| 1980–81 Lancashire Cup | |
| Structure: | Regional knockout championship |
| Season Champs: | Warrington |
| Season Champ Name: | Winners |
| Runner-Up Name: | Runner-up |
| Second Place: | Wigan |
| Prevseason Link: | 1979–80 Lancashire Cup |
| Prevseason Year: | 1979–80 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1981–82 Lancashire Cup |
| Nextseason Year: | 1981–82 |
| No Of Teams: | 14 |
The 1980–81 Lancashire Cup (known as the Forshaws Lancashire Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 68th staging of the rugby league knockout competition, the Lancashire Cup. Warrington won the trophy with a 26–10 victory over Second Division side Wigan.
The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part.
Involved six matches and 12 clubs. Barrow and Whitehaven received byes into the next round. Huyton's match against Warrington was moved to Wilderspool due to vandalism at Huyton's home ground, Alt Park.[1]
| width=20 abbr="No" | Game No | width=100 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=40 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 August 1980 | Swinton | 5–11 | Oldham | Station Road | 2026 | |||||||||
| 2 | 17 August 1980 | Blackpool Borough | 2–31 | Widnes | Borough Park | 2200 | [2] | ||||||||
| 3 | 17 August 1980 | Huyton | 2–31 | Warrington | Wilderspool | 1937 | [3] | ||||||||
| 4 | 17 August 1980 | Salford | 23–12 | Leigh | The Willows | 3579 | |||||||||
| 5 | 17 August 1980 | Wigan | 25–10 | Rochdale Hornets | Central Park | 3562 | [4] | ||||||||
| 6 | 17 August 1980 | Workington Town | 5–15 | St. Helens | Derwent Park | 2957 | [5] |
Involved four matches and eight clubs
| width=20 abbr="No" | Game No | width=100 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=40 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 August 1980 | Barrow | 9–16 | Warrington | Craven Park | 3328 | |||||||||
| 2 | 24 August 1980 | Oldham | 15–13 | Salford | Watersheddings | 3445 | |||||||||
| 3 | 24 August 1980 | Whitehaven | 10–13 | Wigan | Recreation Ground | 3910 | |||||||||
| 4 | 24 August 1980 | Widnes | 22–20 | St. Helens | Naughton Park | 8427 |
Involved two matches and four clubs.
| width=20 abbr="No" | Game No | width=120 abbr="Date" | Fixture Date | width=150 abbr="Home Team" | Home Team | width=40 abbr="Score" | Score | width=150 abbr="Away Team" | Away Team | width=150 abbr="Venue" | Venue | width=30 abbr="Att" | Att | width=30 abbr="Ref" | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 September 1980 | Oldham | 2–11 | Warrington | Watersheddings | 3963 | |||||||||
| 2 | 10 September 1980 | Widnes | 10–14 | Wigan | Naughton Park | 6563 |
The final was played at Knowsley Road, St Helens, with an attendance of 6,279 and gate receipts of £8,629.[6] This was Warrington's seventh Lancashire Cup win, and their first since 1965.
| width=280 abbr=winner | Warrington | width=60 abbr="Number" | № | width=280 abbr=runner-up | Wigan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derek Finnegan | 1 | George Fairbairn (c) | |||
| Richard Thackray | 2 | Dennis Ramsdale | |||
| Ian Duane | 3 | Dave Willicombe | |||
| John Bevan | 4 | Steve Davies | |||
| Steve Hesford | 5 | Jimmy Hornby | |||
| Ken Kelly (c) | 6 | Martin Foy | |||
| Alan Gwilliam | 7 | Les Bolton | |||
| Neil Courtney | 8 | Steve Breheny | |||
| Tony Waller | 9 | John Pendlebury | |||
| Brian Case | 10 | Steve O'Neill | |||
| Tommy Martyn | 11 | Bill Melling | |||
| Bob Eccles | 12 | John Clough | |||
| Edwin Hunter | 13 | Terry Hollingsworth | |||
| Tony Worrall | 14 | Bernard Coyle (for Les Bolton) | |||
| Ian Potter (for Bob Eccles) | 15 | Malcolm Smith (for John Pendlebury) | |||
| Billy Benyon | Coach | George Fairbairn |