missing goals that "he should have scored". Wiganers are never happy. The centres too have been blamed along with the new play-the-ball rule with which Wigan, by all accounts, were struggling to get to grips with. Despite the win against Batley, Wigan were expected to play an 'exhibition' match against the Yorkshire strugglers, but failed to do so.

What Wigan needed was a bit of excitement to get people back through the turn stiles. A Lancashire Cup Final against Salford and Harry Sunderland's impending arrival would see to that.

As it turned out, Station Road at Swinton was chosen to host the Lancashire Cup Final between Wigan and Salford. Wigan's fifteenth final would not see half back Emlyn Jenkins participate. After signing from Salford in March, he had decided to retire from Rugby and become a manager of a large cinema in Manchester. Was the doom and gloom about his performances a factor?

As for Mr Sunderland, he had by now found his way across America. In Chicago, he wrote that he had a most enjoyable trip across from California through the Rockies, and was staying in Chicago to see the Bears face the Cardinals. He expressed the fact that some of the players got £100 per game! Here was this globetrotting Australian on a mere £400 a year. Before boarding the Queen Mary ship, he had time to send a cable to Jack Worth, the Daily Express rugby league critic:

CONVEY TO WIGAN CONGRATULATIONS REACHING LANCASHIRE FINAL

BEST WISHES SATURDAY

SUCCESS ONWARD WIGAN EVER ONWARD

REGARDS HARRY SUNDERLAND

Gus Risman agains tood in Wigan's way of Glory. The current Challenge Cup holders were marked down as firm favourites to beat Wigan in Swinton.