The 1980 Challenge Cup Final was the 79th final of the Rugby Football League's Challenge Cup knock-out competition. The match was contested by Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers on 3 May 1980 at Wembley Stadium in London, and was the first ever Hull derby cup final, contended between the two cross-city rival rugby league clubs of Kingston upon Hull.
Background
Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers (originally Kingston Amateurs) were founded as rugby union clubs in 1865 and 1882 respectively on the west and east sides of Kingston upon Hull. Hull F.C. were founding members of the Northern Rugby Football Union and the breakaway code of rugby league in 1895, with Rovers joining two years later in 1897 after controversy over alleged professionalism (which was banned in rugby union) in their Yorkshire Cup win in 1897. The first meeting of both teams was at Rovers' Craven Street Football Ground on 16 September 1899, which ended in a 8–2 victory to Rovers.
Hull F.C. had won their first Challenge Cup at Thrum Hall in Halifax in 1914, appearing as runners-up in 1908, 1909, 1910 (which necessitated a replay), 1922, 1923, 1959 and 1960, the latter two being their first Wembley appearances. Hull Kingston Rovers, meanwhile, had previously been runners-up in Challenge Cup Finals in 1905 and 1925 at Headingley and in 1964 at Wembley.
There had been nine Hull derby Challenge Cup ties ahead of the 1979–80 Challenge Cup, with fixtures played in 1902, 1922, 1939, 1959, 1961, 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1978. The two clubs had also met in the finals of the Yorkshire Cup (1920 and 1967) and the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy (1979).
Route to the final
Hull F.C. Having been promoted from the Second Division a year prior, after a first half in which Cumbrian amateur side Millom opened a shock early 5–0 lead at The Boulevard, Hull F.C. won their home first round fixture 33–10 with a hat-trick of tries from Ron Wileman as well as tries from Graham Evans and Clive Pickerill and five goals from Sammy Lloyd, and were drawn into the second round at home against York. York also initially led Hull F.C. to a shock lead in the first half, however F.C. overcame the York defence and won 18–8 through attacking play by captain Steve Norton and six goals, three of them penalties, by Sammy Lloyd.
Entering the quarter-finals of the competition, Hull F.C. travelled away to Odsal Stadium to play Bradford Northern, a team they had not won against for the past four years. A highly defensive match saw only a penalty scored by Sammy Lloyd 12 minutes into the first half after an illegal tackle on Ron Wileman, followed by a decisive drop goal in the 75th minute by Clive Pickerill, allowing F.C. to win 3–0 and qualify them for the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1961.
Travelling to the neutral venue of Station Road in Pendlebury, a week after Rovers' qualification for the final, F.C. faced 'cup kings' and defending 1979 winners Widnes. Following another defensive game in which F.C. were behind the favourites 0–5 at half-time, an early second-half try by Graham Bray, two penalty kicks by Sammy Lloyd and a match-winning try by Ron Wileman in the last ten minutes saw Hull F.C. overturn the deficit and win 10–5, setting up the first Hull derby Challenge Cup final and returning F.C. to Wembley for the first time since 1960.
RoundOppositionVenueScore Round 1 MillomThe Boulevard33–10 Round 2 YorkThe Boulevard18–8 Quarter-final Bradford NorthernOdsal Stadium3–0 Semi-final WidnesStation Road10–5
Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers opened their Challenge Cup campaign with a dominant 18–13 victory over Wigan away at Central Park, featuring tries by Steve Hartley, Clive Sullivan and Phil Lowe as well as goals kicked by Steve Hubbard, followed by a 28–3 thrashing of Castleford in Round 2 at home at Craven Park. Rovers played at home again for the quarter-final against Warrington, in which following an evenly-matched first half, Rovers won the match 23–11 with the contributions of man of the match Steve Hubbard, scoring two tries and kicking five goals, qualifying Rovers for their second Challenge Cup semi-final in three years.
Rovers travelled to the neutral venue of Headingley Rugby Stadium to face Halifax in the first semi-final of the Challenge Cup. A dominant display by Rovers over Halifax saw the match virtually won by half-time, with tries by Clive Sullivan, Mike Smith and Steve Hartley, two goals by Steve Hubbard and a drop-goal by player-coach and captain Roger Millward ending the match at 20–7 and sending Rovers to Wembley for their first Challenge Cup final since 1964.
RoundOppositionVenueScore Round 1 WiganCentral Park18–13 Round 2 CastlefordCraven Park28–3 Quarter-final WarringtonCraven Park23–11 Semi-final HalifaxHeadingley Rugby Stadium20–7
Pre-match Teams Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers finished the regular season in mid-April placed 3rd and 7th respectively, qualifying them for the Premiership but narrowly avoiding a first round derby fixture, which neither team wanted to play, on points difference. Both teams departed from their home stadiums on coaches for London on 30 April. Hull F.C. stayed at the Royal Chace Hotel in Enfield and trained at the Botany Bay Cricket Club, while Hull Kingston Rovers stayed at the Runneymede Hotel in Egham, establishing a training base within sight of Windsor Castle at the home of rugby union club Windsor R.F.C.
Both squads were largely unchanged from their last First Division fixtures. Hull Kingston Rovers Phil Lowe suffered a dislocated arm from an off-the-ball tackle in a First Division fixture against St Helens two weeks before the final, but was eventually ruled fit to play 48 hours before the final. Hull F.C. Gareth Evans, however, tore a muscle in training and was ruled out of F.C.'s squad.
Both teams were cleared to wear their traditional home kits for the final, with Hull F.C. playing in jerseys with irregular black and white hoops and white shorts and Hull Kingston Rovers playing in white jerseys with a broad red band; F.C.'s previous Challenge Cup final losses in 1959 and 1960 had seen them wear white jerseys with a black 'V' and hoops with black shorts, while Rovers made their 1964 Wembley appearance in all-red shirts.
Transport
By 1980, the city of Kingston upon Hull had a population of 327,000, and it was estimated that up to a quarter of the city's population travelled to Wembley. Both teams had ticket allocations of 22,000 each, however, club retailers soon found themselves out of their depth as demand outstripped supply, with fans queuing for general admittance tickets overnight at both The Boulevard and Craven Park. Within two weeks, both allocations were mostly sold out, and a fortnight before the final, the RFL announced that all 95,000 tickets had sold out in record time, only the fourth Challenge Cup final to do so.
British Rail organised twelve special trains that departed in fifteen-minute intervals on the morning of 3 May from Hull Paragon railway station to various London stations, operating alongside the eight regular trains chartered for a Challenge Cup final day. Three also departed Hull Paragon on the Friday night before, with further departures occurring on Thursday. Tickets were worth £12, colour-coded to segregate rival fans, and no refreshments, transfers or open returns were offered. As the first trains arrived on Thursday to take supporters to Wembley, Hull Paragon railway station was described as being "like a refugee clearing centre", with fans travelling in mixed groups of families and friends despite British Rail's attempts at segregation. Ten car transporters were also brought to Hull to deliver hire cars for those who wanted to drive to Wembley.
On the night before the final, supporters Fred Lewis, Dean Lewis and Charlie Grantham placed an improvised cardboard sign reading 'Last one out turn the lights off' against a lamppost on Boothferry Road near the under-construction Humber Bridge.
Guests and entertainment Dignitaries and guests in attendance included Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who greeted both teams on the pitch before kick-off and later presented the Challenge Cup trophy to the winning Hull Kingston Rovers player-coach, Roger Millward. Among other attendees included members of the Labour-run Kingston upon Hull City Council – sitting council leader Pat Doyle, former leader Leo Schultz, councillor Louis Pearlman and town clerk Basil Wood – and politicians and celebrities from across the North of England and beyond, including Dave Allen, Bernie Clifton, Brian Glover, Richard Harris, Emlyn Hughes, Bernard Manning, Bill Maynard, Cliff Morgan, Peter O'Toole, Michael Parkinson, Alan Plater, Jean Rook, Jimmy Savile, Cyril Smith, Ed Stewart, Bill Tidy, Colin Welland and Kenneth Wolstenholme, some of whom had attended previous finals.
Pre-match entertainment at Wembley was provided by actors from the BBC 1 sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum Windsor Davies and Melvyn Hayes, who also sang the traditional Challenge Cup anthem Abide With Me with the backing of the Band of the Welsh Guards. The Queen Mother's appearance at the final meant that the national anthem, God Save the Queen, was sung immediately on her entry with the instrumentation of the Band of the Welsh Guards, as opposed to after both teams were greeted on the pitch.
Match Summary After Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother left the pitch following a lengthy greeting of both teams, a coin toss was won by Hull Kingston Rovers and referee Fred Lindop whistled for play to get underway, with Rovers Allan Agar kicking into Hull F.C.'s half of the pitch. F.C. Paul Woods received Agar's kick and made a drive against Rovers' defensive line, eventually being tackled by ers Phil Lowe and Paul Rose. After further drives into Rovers' defence by Keith Tindall and prop forward Charlie Stone, passes by Steve Norton and second-rowers Charlie Birdsall and Sammy Lloyd allowed Clive Pickerill to cross the halfway line into Rovers' half, however he lost the ball under pressure from a tackle by Rovers David Watkinson, handing possession to Rovers in the first of many errors from both teams; in the first five minutes of play, six errors and three penalties were conceded.
Steve Hubbard opened the scoring for Hull Kingston Rovers after nine minutes; in a tactic nicknamed 'oranges' by the Rovers squad during training, when Watkinson restarted play at the 35-yard line after F.C. Graham Walters conceded a penalty for being offside, he passed to Roy Holdstock, who passed to Agar, who then made a dummy pass that was then received by Hubbard, breaking through F.C.'s defence and scoring the first try in the left-hand corner of F.C.'s tryline. His conversion kick attempt went wide left of the posts, leaving the score at 0–3. As the squads lined up for the restart, referee Lindop then awarded Rovers a penalty due to Woods tackling Hubbard over the try-line after the ball had been grounded; Hubbard, in front of the posts, kicked the penalty to score two more points, with the scoreline now 0–5 in Rovers' favour after over ten minutes had been played.