Sourcing caveat: Referee confirmed 10 Sep 2026 via this final's Wikipedia article (P. Cowell), directly re-fetched by the assistant, closing a gap left open by an earlier pass. Individual Wikipedia biographies confirmed positions for only 4 of the 26 players on the pitch -- Widnes's Shannon, McCue and captain Silcock, and Keighley's Lloyd (who, aged 19, was at the time the youngest player ever to appear in a Wembley final) -- added below as a very partial lineup; the remaining positions for both sides, and Topping's, Barber's and Sherburn's positions specifically, could not be found. No squad numbers are given since a source confirming them for this final was not found. Fourth-attempt update: a second Keighley player, Frederick Talbot, was added at right second-row via his own Wikipedia biography, which independently confirms his appearance and position in this specific final (the same biography separately confirms further appearances in the 1932/33 and 1934/35 finals, added to those entries too), taking Keighley to 2 of 13. No further players for either side could be found.
Scorers
Widnes
Tries: Tommy Shannon (opening 10 minutes); Tommy McCue; Ken Barber (intercept try); Nat Silcock Goals: Peter Topping (3 goals)
Widnes beat Keighley 18-5 at Wembley in front of 47,699 spectators, comfortably seeing off a Keighley side appearing in their first final. Widnes dominated from the start, with Tommy Shannon scoring inside the opening ten minutes (converted by Peter Topping) before Tommy McCue added a second try to make it 8-0 at half-time. Keighley's Joseph Sherburn kicked a second-half penalty to open their account, but Widnes pulled clear again through an intercept try from Ken Barber (converted) and a try from captain Nat Silcock, with Topping adding a late penalty before Keighley's Reg Lloyd grabbed a consolation try in the closing minutes. The Rugby League Challenge Cup is rugby league's oldest and most prestigious knockout competition, first contested in 1896/97 under what was then the Northern Union. Its history has been interrupted only by the two World Wars, with four editions lost between 1915/16 and 1918/19 and one more in 1939/40; the finals played either side of those gaps, and during the Second World War itself, were sometimes contested as regional or two-legged fixtures under wartime emergency arrangements rather than the usual single showpiece match. For much of the competition's early history the final rotated around northern club and representative grounds such as Headingley, Fartown, Central Park and the Athletic Ground, Rochdale, before Wembley Stadium became the final's permanent home from 1928/29 onward (with a short break during Wembley's 2000-2007 reconstruction, when finals were staged at Murrayfield, Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium instead). Since 1946/47, the competition's individual award, the Lance Todd Trophy, has been presented to the final's outstanding player, voted for by a panel of media representatives at the final whistle — on several notable occasions the trophy has gone to a player on the losing side, an unusual honour that reflects the award's focus on individual performance rather than simply reflecting the final scoreline. This was the 37th Challenge Cup final played, and, under the name “Widnes,” the 2nd Challenge Cup title for the club.
Early rounds feature amateur and community clubs alongside professional ones; team names are linked only where this site has a team page for that exact club, matching the same safety-first approach used for the Final's own results table.
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