1983–84 Rugby Football League season

The 1983–84 Rugby Football League season was the 89th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1983 until May, 1984 for the Slalom Lager Championship.

1983–84 Rugby Football League season
League	Slalom Lager Championship
Teams	16
Champions	Hull Kingston Rovers
Premiership winners	Hull Kingston Rovers
Man of Steel Award	Joe Lydon
Top point-scorer(s)	John Woods 355
Top try-scorer(s)	Garry Schofield 38
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Second Division	Barrow Workington Town Hunslet Halifax
Relegated to Second Division	Fulham Wakefield Trinity Salford Whitehaven
Second Division
Champions	Barrow
Top try-scorer(s)	Graham King 28
← 1982–83 1984–85 →

The Second Division was increased to 18 clubs with the introduction of Kent Invicta, who played their home fixtures at Maidstone, this season.

Rule changes

End of possession:

• A "handover" was introduced after the sixth tackle, replacing the scrum that had previously been formed at that point.^[1] The team receiving possession would now play-the-ball to carry on play.
• Scrum rules were changed which meant the non offending side had head and ball advantage, effectively making the scrum a non contest.

Value of a try:

• The number of points a team scored from a try increased from three to four.^[1] The aim of this change was to "incentivise scoring tries" over kicking penalty goals, which were worth two points, because the tries were more entertaining.^[1]

Temporary suspension:

• The 10-minute "sin bin" was introduced.

Season summary

In September 1983, the ban on international transfers between England and Australia was lifted.^[2] This resulted in a big influx of Australian players being signed by clubs on short-term contracts, most notably Test stand-off and future Australia captain Wally Lewis, who signed for Wakefield Trinity.

Slalom Lager League Champions: Hull Kingston Rovers

Hull Kingston Rovers finished on top of the First Division table to claim their fifth championship, and also the Rugby League Premiership competition, this was the first occasion the 'Championship / Premiership Double' had been achieved.

State Express Challenge Cup Winners: Widnes (19-6 v Wigan)

John Player Special Trophy Winners: Leeds (18-10 v Widnes). During the competition, Danny Wilson of Swinton scored a record 5 drop goals in the tie against Hunslet on 6 Nov 1983.^[3]

Slalom Lager Premiership Trophy Winners: Hull Kingston Rovers (18-10 v Castleford)

Barrow (from Cumbria) beat Widnes 12–8 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull F.C. beat Castleford 13–2 to win the Yorkshire County Cup

1983/84 Queensland Tour

At the end of the 1983 seasons in Qld and NSW, the Queensland team also toured Papua New Guinea and England. Their tour of Great Britain saw them play three matches. The first against Hull Kingston Rovers resulted in an 8–6 loss, though the Wally Lewis-led Maroons then easily won their remaining matches against Wigan (40–2) and Leeds (58–2)

League Tables

Championship Final Standings Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts 1 Hull Kingston Rovers 30 22 2 6 795 421 +374 46 2 Hull 30 22 1 7 831 401 +430 45 3 Warrington 30 19 2 9 622 528 +94 40 4 Castleford 30 18 3 9 686 438 +248 39 5 Widnes 30 19 1 10 656 457 +199 39 6 St. Helens 30 18 1 11 649 507 +142 37 7 Bradford Northern 30 17 2 11 519 379 +140 36 8 Leeds 30 15 3 12 553 514 +39 33 9 Wigan 30 16 0 14 533 465 +68 32 10 Oldham 30 15 2 13 544 480 +64 32 11 Leigh 30 14 0 16 623 599 +24 28 12 Featherstone Rovers 30 11 2 17 464 562 -98 24 13 Fulham 30 9 1 20 401 694 -293 19 14 Wakefield Trinity 30 7 0 23 415 780 -365 14 15 Salford 30 5 0 25 352 787 -435 10 16 Whitehaven 30 3 0 27 325 956 -631 6

Second Division Club P W D L PF PA Pts 1 Barrow 34 32 0 2 1126 332 64 2 Workington Town 34 24 2 8 714 504 50 3 Hunslet 34 24 0 10 900 597 48 4 Halifax 34 23 2 9 722 539 48 5 Blackpool Borough 34 20 3 11 615 466 43 6 Swinton 34 21 0 13 764 437 42 7 York 34 19 2 13 743 570 40 8 Bramley 34 16 2 16 584 545 34 9 Kent Invicta 34 17 0 17 595 700 34 10 Huddersfield 34 15 3 16 600 545 33 11 Cardiff City Blue Dragons 34 15 1 18 710 717 31 12 Rochdale Hornets 34 13 3 18 551 667 29 13 Batley 34 13 0 21 477 738 26 14 Dewsbury 34 12 0 22 526 698 24 15 Carlisle 34 12 0 22 539 780 24 16 Huyton 34 9 2 23 431 760 20 17 Keighley 34 7 3 24 425 728 17 18 Doncaster 34 2 1 31 384 1083 5   Champions   Play-offs   Promoted   Relegated

Challenge Cup

Main article: 1983–84 Challenge Cup

The 1983-84 State Express Challenge Cup was won by Widnes after defeating Wigan 19-6 in the final.

The Final was played at Wembley before a crowd of 80,116.

John Player Special Trophy

Main article: 1983–84 John Player Special Trophy

County cups

Main article: 1983–84 Lancashire Cup

Main article: 1983–84 Yorkshire Cup

Premiership

Main article: 1983–84 Rugby League Premiership