1980–81 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the tenth season for rugby league's League Cup competition. It was again known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship purposes.

1980–81 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams32
WinnersWarrington
Runners-upBarrow

Warrington won the final, beating Barrow by the score of 12-5 at Central Park, Wigan in front of a crowd of 12,802. The gate receipts were £21020.

Background

This season saw only one change in the entrants, with the admittance of Fulham to the league and to this competition, resulted in only one junior club being invited, the total number remaining at thirty-two.

Competition and Results

[1]

Round 1 - First Round

[2] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 22 Nov 1980Hull F.C.12-0Bradford NorthernBoulevard10854[3]
2Sat 22 Nov 1980Hunslet15-5Workington TownMount Pleasant700
3Sun 23 Nov 1980Batley4-20HuddersfieldMount Pleasant1781[4]
4Sun 23 Nov 1980Blackpool Borough21-7HuytonBorough Park450
5Sun 23 Nov 1980Bramley10-11HalifaxMcLaren Field2338
6Sun 23 Nov 1980Castleford30-17St Helens RecsWheldon Road28231
7Sun 23 Nov 1980Dewsbury12-37Featherstone RoversCrown Flatt2700
8Sun 23 Nov 1980Doncaster10-18WhitehavenBentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield432
9Sun 23 Nov 1980Fulham9-3LeedsCraven Cottage12583
10Sun 23 Nov 1980Keighley16-34Hull Kingston RoversLawkholme Lane38952
11Sun 23 Nov 1980Leigh38-5Rochdale HornetsHilton Park3167
12Sun 23 Nov 1980St. Helens12-14WarringtonKnowsley Road7946[5][6]
13Sun 23 Nov 1980Salford17-9WiganThe Willows3715[7]
14Sun 23 Nov 1980Swinton10-12BarrowStation Road2470
15Sun 23 Nov 1980Widnes20-17Wakefield TrinityNaughton Park5956[8][9]
16Sun 23 Nov 1980York11-9OldhamClarence Street5154

Round 2 - Second Round

[2] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 6 Dec 1980Warrington11-7Hull Kingston RoversWilderspool4325[5]
2Sun 7 Dec 1980Barrow26-13HunsletCraven Park4185
3Sun 7 Dec 1980Blackpool Borough5-11HalifaxBorough Park1724
4Sun 7 Dec 1980Hull F.C.11-10YorkBoulevard11129[3]
5Sun 7 Dec 1980Leigh17-9FulhamHilton Park7606
6Sun 7 Dec 1980Salford8-15CastlefordThe Willows3452
7Sun 7 Dec 1980Whitehaven22-3Featherstone RoversRecreation Ground3922
8Tue 9 Dec 1980Widnes25-9HuddersfieldNaughton Park3571[4][9]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[2] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 13 Dec 1980Castleford18-10WidnesWheldon Road35713[9]
2Sun 14 Dec 1980Hull F.C.13-0WhitehavenBoulevard11228[3]
3Sun 14 Dec 1980Leigh13-15BarrowHilton Park55214
4Sun 14 Dec 1980Warrington16-10HalifaxWilderspool5532[5]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[2] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 20 Dec 1980Warrington5-5CastlefordCentral Park3877[5]
2Sat 10 Jan 1981Barrow13-10Hull F.C.Headingley11202[3]

Round 3 – Semi-Finals - Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sun 28 Dec 1980Warrington22-10CastlefordHeadingley9279[5]

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 24 January 1981Warrington12-5BarrowCentral Park12802210205, 6, 7[5][10][11]

Teams and Scorers

[10][11]

Warrington № Barrow
teams
Steve Hesford1Dave Elliott
Rick Thackray2Ralph McConnell
Ronnie Duane3Nigel French
John Bevan4Ian Ball
Michael "Mike"/"Mick" Kelly5Tony Wainwright
Ken Kelly6Mel Mason
Alan Gwilliam7David Cairns
Neil Courtney8David Chisnall
Anthony Waller "Tony" Waller9Howard Allen
Brian Case10Malcolm Flynn
Tommy Martyn11Kevin James
Ian Potter12Steve Kirkby
Edwin "Eddie" Hunter13Derek Hadley
? not used14? not used
Bob Eccles (for Edwin Hunter)15Eddie Szymala (for Howard Allen)
CoachFrank Foster
12score5
11HT0
Scorers
Tries
John Bevan (2)TMel Mason (1)
Goals
Steve Hesford (2)GIan Ball (1)
Drop Goals
Steve Hesford (2)DG
RefereeWilliam "Billy" H. Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the matchTommy Martyn - Warrington - Second-row
Competition SponsorJohn Player

Scoring - Try = three (3) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

Prize Money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows :-

Finish Position Cash Prize No. receiving prize Total Cash
Winner?1?
Runner-up?1?
semi-finalist?2?
loser in Rd 3?4?
loser in Rd 2?8?
Loser in Rd 1?16?
Grand Total

Note - the author is unable to trace the award amounts for this season. Can anyone help ?

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First Round Second Round Third Round Semi Finals Final
               
St. Helens 12
Warrington 14
Warrington 11
Hull Kingston Rovers 7
Keighley 16
Hull Kingston Rovers 34
Warrington 16
Halifax 10
Blackpool Borough 21
Huyton 7
Blackpool Borough 5
Halifax 11
Bramley 10
Halifax 11
Warrington 5 (22)
Castleford 5 (10)
Salford 17
Wigan 9
Salford 8
Castleford 15
Castleford 30
St Helens Recs 17
Castleford 18
Widnes 10
Widnes 20
Wakefield Trinity 17
Widnes 25
Huddersfield 9
Batley 4
Huddersfield 20
Warrington 12
Barrow 5
Leigh 38
Rochdale Hornets 5
Leigh 17
Fulham 9
Fulham 9
Leeds 3
Leigh 13
Barrow 15
Swinton 10
Barrow 12
Barrow 26
Hunslet 13
Hunslet 15
Workington Town 5
Barrow 13
Hull F.C. 10
Hull F.C. 12
Bradford Northern 0
Hull F.C. 11
York 10
York 11
Oldham 9
Hull F.C. 13
Whitehaven 0
Doncaster 10
Whitehaven 18
Whitehaven 22
Featherstone Rovers 3
Dewsbury 12
Featherstone Rovers 37

Notes and comments

1 * Pilkington Recs are a Junior (amateur) club from St Helens, home ground was City Road until they moved to Ruskin Drive from 2011-12
2 * Wigan official archives[2] gives the score as 15-34 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives it as 16-34
3 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the attendance as 3,571, the same as the previously listed match (which was Widnes v Huddersfield in round 2), but the Widnes official website[9] omits to give the attendance for this match, one of only a few matches for that season without an attendance noted
4 * Wigan official archives[2] give the score as 13-10 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives it as 13-15. As Barrow progressed into the semi-final, the score given in the Wigan archives was obviously in error
5 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the attendance as 12,820 but Rothman's Yearbooks 1990-91[10] and 1992-93[11] give it as 12,802
6 * The attendance was a record for the final of this tournament (but would be broken next season)
7 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

General information for those unfamiliar

The council of the Rugby Football League voted to introduce a new competition, to be similar to The Football Association and Scottish Football Association's "League Cup". It was to be a similar knock-out structure to, and to be secondary to, the Challenge Cup. As this was being formulated, sports sponsorship was becoming more prevalent and as a result John Player and Sons, a division of Imperial Tobacco Company, became sponsors, and the competition never became widely known as the "League Cup"
The competition ran from 1971-72 until 1995-96 and was initially intended for the professional clubs plus the two amateur BARLA National Cup finalists. In later seasons the entries were expanded to take in other amateur and French teams. The competition was dropped due to "fixture congestion" when Rugby League became a summer sport The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final usually taking place in late January
The competition was variably known, by its sponsorship name, as the Player's No.6 Trophy (1971–1977), the John Player Trophy (1977–1983), the John Player Special Trophy (1983–1989), and the Regal Trophy in 1989.

See also

References
  1. "Rugby League Project".
  2. "Wigan "Cherry and White" J Player Round 1 onwards archived results".
  3. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  4. "Huddersfield Rugby League Heritage" (PDF).
  5. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  6. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  7. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
  8. "Wakefield until I die".
  9. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  10. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  11. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
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