1980–81 Rugby Football League season

1980–81 Rugby Football League season

Slalom Lager Championship
Number of teams	16
Champions	Bradford Northern
Premiership winners	Hull Kingston Rovers
Man of Steel	File:Wolvescolours.svg Ken Kelly
Top point-scorer(s)	File:Wolvescolours.svg Steve Hesford 310
Top try-scorer(s)	16x16px Terry Richardson 28
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	File:Yorkcolours.svg York File:Wigancolours.svg Wigan Fulham Whitehaven
Relegated to Second Division	Halifax Salford Workington Town Oldham
Second Division
Champions	File:Yorkcolours.svg York
Top try-scorer(s)	File:Yorkcolours.svg John Crossley 35
< 1979–80 Seasons 1981–82 >

The 1980–81 Rugby Football League season was the 86th season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August 1980 until May 1981 for the Slalom Lager Championship.

Season summary

• Slalom Lager League Champions: Bradford Northern
• Challenge Cup Winners: Widnes (18-9 v Hull Kingston Rovers)
• Slalom Lager Premiership Trophy Winners: Hull Kingston Rovers (11-7 v Hull)
• John Player Special Trophy Winners: Warrington (12-5 v Barrow)
• 2nd Division Champions: York

For the only time in their history, Wigan competed outside the top flight of Rugby League in this season. Fulham RLFC joined the competition in Division Two, later becoming the London Crusaders, London Broncos (twice), and Harlequins Rugby League.

Bradford Northern finished on top of the First Division table to claim their second championship, and Hull Kingston Rovers won the Rugby League Premiership competition.

Warrington beat Wigan 26–10 to win the Lancashire Cup, and Leeds beat Hull Kingston Rovers 8–7 to win the Yorkshire Cup.

League Tables

Championship

Final Standings

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Bradford Northern	30	20	1	9	447	345	+102	41
2	16x16px Warrington	30	19	1	10	459	330	+129	39
3	Hull Kingston Rovers	30	18	2	10	509	408	+101	38
4	16x16px Wakefield Trinity	30	18	2	10	544	454	+90	38
5	16x16px Castleford	30	18	2	10	526	459	+67	38
6	16x16px Widnes	30	16	2	12	428	356	+72	34
7	Hull	30	17	0	13	442	450	-8	34
8	16x16px St. Helens	30	15	1	14	465	370	+95	31
9	Leigh	30	14	1	15	416	414	+2	29
10	16x16px Leeds	30	14	0	16	388	468	-80	28
11	Barrow	30	13	0	17	405	498	-93	26
12	Featherstone Rovers	30	12	0	18	467	446	+21	24
13	Halifax	30	11	0	19	385	450	-65	22
14	Salford	30	10	1	19	473	583	-110	21
15	Workington Town	30	9	3	18	335	457	-122	21
16	Oldham	30	7	2	21	362	563	-201	16

Second Division

	Club	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts
1	York	28	23	0	5	649	331	46
2	Wigan	28	20	3	5	597	293	43
3	Fulham	28	20	0	8	447	237	40
4	Whitehaven	28	19	1	8	409	250	39
5	Huddersfield	28	18	1	9	429	310	37
6	Swinton	28	18	1	9	440	302	36
7	Keighley	28	14	1	13	445	501	29
8	Hunslet	28	13	1	14	447	430	27
9	Bramley	28	13	1	14	433	418	27
10	Rochdale Hornets	28	13	0	15	406	418	26
11	Batley	28	12	0	16	386	432	24
12	Dewsbury	28	11	1	16	346	364	23
13	Doncaster	28	5	0	23	250	562	10
14	Blackpool Borough	28	4	1	23	212	419	9
15	Huyton	28	2	0	26	211	796	4

Champions

Play-offs

Promoted

Relegated

Challenge Cup

1. REDIRECT Template:Main

• This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name. For more information follow the bold category link.

The 1980-81 State Express Challenge Cup was won by Widnes after defeating Hull Kingston Rovers 18-9 in the final.

The Final was played at Wembley before a crowd of 92,496.

Sources

• 1980-81 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com