The 1936–37 Challenge Cup was the 37th tournament of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

's oldest trophy, the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

. 32 clubs entered the competition which was won by

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

who beat

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

18–5 in the final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 8 May 1937. This was Widnes' second win in the competition and, to date, Keighley's only appearance in the final.

First round

The first round draw was made on 13 January 1937. 16 ties were drawn that were played on 13 February 1937.

First round replay

The replay between Castleford and Batley was played on the Wednesday 17 February 1937.

Second round

The draw for the second round was made on 15 February 1937 with the eight ties schedules 27 February. Only six ties were played that day as heavy snow forced the postponement of the game at Bradford and the match between Widnes and Dewsbury was abandoned at half-time with the score 8–0 to Widnes.

Second round replays

The replay between Castleford and Wigan was played on the Wednesday 3 March 1937 and the rescheduled Widnes v Dewsbury game was played on Thursday 4 March.

Third round

The third round draw was made on 1 March, ties were due to be played on 13 March, but the weather played a part again and the match between Huddersfield and Wigan was postponed and played on 17 March.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was delayed until the third round tie between Huddersfield and Wigan had been played and was made on 18 March. The semi-finals were played at neutral venues on Saturday 3 April.

Semi-final replay

Wakefield and Keighley met to replay their tie at Fartown Huddersfield on 7 April.

Final

Widnes and Keighley met in the final at

on 8 May 1937. Widnes went 5–0 up within the first ten minutes as

Tommy Shannon Tommy Shannon (born Thomas Lafitte Smedley; April 18, 1946) is an American bass guitarist, who is best known as a member of Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Shannon moved to Dumas, Texas whe ...

scored a try which

Peter Topping Peter Topping (born 1971) is a British mathematician working in geometric analysis. He obtained his PhD in 1997 at the University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type ...

converted. Just before the half-hour mark, Widnes scored another try as

Tommy McCue Thomas McCue (23 September 1913 – 19 April 1994) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played at representative level for Great Britain (vice-captain 1946 Great Britain Lions tour), England ...

over to give Widnes an 8–0 lead which remained the score at half-time. Immediately after the second half kicked off, Keighley were awarded a penalty which Joseph Sherburn kicked to reduce Widnes' lead to six points. Some Keighley pressure came to nothing and Ken Barber intercepted a pass to score Widnes' third try which Topping converted. Five minutes later Widnes' put the game beyond Keighley's reach as captain

Nat Silcock Nathan Silcock (first ¼ 1904 – fourth ¼ 1967) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England, Rugby League XIII and Lancashire, and at club ...

scored their fourth try. Topping missed the conversion but made amends by kicking a penalty after an hours play. With the score 18–2 with minutes left to play, Keighley scored their only try as

Reg Lloyd Reginald G. Lloyd (second ¼ 1917 – death unknown), also known by the nickname of "Wolla", was a Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Resolven ...

went over making the final score 18–5 to Widnes. The attendance or the game was 47,699 and the gate receipts totalled £6,579.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1936-37 Challenge Cup 1937 in English rugby league Challenge Cup