1980–81 Yorkshire Cup
# 1980–81 Yorkshire Cup

The 1980–81 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-third occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held.

Leeds winning the trophy by beating Hull Kingston Rovers by the score of 8-7

The match was played at Fartown Ground, Huddersfield, now in West Yorkshire. The attendance was 9,751 and receipts were £15,578

This was Leeds' eighth victory (and the second of two consecutive victories - for the third time within the sequence) in what has been eight times in the space of thirteen seasons.

## Background

This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers" and so the total of entries remained the same at sixteen.

This in turn resulted in no byes in the first round.

## Competition and results

### Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sat 16 Aug 1980 | Leeds | 47-8 | York | Headingley | 2921 |
| 2 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Bradford Northern | 10-6 | Batley | Odsal | 3173 |
| 3 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Dewsbury | 5-15 | Bramley | Crown Flatt | 1100 |
| 4 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Featherstone Rovers | 16-12 | Hull F.C. | Post Office Road | 7025 |
| 5 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Halifax | 8-18 | Castleford | Thrum Hall | 2926 |
| 6 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 21-17 | Wakefield Trinity | Craven Park (1) | 7628 |
| 7 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Hunslet | 22-4 | Doncaster | Mount Pleasant | 550 |
| 8 | Sun 17 Aug 1980 | Keighley | 16-25 | Huddersfield | Lawkholme Lane | 1550 |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Sun 24 Aug 1980 | Castleford | 26-25 | Bramley | Wheldon Road | 2215 |
| 2 | Sun 24 Aug 1980 | Huddersfield | 20-13 | Bradford Northern | Fartown | 4080 |
| 3 | Sun 24 Aug 1980 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 33-12 | Featherstone Rovers | Craven Park (1) | 9088 |
| 4 | Sun 24 Aug 1980 | Leeds | 31-12 | Hunslet | Headingley | 3940 |

### Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wed 10 Sep 1980 | Castleford | 7-11 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wheldon Road | 7328 | | | |
| 2 | Thu 11 Sep 1980 | Leeds | 17-13 | Huddersfield | Headingley | 4418 | | | |

### Final

| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Saturday 8 November 1980 | Leeds | 8-7 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Fartown | 9,751 | £15,578 | 1 | |

**Teams and scorers**

| Leeds | № | Hull Kingston Rovers |
| - | - | - |
| | teams | |
| Neil Hague (see note 2) | 1 | Ian Robinson |
| Alan Smith | 2 | Gary McHugh |
| David Smith | 3 | Mike Smith |
| John Atkinson (see note 3) | 4 | Phil Hogan |
| Willie Oulton (see note 4) | 5 | Wally Youngman |
| John Holmes | 6 | Dave Hall |
| Kevin Dick | 7 | Paul Harkin |
| Mick Harrison | 8 | Roy Holdstock |
| David Ward | 9 | xRaymond Price |
| Steve Pitchford | 10 | Steve Crooks |
| Graham Eccles | 11 | Phil Lowe |
| Phil Cookson | 12 | Len Casey (c) |
| David Heron | 13 | Mick Crane |
| ? | 14 | ? |
| Carrol (for Phil Cookson) | 15 | Paul Rose (for Steve Crooks) |
| Robin Dewhurst | Coach | Roger Millward |
| 8 | score | 7 |
| 2 | HT | 7 |
| | Scorers | |
| | Tries | |
| Alan Smith (1) | T | Gary McHugh (1) |
| | Goals | |
| Kevin Dick (2) | G | Phil Hogan (2) |
| | Drop Goals | |
| Kevin Dick (1) | DG | |
| Referee | | Ronald "Ronnie" Campbell (Widnes) |
| White Rose Trophy for Man of the match | | Kevin Dick - Leeds - scrum-half |
| sponsored by | | |
| Competition Sponsor | | Webster's Brewery (Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd) |

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

### The road to success

| First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Leeds | Leeds | 47 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 8 | | | | | | | | | | |
| York | York | 8 | Leeds | Leeds | 31 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Hunslet | Hunslet | 22 | Hunslet | Hunslet | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Doncaster | Doncaster | 4 | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 17 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 13 | | | | |
| Keighley | Keighley | 16 | | | | | | | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 13 | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 25 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 25 | Huddersfield | Huddersfield | 20 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 10 | Bradford Northern | Bradford Northern | 13 | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Batley | Batley | 6 | | | | | | | | Leeds | Leeds | 8 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 7 |
| Halifax | Halifax | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 7 |
| Castleford | Castleford | 18 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Castleford | Castleford | 18 | Castleford | Castleford | 26 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Bramley | Bramley | 25 | | | | | | | |
| Dewsbury | Dewsbury | 5 | Bramley | Bramley | 25 | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 15 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bramley | Bramley | 15 | | | | Castleford | Castleford | 7 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 11 | | | | |
| Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 21 | | | | | | | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 11 | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 17 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield Trinity | 17 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Hull Kingston Rovers | 33 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 16 | Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone Rovers | 12 | | | | | | | |
| Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 12 | | | | | | | | | | |

## Notes and comments

1 * Fartown was the home ground of Huddersfield from 1878 to the end of the 1991-92 season to Huddersfield Town FC's Leeds Road stadium, and then to the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Fartown remained as a sports/Rugby League ground but is now rather dilapidated, and is only used for staging amateur rugby league games.

2 * Neil Hague -The player number given is as shown in the Rothmans Yearbook 1990-91 and also 1991-92. The RUGBYLEAGUEproject shows Neil Hague as a centre (numbered as 4)

3 * John Atkinson - The player number given is as shown in the Rothmans Yearbook 1990-91 and also 1991-92. The RUGBYLEAGUEproject shows John Atkinson as winger (numbered as 5)

4 * Willie Oulton The player number given is as shown in the Rothmans Yearbook 1990-91 and also 1991-92. The RUGBYLEAGUEproject shows Willie Oulton as the full back (numbered as 1)

### General information for those unfamiliar

The Rugby League Yorkshire Cup competition was a knock-out competition between (mainly professional) rugby league clubs from the county of Yorkshire. The actual area was at times increased to encompass other teams from outside the county such as Newcastle, Mansfield, Coventry, and even London (in the form of Acton & Willesden).

The Rugby League season always (until the onset of "Summer Rugby" in 1996) ran from around August-time through to around May-time and this competition always took place early in the season, in the Autumn, with the final taking place in (or just before) December (The only exception to this was when disruption of the fixture list was caused during, and immediately after, the two World Wars)

