1981–82 Lancashire Cup

The 1981–82 Lancashire Cup was the 69th staging of the rugby league knockout competition, the Lancashire Cup.
Leigh won the trophy with an 8–3 win against Widnes.

Background

This season saw the introduction of two new non-Lancashire clubs, Carlisle and Fulham, increasing the number of clubs in the competition from 14 to 16, meaning there was no longer a need for any teams to receive byes in the first round.
In his column for the Manchester Evening News, Warrington player Ken Kelly was especially critical of the addition of London-based Fulham, arguing it made a mockery of the competition.

Competition and results

First round

The first round involved eight matches and 16 clubs. Carlisle's match against Wigan was the club's first ever competitive fixture.

Game no.	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Ref
1	14 August 1981	Oldham	7–17	Salford	Watersheddings	2915
2	16 August 1981	Barrow	15–7	Warrington	Craven Park	3197
3	16 August 1981	Blackpool Borough	0–28	St Helens	Borough Park	2239
4	16 August 1981	Carlisle	6–9	Wigan	Brunton Park	2779
5	16 August 1981	Fulham	32–15	Swinton	Craven Cottage	3207
6	16 August 1981	Leigh	37–2	Whitehaven	Hilton Park	3915
7	16 August 1981	Rochdale Hornets	8–14	Widnes	Athletic Grounds	1054
8	16 August 1981	Workington Town	35–2	Huyton	Derwent Park	1417

Second round

The second round involved four matches and eight clubs.

Game no.	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Ref
1	23 August 1981	Leigh	32–17	Workington Town	Hilton Park	4283
2	23 August 1981	St. Helens	40–17	Barrow	Knowsley Road	4303
3	23 August 1981	Salford	19–3	Fulham	The Willows	3462
4	23 August 1981	Wigan	11–26	Widnes	Central Park	6711

Semifinals

The semifinals involved two matches and four clubs.

Game no.	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Ref
1	2 September 1981	Leigh	20–6	St. Helens	Hilton Park	8196
2	2 September 1981	Widnes	33–2	Salford	Naughton Park	5849

Final

The final was played at Central Park, Wigan. The attendance was 9,011 and receipts were £14,029. This was Leigh's first Lancashire Cup since the 1970–71 season.

Game no.	Fixture date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Att	Ref
	26 September 1981	Leigh	8–3	Widnes	Central Park	9011

Teams and scorers

Leigh	No.	Widnes
Mick Hogan	1	Mick Burke
Des Drummond	2	Mick George
Terry Bilsbury	3	Eric Hughes
Steve Donlan	4	Eddie Cunningham
Graham Worgan	5	Keith Bentley
John Woods	6	Dave Moran
Ken Green	7	Andy Gregory
Alf Wilkinson	8	Mike O'Neill
Ray Tabern	9	Keith Elwell
Tony Cooke	10	Brian Lockwood
Thomas Martyn	11	Les Gorley
Geoffrey Clarkson	12	Eric Prescott
Mick McTigue	13	Mick Adams
??	14
x Billy Platt	15

8	Score	3
5	HT	0

	Scorers
	Tries
Terry Bilsbury	T	Keith Bentley
	Goals
John Woods	G
	Drop goals
Steve Donlan	DG
Referee		W H Thompson
Man of the match		Ray Tabern - Leigh -
Sponsored by		Burtonwood Brewery
Competition sponsor		Forshaws

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