1981–82 League Cup (rugby league)

This was the eleventh season for the rugby league League Cup, which was once again known as the John Player Trophy for sponsorship reasons.

1981–82 League Cup
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams33
WinnersHull F.C.
Runners-upHull Kingston Rovers

Hull F.C. won the trophy, beating derby rivals Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 12-4 in the final, which was played at Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. The attendance was 25,245 and receipts were £42987.

Background

This season saw two change in the entrants. With the entry of Cardiff City and Carlisle into the league and also this competition, no junior team was invited, and the number of entrants increased to thirty-three
To cater for the odd number, a Preliminary Round consisting of just one single match was introduced.

Competition and Results

[1][2]

Preliminary Round

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Wed 30 Sep 1981Leigh41-4Blackpool BoroughHilton Park4235

Round 1 - First Round

[3] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Fri 16 Oct 1981Workington Town22-9BramleyDerwent Park2299
2Sat 17 Oct 1981Hunslet8-44WidnesElland Road1062[4]
3Sat 17 Oct 1981Warrington24-15FulhamWilderspool2639[5]
4Sun 18 Oct 1981Batley7-16Featherstone RoversMount Pleasant1363
5Sun 18 Oct 1981Carlisle14-7Cardiff CityBrunton Park3224
6Sun 18 Oct 1981Castleford21-7LeighWheldon Road5060
7Sun 18 Oct 1981Dewsbury2-34Hull Kingston RoversCrown Flatt3861
8Sun 18 Oct 1981Halifax7-26Hull F.C.Thrum Hall9871[6]
9Sun 18 Oct 1981Huddersfield19-17HuytonFartown9311[7][8]
10Sun 18 Oct 1981Keighley27-22Wakefield TrinityLawkholme Lane2454[9]
11Sun 18 Oct 1981Leeds19-10WiganHeadingley4976[2]
12Sun 18 Oct 1981Oldham21-7DoncasterWatersheddings1894
13Sun 18 Oct 1981Rochdale Hornets3-19Bradford NorthernAthletic Grounds2235
14Sun 18 Oct 1981St. Helens16-16BarrowKnowsley Road5349[10]
15Sun 18 Oct 1981Swinton32-5YorkStation Road1862
16Sun 18 Oct 1981Whitehaven11-19SalfordRecreation Ground3351

Round 1 - First Round Replays

Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Thu 22 Oct 1981Barrow17-0St. HelensCraven Park5182[10]

Round 2 - Second Round

[3] Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 31 Oct 1981Widnes16-10CarlisleNaughton Park3818[4]
2Sun 1 Nov 1981Barrow8-0Bradford NorthernCraven Park5512
3Sun 1 Nov 1981Castleford5-23Hull F.C.Wheldon Road13464[6]
4Sun 1 Nov 1981Hull Kingston Rovers18-6Featherstone RoversCraven Park (1)10017
5Sun 1 Nov 1981Keighley10-11SalfordOdsal2730
6Sun 1 Nov 1981Leeds13-8WarringtonHeadingley5540[5]
7Sun 1 Nov 1981Oldham13-0HuddersfieldWatersheddings2284[7][8]
8Sun 1 Nov 1981Swinton19-9Workington TownStation Road2433

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

[3] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 14 Nov 1981Barrow12-14Hull F.C.Craven Park90192[6]
2Sun 15 Nov 1981Oldham14-5LeedsWatersheddings3864
3Sun 15 Nov 1981Salford0-6SwintonThe Willows67283
4Sun 15 Nov 1981Widnes8-9Hull Kingston RoversNaughton Park11019[4]

Round 4 – Semi-Finals

[3] Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1Sat 28 Nov 1981Hull F.C.22-6OldhamHeadingley11080[6]
2Sat 12 Dec 1981Hull Kingston Rovers23-14SwintonHeadingley8193

Final
Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 23 January 1982Hull F.C.12-4Hull Kingston RoversHeadingley2524542987[6][11][12]

Teams and Scorers

[12][13]

Hull № Hull Kingston Rovers
teams
Barry Banks1George Fairbairn
Dane O'Hara2Steve Hubbard
Mick Harrison3Mike Smith
James Leuluai4Phil Hogan
Paul Prendiville5Peter Muscroft
Terry Day6Steve Hartley
Tony Dean7Paul Harkin
Trevor Skerrett8Roy Holdstock
Ron Wileman9David Watkinson
Richard 'Charlie' Stone10Steve Crooks
Mick Crane11Phil Lowe
Lee Crooks12Len Casey
Steve 'Knocker' Norton13Dave Hall
Kevin Harkin (for Tony Dean)14Christopher Burton (for Paul Harkin)
? Not used15John Millington (for Roy Holdstock)
Arthur BuntingCoach
12score4
?HT?
Scorers
Tries
Ron Wileman (1)T
Goals
Lee Crooks (4)GGeorge Fairbairn (2)
Drop Goals
Tony Dean (1)DG
RefereeG. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)
Man of the matchTrevor Skerrett - Hull - Prop
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?
Loser in Prelim Round?1?
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 16 (17)
Barrow 16 (0)
Barrow 8
Bradford Northern 0
Rochdale Hornets 3
Bradford Northern 19
Barrow 12
Hull F.C. 14
Castleford 21
Leigh 7
Castleford 5
Hull F.C. 23
Halifax 7
Hull F.C. 26
Hull F.C. 22
Oldham 6
Oldham 21
Doncaster 7
Oldham 13
Huddersfield 0
Huddersfield 19
Huyton 17
Oldham 14
Leeds 5
Leeds 19
Wigan 10
Leeds 13
Warrington 8
Warrington 24
Fulham 15
Hull F.C. 12
Hull Kingston Rovers 4
Hunslet 8
Widnes 44
Widnes 16
Carlisle 10
Carlisle 14
Cardiff City 7
Widnes 8
Hull Kingston Rovers 9
Dewsbury 2
Hull Kingston Rovers 34
Hull Kingston Rovers 18
Featherstone Rovers 6
Batley 7
Featherstone Rovers 16
Hull Kingston Rovers 23
Swinton 14
Keighley 27
Wakefield Trinity 22
Keighley 10
Salford 11
Whitehaven 1
Salford 19
Salford 0
Swinton 6
Swinton 32
York 5
Swinton 19
Workington Town 9
Workington Town 22
Bramley 9

Notes and comments

1 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the attendance as 957, but the Huddersfield Yearbook 1981[8] gives the attendance for this match as 931
2 * Wigan official archives[3] give the score as 12-10 (obviously incorrect as Hull proceeded to the Semi-finals) but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives it as 12-14
3 * Wigan official archives[3] give the score as 0-8 but RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives it as 0-6
4 * RUGBYLEAGUEproject[1] gives the attendance as 25,165 but Rothman's Yearbooks 1990-91 [11] and 1991-92[12] give it as 25,245
5 * The attendance was a new record for the final, easily beating last years previous record of 12,820
6 * Headingley, Leeds, is the home ground of Leeds RLFC with a capacity of 21,000. The record attendance was 40,175 for a league match between Leeds and Bradford Northern on 21 May 1947.

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" archived results".
  3. "Wigan "Cherry and White" j Player Round 1 and onwards archived results".
  4. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  5. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  6. "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1981" (PDF).
  8. C & AC (1982). Huddersfield Yearbook 1981 price 60p. Huddersfield C & A C Supporters Club.
  9. "Wakefield until I die".
  10. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  11. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  12. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  13. "Hull RLFC official stats".
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