in front of a crowd of over 50,000, Saints won their second Championship 24–14. They also won the 1953 Lancashire Cup, beating Wigan 16–8 at Swinton, the first time the two old rivals had clashed in a major final, Saints. Sullivan took Saints to their first victory in the Challenge Cup final (against Halifax in 1956), On Saturday 24 November 1956, St Helens inflicted a touring Australia its biggest ever defeat with a 44–2 win. The following year saw Saints win the 1956-7 Lancashire League 1956–57 and they won it again in 1958–59. Sullivan's second championship came in 1958–59. A second Lancashire County Cup came in 1960–61, Ex—St Helens captain and prop-forward Alan Prescott took over from Jim Sullivan as head coach in 1959. Perhaps the golden era of the club came in the 1960s, as well as more lately in the Super League era. With a galaxy of stars including Tom van Vollenhoven, Alex Murphy, Dick Huddart, Cliff Watson, Ray French and Vince Karalius, the 1960s was a decade of great success for the Saints. In Prescott's first season as coach he lifted the Lancashire League in the 1959–60 season. During this decade, the recognisable 'red vee' strip first appeared in 1961 for the final against Wigan. St Helens won this epic 12–6, and the kit has since become synonymous with the club. Mick Sullivan joined Saints for £11,000, then a record transfer fee. They won the Lancashire Cup in the 1961–62 season, with a 25–9 success over Swinton (at Central Park, Wigan) seeing yet more silverware come St Helens' way under the management of Prescott. After his departure in 1962, Stan McCormick led the club to retaining the Lancashire Cup in his first year, again beating Swinton; and St Helens made it a quadruplet of Lancashire Cup successes with wins against Leigh in 1964, and once more Swinton in 1965, the latter success under coach Joe Coan. St Helens won the Western Division Championship under McCormick's rule, beating Swinton 10–7. St Helens, under coach Joe Coan, lost the 1964–65 Championship final to Halifax at Station Road, Swinton. The 1965 New Zealand tourists appeared at Knowsley Road on Wednesday 15 September. Saints inflicted a 28–7 defeat on their visitors, their biggest loss of the tour. A League and Cup double was achieved under Coan in the 1965–66 season, whilst they lost the Floodlit Trophy final against Castleford. St Helens