1982–83 John Player Trophy
The 1982–83 John Player Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament sponsored by John Player & Sons. It was the 12th season that the competition was held.
Wigan claimed the trophy by beating Leeds by the score of 22-11 in the final played at Elland Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire. The attendance was 19,553 and receipts were £49,027.
Background
This season saw no changes in the entrants, no new members and no withdrawals, the number remaining at thirty-three.The preliminary round of one match remained
Competition and results
Preliminary round
Involved 1 matches and 2 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| Sun 21 Nov 1982 | Huyton | 9-19 | Workington Town | Alt Park, Huyton | 240 |
Round 1 - First Round
Involved 16 matches and 32 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Sat 27 Nov 1982 | St. Helens | 17-5 | Fulham | Knowsley Road | 2365 | |||||
| 2 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Blackpool Borough | 6-5 | Batley | Borough Park | 592 | |||||
| 3 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Cardiff City | 7-11 | Rochdale Hornets | Ninian Park | 620 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Carlisle | 26-17 | Doncaster | Brunton Park | 1413 | |||||
| 5 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Castleford | 10-16 | Wigan | Wheldon Road | 5422 | |||||
| 6 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Dewsbury | 11-28 | Barrow | Crown Flatt | 866 | |||||
| 7 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Featherstone Rovers | 14-18 | Hull F.C. | Post Office Road | 4005 | |||||
| 8 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 42-3 | Whitehaven | Craven Park (1) | 5929 | |||||
| 9 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Keighley | 0-18 | Bradford Northern | Lawkholme Lane | 4278 | |||||
| 10 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Leeds | 17-7 | Bramley | Headingley | 4085 | |||||
| 11 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Leigh | 13-12 | Oldham | Hilton Park | 5780 | |||||
| 12 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Salford | 23-11 | Hunslet | The Willows | 1471 | |||||
| 13 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Swinton | 13-22 | Huddersfield | Station Road | 1417 | |||||
| 14 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Warrington | 19-8 | Halifax | Wilderspool | 2892 | |||||
| 15 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | Widnes | 17-12 | Wakefield Trinity | Naughton Park | 4075 | |||||
| 16 | Sun 5 Dec 1982 | York | 18-15 | Workington Town | Clarence Street | 2134 |
Round 2 - Second Round
Involved 8 matches and 16 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| 1 | Sat 11 Dec 1982 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 36-7 | Leigh | Craven Park (1) | 5975 | |||||
| 2 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Bradford Northern | 12-12 | Hull F.C. | Odsal | 6222 | |||||
| 3 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Carlisle | 2-10 | Widnes | Brunton Park | 1905 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Leeds | 31-10 | York | Headingley | 3718 | |||||
| 5 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Rochdale Hornets | 5-27 | Barrow | Athletic Grounds | 1295 | |||||
| 6 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Salford | 21-19 | Huddersfield | The Willows | 1924 | |||||
| 7 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Warrington | 36-15 | Blackpool Borough | Wilderspool | 2347 | |||||
| 8 | Sun 12 Dec 1982 | Wigan | 9-5 | St. Helens | Central Park | 12172 |
Round 2 - Second Round Replays
Involved 1 match and 2 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| Wed 15 Dec 1982 | Hull F.C. | 8-10 | Bradford Northern | Boulevard | 7628 | 1 |
Round 3 -Quarter Finals
Involved 4 matches with 8 clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Sat 18 Dec 1982 | Salford | 4-5 | Wigan | The Willows | 3237 | |||||
| 2 | Sun 19 Dec 1982 | Barrow | 8-13 | Leeds | Craven Park | 4216 | |||||
| 3 | Sun 19 Dec 1982 | Warrington | 11-10 | Hull Kingston Rovers | Wilderspool | 3943 | |||||
| 4 | Sun 19 Dec 1982 | Widnes | 16-10 | Bradford Northern | Naughton Park | 4667 |
Round 4 – Semi-Finals
Involved 2 matches and 4 Clubs| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| 1 | Tue 28 Dec 1982 | Leeds | 8-2 | Widnes | Fartown | 7247 | |||||
| 2 | Sat 1 Jan 1983 | Wigan | 15-14 | Warrington | Knowsley Road | 9017 |
Final
This game was the first time Wigan and Leeds had met in a cup final. The Leeds team was weakened by the absence of several players, with Keith Rayne, Kevin Rayne and Alan Smith all missing out due to injury.The final was contested at Elland Road, and was won by Wigan through second-half tries scored by Gill and Juliff. Wigan stand-off Martin Foy received the man of the match award.
| Game No | Fixture Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Venue | Att | Rec | Notes | Ref | ||
| - | |||||||||||
| Saturday 22 January 1983 | Wigan | 15-4 | Leeds | Elland Road | 19553 | 49027 |
Teams and scorers
| Wigan | № | Leeds |
| Teams | ||
| Barry Williams | 1 | Neil Hague |
| Dennis Ramsdale | 2 | Mark Campbell |
| David Stephenson | 3 | Ian Wilkinson |
| Colin Whitfield | 4 | Les Dyl |
| Henderson Gill | 5 | Andy Smith |
| Martin Foy | 6 | John Holmes |
| Jimmy Fairhurst | 7 | Kevin Dick |
| Glyn Shaw | 8 | Roy Dickinson |
| Nicky Kiss | 9 | David Ward |
| Danny Campbell | 10 | Tony Burke |
| Graeme West | 11 | Andy Sykes |
| Mick Scott | 12 | Wayne Heron |
| John Pendlebury | 13 | David Heron |
| Brian Juliff | 14 | Mark Conway |
| Brian Case | 15 | David Heselwood |
| Alex Murphy | Coach | Robin Dewhurst |
| 15 | score | 4 |
| 3 | HT | 4 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Henderson Gill | T | |
| Brian Juliff | T | |
| Goals | ||
| Colin Whitfield | G | Kevin Dick |
| Drop Goals | ||
| Colin Whitfield | DG | |
| Referee | Ronald "Ronnie" Campbell | |
| Man of the match | Martin Foy - Wigan - | |
| Competition Sponsor | John Player |
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point
Timeline in the final
| Time | Incident | Score |
| 7 min | Drop goal: Colin Whitfield | 1-0 |
| ? | Penalty Goal: Kevin Dick | 1-2 |
| ? | Penalty Goal: Kevin Dick | 1-4 |
| ? | Penalty Goal: Colin Whitfield | 3-4 |
| Half Time | 3-4 | |
| 57 min | Try: Henderson Gill | 6-4 |
| Conversion: Colin Whitfield | 8-4 | |
| 64 min | Penalty Goal: Colin Whitfield | 10-4 |
| ? | Try: Brian Juliff | 13-4 |
| Conversion: Colin Whitfield | 15-4 | |
| Full Time | 15-4 |