1984–85 Rugby Football League season

The 1984–85 Rugby Football League season was the 90th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams played each other from August 1984 until May 1985 for the Slalom Lager Championship. Also these 16 teams plus several more competed for the Challenge Cup.

1984–85 Rugby Football League season
League	Slalom Lager Championship
Teams	16
Champions	Hull Kingston Rovers
Premiership winners	St. Helens
Man of Steel	Ellery Hanley
Top point-scorer(s)	Sean Day 362
Top try-scorer(s)	Ellery Hanley 55
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Swinton Salford York Dewsbury
Relegated to Second Division	Barrow Leigh Hunslet Workington Town
Second Division
Champions	Swinton
Top try-scorer(s)	Vince Gribbin 27
← 1983–84 1985–86 →

Season summary

• Slalom Lager League Champions: Hull Kingston Rovers
• Silk Cut Challenge Cup Winners: Wigan (8 – 28–24 v Hull)
• Slalom Lager Premiership Trophy Winners: St. Helens (36–16 v Hull Kingston Rovers at Elland Road, Leeds)
  • Harry Sunderland Trophy: Harry Pinner
• John Player Special Trophy Winners: Hull Kingston Rovers (12–0 v Hull F.C. at Boothferry Park, Hull)
• Burtonwood Brewery Lancashire County Cup Winners: St. Helens (26–18 v Wigan at Central Park, Wigan)
• 2nd Division Champions: Swinton

Aside from retaining the Championship Hull Kingston Rovers won the John Player Special Trophy and reached the finals of both the Premiership and Yorkshire Cup, they were beaten in the Semi-Final of the Challenge Cup meaning they played in every possible game of the season bar one.

On 21 October 1984 Peter Wood kicked a record-equalling five drop goals for Runcorn Highfield in a match against Batley. On 28 October, two tries by Mal Meninga inspire St. Helens, to beat Wigan 26–18, and win the Lancashire County Cup for the first time in 16 years.

The 1985 Man of Steel Award went to Bradford Northern utility back, Ellery Hanley. He also became the first man to score more than 50 tries in a season since Billy Boston, and the first non-winger to reach this figure for 70 years.

The increase of the Second Division to 20 teams meant that it would have taken 38 rounds to play out a full double round robin, which was considered too many matches, so a complicated fixture formula was used to reduce it to 28. For this season, Huyton relocated and were renamed Runcorn Highfield, Cardiff City Blue Dragons relocated and were renamed Bridgend Blue Dragons, and Kent Invicta relocated and were renamed were Southend Invicta, Huddersfield were renamed Huddersfield Barracudas, and Mansfield Marksman, and Sheffield Eagles joined the Second Division. As of 2017, 11th in the Second Division is the lowest position that Wakefield Trinity have ever finished.

St. Helens beat Wigan 26–18 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull F.C. beat Hull Kingston Rovers 29–12 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.

Championship

Hull Kingston Rovers finished on top of the First Division table to claim their fifth championship.

Championship final Standings Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1   Hull Kingston Rovers 30 24 0 6 778 391 +387 48 2   St. Helens 30 22 1 7 920 508 +412 45 3   Wigan 30 21 1 8 720 459 +261 43 4   Leeds 30 20 1 9 650 377 +273 41 5   Oldham 30 18 1 11 563 439 +124 37 6   Hull 30 17 1 12 733 550 +183 35 7   Widnes 30 17 0 13 580 517 +63 34 8   Bradford Northern 30 16 1 13 600 500 +100 33 9   Featherstone Rovers 30 15 0 15 461 475 −14 30 10   Halifax 30 12 2 16 513 565 −52 26 11   Warrington 30 13 0 17 530 620 −90 26 12   Castleford 30 12 1 17 552 518 +34 25 13   Barrow 30 9 1 20 483 843 −360 19 14   Leigh 30 8 2 20 549 743 −194 18 15   Hunslet 30 7 1 22 463 952 −489 15 16   Workington Town 30 2 1 27 297 935 −638 5 Champions Relegated

Second Division Final Standings ^[1] Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Swinton 28 24 1 3 727 343 384 49 2 Salford 28 20 3 5 787 333 454 43 3 York 28 21 1 6 717 430 287 43 4 Dewsbury 28 21 1 6 539 320 219 43 5 Carlisle 28 19 0 9 547 437 110 38 6 Whitehaven 28 16 3 9 496 385 111 35 7 Batley 28 17 0 11 489 402 87 34 8 Fulham 28 16 1 11 521 526 −5 33 9 Mansfield Marksman 28 15 0 13 525 398 127 30 10 Blackpool Borough 28 15 0 13 486 434 52 30 11 Wakefield Trinity 28 12 2 14 450 459 −9 26 12 Rochdale Hornets 28 12 2 14 436 466 −30 26 13 Huddersfield Barracudas 28 12 1 15 476 476 0 25 14 Runcorn Highfield 28 11 1 16 462 538 −76 23 15 Keighley 28 11 0 17 495 567 −72 22 16 Bramley 28 9 2 17 439 492 −53 20 17 Sheffield Eagles 28 8 0 20 424 582 -158 16 18 Doncaster 28 6 2 20 353 730 −377 14 19 Southend 28 4 0 24 347 690 −343 8 20 Bridgend Blue Dragons 28 1 0 27 258 966 −708 2 Promoted

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1984–85 Challenge Cup

The 1984–85 Silk Cut Challenge Cup was won by Wigan after defeating Hull F.C. in the final.

The Final was played on 4 May at Wembley before a crowd of 99,801 and is arguably the greatest ever in Challenge Cup history.^[2] Just after half-time Hull were 22 – 8 down before staging a fight back, but Wigan held on to win 28–24, ushering in an era of dominance for the club.^[3]

League Cup

Main article: 1984–85 League Cup (rugby league)

Premiership

Main article: 1984–85 Rugby League Premiership

References

1. Raymond Fletcher; David Howes (1995). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1995–1996. London: Headline Book Publishing. p. 299. ISBN 0-7472-7817-2.
2. "5. Wigan v Hull Challenge Cup final, 4 May 1985". Great Sporting Moments: Rugby League. London: independent.co.uk. 11 July 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009.^{[dead link]}
3. Baker, Andrew (20 August 1995). "100 years of rugby league: From the great divide to the Super era". Independent, The. London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2017.

Sources

• 1984–85 Rugby Football League season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Great Britain Competitions 1984–1985 at hunterlink.net.au
• 1985 Challenge Cup Final at wigan.rlfans.com 16 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine