Editing Warrington Wolves (section)

===Post Second World War, the Bevan era: 1945–1962===
The early post-war years saw a boom in rugby league in general, and the glory years of the Warrington club. An Australian winger named [[Brian Bevan]] made his debut for Warrington in 1945. He would be Warrington's top try scorer in all but one season until his retirement in 1962 with a total of 740 tries in 620 games for Warrington. The Wire won all the code's major honours during his period at the club.

Warrington got off to a bad start to the 1947–8 season but the club signed new forwards [[Harold Palin]], [[Bill Darbyshire]] and [[Bill Riley (Rugby League)|Bill Riley]]. Warrington then went two months without defeat. The club also signed centres [[Albert Pimblett]] and [[Bryn Knowelden]]. With these new signings, Warrington went undefeated in 20 games from December 1947 to April 1948, won the Lancashire League and gained a place in the championship top four play-off. The club's first championship win came that season. Warrington defeated Huddersfield in the league semi-final. The final, against [[Bradford Bulls|Bradford Northern]], was staged at Maine Road and Warrington took the trophy by a margin of 17–5.

Warrington won the 1948–9 Lancashire League after 19 straight wins at the start of the season. The record attendance at Wilderspool was set on 13 March 1948 when 34,304 spectators saw Warrington play Wigan. They reached the 1948–9 Lancashire Cup final but Wigan beat them to take the trophy. In the league Warrington lost only five matches all season. Huddersfield exacted one of Wire's few defeats in the play-off final as Wire missed out on back-to-back championships by just one point, 13–12.

Wire paid a then record fee of £4,600 for [[Ally Naughton]] from Widnes. Naughton would play a major part in a good cup run took the Wire to the 1950 Challenge Cup final. This time they were to play local rivals Widnes. They led 14-nil at half-time, eventually taking the trophy by 19-nil. This was Wire's first Challenge Cup triumph at Wembley.

The 1950–1 season saw Warrington finish the year as Lancashire League winners, Lancashire Cup runners-up and championship runners-up. Warrington lost the Lancashire Cup final to Wigan 28–5 at Swinton in front of a record 42,541 supporters. Warrington paid their third visit in four years to Maine Road to face Workington in the championship final. Despite leading 8–3 at half-time, Wire went down to a 26–11 defeat. In 1951 [[Ces Mountford]] was appointed coach with a ten-year contract<ref>{{cite web|title=Give It To Bev|url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/give-it-to-bev|publisher=Warrington Wolves|access-date=24 February 2012}}</ref> after Chris Brockbank ended 15 years at the helm to take up a hotel business in Blackpool.

The pinnacle of Warrington's achievements was reached in 1953–4. Consistent league form secured the Lancashire League, and saw a second-placed finish in the championship and qualified for the top four play-off. St. Helens came to Wilderspool and were well beaten 11–5. They despatched Leeds in the Challenge Cup to get to their second final of the season, they were to play [[Halifax R.L.F.C.|Halifax]] in both games. The intense Wembley final ended in a draw, two goals a piece. The replay was held at [[Odsal Stadium|Odsal]], [[Bradford]] and a record 102,569 paid to see Warrington defeat Halifax 8–4. Thousands more got in for free and estimates of the total crowd were in the region of 120–130,000. The week after the two teams met again in the championship final at [[Maine Road]]. Warrington secured another victory by four goals to Halifax's two goals and a try. The club had done the league and cup double as well as the Lancashire Cup.

Wire secured the league championship for the second successive season in 1954-5 They beat Halifax in the semi-final on the way to the final against [[Oldham R.L.F.C.|Oldham]] at Maine Road. For the second consecutive season Warrington took the honours, the final score was 7–3. Warrington won the Lancashire League as well to make it ten pieces of silverware in eight years. That championship success was the last to date for Wire.

The 1955–56 season saw a tournament titled the ITV Floodlit Competition. Eight clubs participated in a series of games played at football grounds in the London area, with Warrington eventually running out 43–18 victors over [[Leigh Centurions|Leigh]] at [[Loftus Road]]. Warrington made it to the 1956 championship final held at Maine Road but lost to [[Workington Town]].

Wire's run of success came to a sudden stop in 1956–7. It was a transformation period for Warrington with many big name players top names ending their Wire careers. Ces Mountford used a total of 40 players during the campaign, the highest since World War Two and a figure that was not beaten until 1976–7. Unsurprisingly, Wire finished only tenth in the league. Attendances were down on previous seasons and on 19 January 1957, Warrington launched a lottery, which played an important part in the club's finances in future seasons.

In the 1959–60 season, they won the [[Rugby league county cups|Lancashire Cup]] for the first time in 22 years, playing all their games away from home. St. Helens were the final hurdle but the Wire managed a 5–4 win at Central Park. This ended a period of four seasons without silverware.

In 1961, Warrington reached the championship final held at Odsal, but [[Leeds Rhinos|Leeds]] had total control over the match and ran out 25–10. This also turned out to be the last match for long serving coach Ces Mountford.

[[Ernest Ashcroft|Ernie Ashcroft]] took over as coach for the 1961–62 season. Easter Monday 1962 saw Brian Bevan's last match for Warrington, a 29–17 defeat of Leigh.