1981–82 John Player Trophy

1981–82 John Player Trophy
StructureNational knockout championship
Teams33
WinnersHull F.C.
Runners-upHull Kingston Rovers

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

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.[citation needed]

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
1 Wed 30 Sep 1981 Leigh 41-4 Blackpool Borough Hilton Park 4235

First round

[3] Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs

Game no Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Fri 16 Oct 1981 Workington Town 22-9 Bramley Derwent Park 2299
2 Sat 17 Oct 1981 Hunslet 8-44 Widnes Elland Road 1062 [4]
3 Sat 17 Oct 1981 Warrington 24-15 Fulham Wilderspool 2639 [5]
4 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Batley 7-16 Featherstone Rovers Mount Pleasant 1363
5 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Carlisle 14-7 Cardiff City Brunton Park 3224
6 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Castleford 21-7 Leigh Wheldon Road 5060
7 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Dewsbury 2-34 Hull Kingston Rovers Crown Flatt 3861
8 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Halifax 7-26 Hull F.C. Thrum Hall 9871 [6]
9 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Huddersfield 19-17 Huyton Fartown 931 1 [7][8]
10 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Keighley 27-22 Wakefield Trinity Lawkholme Lane 2454 [9]
11 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Leeds 19-10 Wigan Headingley 4976 [2]
12 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Oldham 21-7 Doncaster Watersheddings 1894
13 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Rochdale Hornets 3-19 Bradford Northern Athletic Grounds 2235
14 Sun 18 Oct 1981 St. Helens 16-16 Barrow Knowsley Road 5349 [10]
15 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Swinton 32-5 York Station Road 1862
16 Sun 18 Oct 1981 Whitehaven 11-19 Salford Recreation Ground 3351

First-round replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game no Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Thu 22 Oct 1981 Barrow 17-0 St. Helens Craven Park 5182 [10]

Second round

[3] Involved 8 matches and 16 clubs

Game no Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 31 Oct 1981 Widnes 16-10 Carlisle Naughton Park 3818 [4]
2 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Barrow 8-0 Bradford Northern Craven Park 5512
3 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Castleford 5-23 Hull F.C. Wheldon Road 13464 [6]
4 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Hull Kingston Rovers 18-6 Featherstone Rovers Craven Park (1) 10017
5 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Keighley 10-11 Salford Odsal 2730
6 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Leeds 13-8 Warrington Headingley 5540 [5]
7 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Oldham 13-0 Huddersfield Watersheddings 2284 [7][8]
8 Sun 1 Nov 1981 Swinton 19-9 Workington Town Station Road 2433

Quarter finals

[3] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game no Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 14 Nov 1981 Barrow 12-14 Hull F.C. Craven Park 9019 2 [6]
2 Sun 15 Nov 1981 Oldham 14-5 Leeds Watersheddings 3864
3 Sun 15 Nov 1981 Salford 0-6 Swinton The Willows 6728 3
4 Sun 15 Nov 1981 Widnes 8-9 Hull Kingston Rovers Naughton Park 11019 [4]

Semi-finals

[3] Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game no Fixture date Home team Score Away team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
1 Sat 28 Nov 1981 Hull F.C. 22-6 Oldham Headingley 11080 [6]
2 Sat 12 Dec 1981 Hull Kingston Rovers 23-14 Swinton Headingley 8193

Final

Game No Fixture Date Home Team Score Away Team Venue Att Rec Notes Ref
Saturday 23 January 1982 Hull F.C. 12-4 Hull Kingston Rovers Headingley 25245 42987 [6][11][12]

Teams and scorers

[12][13]

Hull № Hull Kingston Rovers
teams
Barry Banks 1 George Fairbairn
Dane O'Hara 2 Steve Hubbard
Mick Harrison 3 Mike Smith
James Leuluai 4 Phil Hogan
Paul Prendiville 5 Peter Muscroft
Terry Day[1] 6 Steve Hartley
Tony Dean 7 Paul Harkin
Trevor Skerrett 8 Roy Holdstock
Ron Wileman[2] 9 David Watkinson
Richard 'Charlie' Stone 10 Steve Crooks
Mick Crane 11 Phil Lowe
Lee Crooks 12 Len Casey
Steve 'Knocker' Norton 13 Dave Hall
Kevin Harkin[3] (for Tony Dean) 14 Chris Burton (for Paul Harkin)
? Not used 15 John Millington (for Roy Holdstock)
Arthur Bunting Coach
12 score 4
? HT ?
Scorers
Tries
Ron Wileman (1) T
Goals
Lee Crooks (4) G George Fairbairn (2)
Drop Goals
Tony Dean (1) DG
Referee G. Frederick "Fred" Lindop (Wakefield)
Man of the match Trevor Skerrett - Hull - Prop
Competition Sponsor John Player

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one 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 round 3 ? 4 ?
loser in round 2 ? 8 ?
Loser in round 1 ? 16 ?
Loser in preliminary round ? 1 ?
Grand Total

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

First round Second round Third round Semifinals 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Rugby League Project".
  2. ^ a b "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Wigan "Cherry and White" j Player Round 1 and onwards archived results".
  4. ^ a b c "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
  5. ^ a b "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
  6. ^ a b c d e "HULL&PROUD - Stats - Fixtures & Results".
  7. ^ a b "Fartown Rugby League Yearbook 1981" (PDF).
  8. ^ a b c C & AC (1982). Huddersfield Yearbook 1981 price 60p. Huddersfield C & A C Supporters Club.
  9. ^ "Wakefield until I die".
  10. ^ a b "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
  11. ^ a b Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1990). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-1991. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617851 X.
  12. ^ a b c Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.
  13. ^ "Hull RLFC official stats".