1980–81 Challenge Cup

The 1980–81 Challenge Cup was the 80th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. Known as the Three Fives Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, the final was contested by Widnes and Hull Kingston Rovers at Wembley, with Widnes winning 18–9.

First round Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 Hull Kingston Rovers 18–13 Barrow 8,220 2 Batley 7–15 Keighley 1,714 3 Blackpool Borough 2–11 Oldham 2,837 4 Bramley 5–18 Warrington 3,350 5 Castleford 42–7 Huyton 3,020 6 Dewsbury 15–10 Hunslet 1,777 7 Fulham 5–9 Wakefield Trinity 15,013 8 Halifax 3–2 Wigan 8,360 9 Huddersfield 8–10 St. Helens 3,094 10 Hull 14–5 Leeds 15,119 11 Leigh 20–6 Whitehaven 5,139 12 Pilkington Recs 7–18 York 13 Salford 17–13 Bradford Northern 5,371 14 Swinton 8–10 Featherstone Rovers 2,987 15 Widnes 50–0 Doncaster 4,563 16 Workington Town 17–8 Rochdale Hornets 2,459

Second round Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 St. Helens 5–3 Hull 8,263 2 Featherstone Rovers 10–7 Keighley 3,126 3 Hull Kingston Rovers 23–7 York 13,764 4 Oldham 18–7 Workington Town 4,350 5 Salford 12–3 Leigh 8,759 6 Wakefield Trinity 18–8 Halifax 9,604 7 Widnes 7–5 Castleford 7,436 8 Dewsbury 10–18 Warrington 5,200

Third round Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 Warrington 13–9 Wakefield Trinity 7,587 2 Featherstone Rovers 5–21 Widnes 7,620 3 Hull Kingston Rovers 19–8 Salford 14,315 4 Oldham 5–6 St. Helens 8,712

Semi final

Final Hull Kingston Rovers returned to Wembley as defending champions, having won the Challenge Cup for the first time in their history in the previous year. Widnes won the match 18–9, with Widnes full-back Mick Burke being awarded the Lance Todd Trophy.

FB 1 Mick BurkeRW 2 Stuart WrightRC 3 Mick GeorgeLC 4 Eddie CunninghamLW 5 Keith BentleySO 6 Eric HughesSH 7 Andy GregoryPR 8 Mike O'NeillHK 9 Keith ElwellPR 10 Brian LockwoodSR 11 Les Gorley SR 12 Eric PrescottLF 13 Mick Adams (c)Substitutions:IC 14 John MylerIC 15 Glyn ShawCoach: Doug Laughton FB 1 David HallRW 2 Steve HubbardRC 3 Mike SmithLC 4 Phil HoganLW 5 Peter MuscroftSO 6 Steve HartleySH 7 Paul HarkinPR 8 Roy HoldstockHK 9 David Watkinson PR 10 Steve CrooksSR 11 Phil LoweSR 12 Chris BurtonLF 13 Len Casey (c)Substitutions:IC 14 Paul ProctorIC 15 John MillingtonCoach: Roger Millward

References

External links Challenge Cup official website Challenge Cup 1980/81 results at Rugby League Project