UK Elite Teams By Season : 1980-81

Joining the first division for this season were Featherstone, Halifax, Oldham and Barrow. They replaced Wigan, Hunslet, York and Blackpool.

The League. Bradford took the title with 41 points, narrowly ahead of Warrington on 39 points. Then came Hull KR, Wakefield and Castleford all on 38, Widnes and Hull FC on 34 and the top eight rounded off with St Helens (31).

Relegated were Halifax, Salford, Workington and Oldham. So two of the four promoted stayed up, occupying the two places above the drop zone.

The Challenge Cup. For the quarter finals, the results were Warrington 13-9 Wakefield, Featherstone 5-21 Widnes, Hull KR 19-8 Salford and Oldham 5-6 St Helens. The semis had Warrington going down to Widnes 9-17 and Hull KR being too good for Saints 22-5.

The final at Wembley attracted the usual very healthy crowd of 92,500 where Widnes prevailed over Hull KR 18-9.

Widnes' took Challenge Cup trophy (Pic: Widnes Vikings)

The League Cup. Picking up the action at the quarter finals stage the scores were Castleford 18-10 Widnes, Hull FC 13-0 Whitehaven, Leigh 13-15 Barrow and Warrington 16-10 Halifax. The semi final match ups had Warrington and Cas' drawing 5-5 but Warrington took the replay 22-10. The other game saw Barrow coming out on top 13-10 over Hull FC.

On to the final at central Park, Wigan where nearly 13,000 attendees gathered. Warrington took the silverware 12-5 at the expense of a gallant Barrow side.

Lancashire Cup: In first the semi final, Oldham went down to Warrington 2-11, while Widnes did likewise with Wigan, this time 10-14. The final at Knowsley Rd, St Helens attracted only 6,300 to witness Warrington take the title 26-10 against Wigan.

Yorkshire Cup: Across the Pennines the last four met with Cas' losing to Hull KR 7-11 but Leeds got past Huddersfield with a 17-13 result. The final at Fartown, Huddersfield had Leeds proving victorious 8-7 over Hull KR. Nearly 10,000 attended.

The Premiership Finals. The top eight assembled and the results were: Wakefield 8-25 Castleford, Bradford 12-14 Saints, Warrington 7-19 Hull FC and Hull KR 14-12 Widnes. Then it was a case of Cas' 11-12 Hull FC and Hull KR 30-17 Saints.

The all Hull affair for the grand final was held at Headingley, Leeds in front of nearly 30,000 fans. Hull KR took the game with a 11-7 victory.

Summary: Applying my points to the season, Warrington collected 64 points due to their League and Lancashire Cup trophies plus strong efforts across the board. Hull KR won the Premiership and I gave them 60 points. A Challenge Cup trophy got Widnes third spot. Bradford won the league but not much else so came 7th. Leeds winning the Yorkshire Cup still only got them 9th due to a poor season otherwise.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	LC	Y/L	Total
	1	Warrington	18	6	12	16	12	64
	2	Hull KR	16	20	16		8	60
	3	Widnes	11	6	20	4	4	45
	4	Castleford	12	12		8	4	36
	5	Hull FC	10	16		8		34
	6	St Helens	9	12	12			33
	7	Bradford	20	6				26
	8	Wakefield	14	6	6			26
	9	Leeds	7				12	19
	10	Barrow	6			12		18
	11	Leigh	8			4		12
	12	Featherstone	5		6			11
	12	Oldham	1		6		4	11
	12	Salford	3		6			9
	15	Wigan					8	8
	16	Halifax	4			4		8
	16	Whitehaven				4		4
	18	Huddersfield					4	4
	18	Workington	2					2
		Total	146	84	84	60	56	430

For the season 1979-80, simply click here.
To see the season 1981-82, just click here.