Local Life - Wigan - March 2022

18
Barry Fishwick, scoring Orrell’s second try
“Training took place twice a week, and, in addition,
matches were often played on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
“The Lancashire Cup final was my 50th match of the
season, that’s how many games we used to play.”
Bill added, “We all had full time jobs, and then we’d get to
training for 6.30pm and finish at 9.30 at night.”
“All except me, I was a student at the time”, chipped in
Peter Philips, who travelled back from university to play
in the final.
Strange as it may seem today, when some sportsmen and
women earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a week,
the players of this Orrell team played for the pleasure and
the honour.
To emphasise this point, the players shared a story of
one brave member of the team who approached the
Club Chairman, Eric Smith, after the final to ask if the club
would organise a memento of the final for the players,
suggesting something like a commemorative tankard,
and was summarily dismissed by Eric who allegedly said,
‘You might have been one of the 15 who were lucky
enough to be on the pitch, but it was Orrell won the Cup,
not you’.
Club discipline at the time was strict and competition for
places was fierce, stressed Barry, “If you didn’t train, you
were dropped – it didn’t matter who you were or how
long you’d played for Orrell.
“And Orrell had a good second team, so if you were
dropped, those players would step up and you might lose
your place for good.”
Bill highlighted how vital the Lancashire Cup was to
Orrell: “The Lancashire Cup was very important, as the
winners got a place in the following season’s National Cup
(renamed in 1976 to the John Player Cup) and it gave us a
chance to play against the big teams of the time, such as
Coventry or Northampton.”
Peter added, “None of the big clubs wanted to play Orrell,
we were dismissed as a minor team from ‘up North’ but if
we won the Lancashire Cup, they would have to play us.”
The road to the first Lancashire Cup Final was
straightforward. In fact, Orrell didn’t concede a single
point in the Lancashire Cup that year, a great achievement.