1970–71 Challenge Cup

1970–71 Challenge Cup
Highest attendance	85,514
Broadcast partners	BBC
Winners	Leigh
Runners-up	Leeds
Lance Todd Trophy	Alex Murphy
	← 1969–70; 1971–72 →;

The 1970–71 Challenge Cup was the 70th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup.

The final was contested by Leeds and Leigh at Wembley.

First round

Date	Team one	Team two	Score
23 Jan	Barrow	Widnes	11-15
23 Jan	Batley	Wigan	4-13
23 Jan	Blackpool	Huddersfield	7-8
23 Jan	Leeds	Oldham	49-2
23 Jan	Swinton	Huyton	13-2
23 Jan	Thames Board Mills	Hunslet	5-49
23 Jan	Warrington	Rochdale Hornets	13-7
23 Jan	Whitehaven	Castleford	0-15
23 Jan	Workington Town	St Helens	6-8
24 Jan	Hull BOCM	Dewsbury	3-25
24 Jan	Bramley	Doncaster	6-5
24 Jan	Halifax	Featherstone Rovers	13-18
24 Jan	Keighley	Hull Kingston Rovers	9-9
24 Jan	Leigh	Bradford Northern	9-2
24 Jan	Salford	Wakefield Trinity	6-6
24 Jan	York	Hull FC	0-2
27 Jan -replay	Hull Kingston Rovers	Keighley	11-18
27 Jan - replay	Wakefield Trinity	Salford	8-15

Second round

Date	Team one	Team two	Score
19 Feb	Castleford	Keighley	9-6
20 Feb	Leeds	St Helens	4-0
21 Feb	Dewsbury	Bramley	13-17
21 Feb	Featherstone Rovers	Hull FC	7-7
21 Feb	Hunslet	Huddersfield	0-16
21 Feb	Salford	Warrington	20-9
21 Feb	Swinton	Wigan	8-2
21 Feb	Widnes	Leigh	11-14
24 Feb -replay	Hull FC	Featherstone Rovers	12-8

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Team two	Score
06 Mar	Bramley	Leeds	0-14
06 Mar	Castleford	Salford	9-8
07 Mar	Huddersfield	Swinton	11-8
07 Mar	Leigh	Hull FC	8-4

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Team two	Score
27 Mar	Leeds	Castleford	19-8
03 Apr	Leigh	Huddersfield	10-4

Final

The final was played on Saturday 15 May 1971, where Leigh beat Leeds 24-7 at Wembley in front of a crowd of 85,514.^[1]

The winner of the Lance Todd Trophy was Leigh's captain-coach, Alex Murphy^[2] who was stretchered off after a clash with Leeds player, Syd Hynes. For his part in the "clash", Hynes was sent off,^[3]^[4] and became the first player to be sent-off in a Challenge Cup final after the headbutt on Leigh's Murphy.^[5]^[6]

This was Leigh's second Cup final win in two final appearances. It was their last appearance in a Challenge Cup final until 2023.^[7]

15 May 1971

Leigh	24 – 7	Leeds
Try Dorrington, Eckersley Goals Ferguson (5) DG Fiddler, Murphy (2), Eckersley		Try Wainwright Goals Holmes (2)

Wembley, London
Attendance: 85,514
Referee: Billy Thompson
Player of the Match: Alex Murphy


	1	David Eckersley
	2	Stuart Ferguson
	3	Stan Dorrington
	4	Mick Collins
	5	Joseph Walsh
	6	Tony Barrow
	7	Alex Murphy (c)
	8	Derek Watts
	9	Kevin Ashcroft
	10	Jimmy Fiddler
	11	Paul Grimes
	12	Geoffrey Clarkson
	13	Peter Smethurst
Substitutes:
	14	Les Chisnall
	15	Roy Lester (unused)
Coach:
Alex Murphy


	1	John Holmes
	2	John Langley
	3	Syd Hynes (c)
	4	Ronnie Cowan
	5	John Atkinson
	6	Tony Wainwright
	7	Barry Seabourne
	8	John Burke
	9	Tony Fisher
	10	Ted Barnard
	11	David Hick
	12	Bob Haigh
	13	Bill Ramsey
Substitutes:
	14	Les Dyl
	15	Phil Cookson (unused)
Coach:
Derek Turner

References

^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Alex Murphy". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
^ "Cup Final Sending Off". Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
^ Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
^ Hadfield, Dave (11 May 2012). "Leigh v Leeds: Greatest Cup upset was child's play". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
^ Smith, Peter (5 June 2014). "Leeds Rhinos: Leeds still smarting from controversial 1971 cup final". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
^ "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

External links

Challenge Cup official website Archived 2014-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
Challenge Cup 1970/71 results at Rugby League Project

[1] "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

[2] ws.bbc.co.uk (27 February 2004). "Cup heroes: Alex Murphy". BBC Sport. UK: BBC. Retrieved 2010-02-10.

[3] "Cup Final Sending Off". Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

[4] Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995-1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.

[5] Hadfield, Dave (11 May 2012). "Leigh v Leeds: Greatest Cup upset was child's play". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

[6] Smith, Peter (5 June 2014). "Leeds Rhinos: Leeds still smarting from controversial 1971 cup final". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

[7] "RFL Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

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v t e Challenge Cup
Years	1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025-26
Finals (List)	1968-69 1969–70 · 1970–71 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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