1980–81 John Player Trophy

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 John Player Trophy
Structure	National knockout championship
Teams	32
Winners	Warrington
Runners-up	Barrow
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

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
1	Sat 22 Nov 1980	Hull F.C.	12-0	Bradford Northern	Boulevard	10854			[3]
2	Sat 22 Nov 1980	Hunslet	15-5	Workington Town	Mount Pleasant	700
3	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Batley	4-20	Huddersfield	Mount Pleasant	1781			[4]
4	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Blackpool Borough	21-7	Huyton	Borough Park	450
5	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Bramley	10-11	Halifax	McLaren Field	2338
6	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Castleford	30-17	St Helens Recs	Wheldon Road	2823		1
7	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Dewsbury	12-37	Featherstone Rovers	Crown Flatt	2700
8	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Doncaster	10-18	Whitehaven	Bentley Road Stadium/Tattersfield	432
9	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Fulham	9-3	Leeds	Craven Cottage	12583
10	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Keighley	16-34	Hull Kingston Rovers	Lawkholme Lane	3895		2
11	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Leigh	38-5	Rochdale Hornets	Hilton Park	3167
12	Sun 23 Nov 1980	St. Helens	12-14	Warrington	Knowsley Road	7946			[5][6]
13	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Salford	17-9	Wigan	The Willows	3715			[7]
14	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Swinton	10-12	Barrow	Station Road	2470
15	Sun 23 Nov 1980	Widnes	20-17	Wakefield Trinity	Naughton Park	5956			[8][9]
16	Sun 23 Nov 1980	York	11-9	Oldham	Clarence Street	5154

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
1	Sat 6 Dec 1980	Warrington		11-7		Hull Kingston Rovers	Wilderspool	4325			[5]
2	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Barrow		26-13		Hunslet	Craven Park	4185
3	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Blackpool Borough		5-11		Halifax	Borough Park	1724
4	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Hull F.C.		11-10		York	Boulevard	11129			[3]
5	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Leigh		17-9		Fulham	Hilton Park	7606
6	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Salford		8-15		Castleford	The Willows	3452
7	Sun 7 Dec 1980	Whitehaven		22-3		Featherstone Rovers	Recreation Ground	3922
8	Tue 9 Dec 1980	Widnes		25-9		Huddersfield	Naughton Park	3571			[4][9]

Round 3 -Quarter Finals

^[2] Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Att	Notes	Ref
1	Sat 13 Dec 1980	Castleford	18–10	Widnes	Wheldon Road	3571	3	[9]
2	Sun 14 Dec 1980	Hull F.C.	13–0	Whitehaven	Boulevard	11228		[3]
3	Sun 14 Dec 1980	Leigh	13–15	Barrow	Hilton Park	5521	4
4	Sun 14 Dec 1980	Warrington	16–10	Halifax	Wilderspool	5532		[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
1	Sat 20 Dec 1980	Warrington	5-5	Castleford	Central Park	3877			[5]
2	Sat 10 Jan 1981	Barrow	13-10	Hull F.C.	Headingley	11202			[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
1	Sun 28 Dec 1980	Warrington	22-10	Castleford	Headingley	9279			[5]

Final

24 January 1981

Warrington	12 – 5	Barrow
Tries: Bevan (2) Goals: Hesford (2) Drop goals: Hesford (2)	[10]	Tries: Mason Goals: Ball

Central Park, Wigan Attendance: 12,820 Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield) Player of the Match: Tommy Martyn

Teams

Warrington	№	Barrow
Steve Hesford	1	Dave Elliott
Rick Thackray	2	Ralph McConnell
Ian Duane	3	Nigel French
John Bevan	4	Ian Ball (c)
Mike Kelly	5	Tony Wainwright
Ken Kelly (c)	6	Mel Mason
Alan Gwilliam	7	David Cairns
Neil Courtney	8	David Chisnall
Tony Waller	9	Howard Allen
Brian Case	10	Malcolm Flynn
Tommy Martyn	11	Kevin James
Ian Potter	12	Steve Kirkby
Eddie Hunter	13	Derek Hadley
? not used	14	? not used
Bob Eccles (for Eddie Hunter)	15	Eddie Szymala (for Howard Allen)
Billy Benyon	Coach	Frank Foster

Prize money

As part of the sponsorship deal and funds, the prize money awarded to the competing teams for this season is as follows:^[11]

Finish Position	Cash Prize	No. receiving prize	Total Cash
Winner	£8,500	1	£8,500
Runner-up	£4,000	1	£4,000
Semi-finalists	£2,000	2	£4,000
Losers in Rd 3	£1,000	4	£4,000
Losers in Rd 2	£800	8	£6,400
Losers in Rd 1	£600	16	£9,600
Grand Total			£36,500

The road to success

This tree excludes any preliminary round fixtures

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semifinals					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 and 1992-93 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

See also

• 1980–81 Rugby Football League season
• 1980 Lancashire Cup
• 1980 Yorkshire Cup
• Player's No.6 Trophy
• Rugby league county cups