1981–82 Challenge Cup

1981–82 State Express Challenge Cup
Duration	6 Rounds
Number of teams	33
Winners	Hull
Runners-up	Widnes
Lance Todd Trophy	Eddie Cunningham
	← 1980–81; 1982–83 →;

The 1981–82 Challenge Cup was the 81st staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. Known as the State Express Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, the final was contested by Widnes and Hull F.C. at Wembley. The match ended as a draw, resulting in a replay being staged at Elland Road, which Hull won 18–9.

Preliminary round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Hull Kingston Rovers	22–18	Featherstone Rovers	8,090

First round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	St. Helens	12–20	Wigan	7,611
2	Workington Town	32–8	Blackpool Borough	1,410
3	Batley	23–15	Huyton	908
4	Bradford Northern	14–12	Dewsbury	4,176
5	Bramley	4–16	Wakefield Trinity	3,180
6	Cardiff City	8–19	Widnes	6,484
7	Carlisle	2–17	Castleford	5,452
8	Doncaster	6–7	Rochdale Hornets	736
9	Fulham	14–4	Hunslet	3,392
10	Halifax	17–12	Huddersfield	3,991
11	Hull	29–15	Salford	13,697
12	Keighley	6–12	Barrow	4,015
13	Leigh	28–17	Warrington	10,366
14	Swinton	5–15	Oldham	4,095
15	Whitehaven	7–17	Hull Kingston Rovers	3,965
16	York	6–34	Leeds	6,862

Second round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Hull Kingston Rovers	17–18	Leigh	12,034
2	Barrow	1–9	Leeds	9,677
3	Batley	6–31	Castleford	3,754
4	Bradford Northern	17–8	Workington Town	5,134
5	Fulham	5–11	Hull	9,481
6	Halifax	28–7	Rochdale Hornets	3,919
7	Wakefield Trinity	18–12	Oldham	6,567
8	Wigan	7–9	Widnes	17,467

Third round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Bradford Northern	8–8	Widnes	9,570
replay	Widnes	10–7	Bradford Northern	11,877
2	Hull	16–10	Halifax	16,555
3	Leigh	3–8	Castleford	11,791
4	Wakefield Trinity	2–20	Leeds	10,579

Semi finals

27 March 1982

Hull	15 – 11	Castleford
Try: Kemble, Norton, O'Hara, Prendiville Goal: Crooks Drop goal: Topliss	Report	Try: Reilly Goal: Hyde (4)

Headingley, Leeds
Attendance: 21,207
Referee: Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)^[1]

3 April 1982

Widnes	11 – 8	Leeds
Try: Basnett (2), O'Loughlin Goal: J. Myler	Report	Try: Dyl, Heron Goal: Dick

Station Road, Swinton
Attendance: 13,075
Referee: Fred Lindop (Wakefield)^[2]

Final

Widnes returned to Wembley as defending champions, having won the Challenge Cup for the sixth time in their history in the previous year.

1 May 1982

Hull	14 – 14	Widnes
Try: Norton, O'Hara Goal: Lloyd (4)	Report	Try: Cunningham (2), Wright Goal: Burke, Gregory Drop goal: Elwell

Wembley, London
Attendance: 92,147
Referee: Fred Lindop (Wakefield)
Player of the Match: Eddie Cunningham

Widnes led by eight points with 15 minutes of the game remaining, but Hull F.C. came back to draw the match 14–14, meaning the final would be replayed for the first time since 1954.^[3]

Replay

19 May 1982

Hull	18 – 9	Widnes
Try: Kemble, Topliss (2), Crooks Goal: Crooks (3)	Report	Try: Wright Goal: Burke (3)

Elland Road, Leeds
Attendance: 41,171
Referee: Fred Lindop (Wakefield)
Player of the Match: David Topliss^[4]

References

^ Kennedy, Edward (29 March 1982). "Hull weather storm". The Guardian. p. 17. ProQuest 186264954.
^ "O'Loughlin takes a winning stroll". The Observer. London. 4 April 1982. p. 48. ProQuest 476755126.
^ Nicholson, Geoffrey (2 May 1982). "One Hull of a fightback". The Observer. London. p. 41. ProQuest 476766355.
^ "Totally Topliss". The Guardian. 20 May 1982. p. 26. ProQuest 186308640.

External links

Challenge Cup official website Archived 2014-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
Challenge Cup 1981/82 results at Rugby League Project

[1] Kennedy, Edward (29 March 1982). "Hull weather storm". The Guardian. p. 17. ProQuest 186264954.

[2] "O'Loughlin takes a winning stroll". The Observer. London. 4 April 1982. p. 48. ProQuest 476755126.

[3] Nicholson, Geoffrey (2 May 1982). "One Hull of a fightback". The Observer. London. p. 41. ProQuest 476766355.

[4] "Totally Topliss". The Guardian. 20 May 1982. p. 26. ProQuest 186308640.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Challenge Cup
Years	1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025-26
Finals (List)	1968-69 1969–70 · 1970–71 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Related articles	Wembley Stadium 1923 2007 Lance Todd Trophy Abide with Me Rugby Football League Challenge Cup records Double Treble All Four Cups