| 1981–82 Rugby Football League season | |
| League: | Slalom Lager Championship |
| No Of Teams: | 16 |
| Season Champs: | Leigh |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Premiership Win: | Widnes |
| Premiership Win Name: | Premiership winners |
| Mvp: | Mick Morgan (Carlisle) |
| Mvp Link: | Man of Steel Award |
| Top Try Scorer: | Des Drummond 26 |
| Promote From: | Second Division |
| Relegate To: | Second Division |
| Season2: | Second Division |
| Season Champs2: | Oldham |
| Season Champ Name2: | Champions |
| Top Scorer2: | Lynn Hopkins 446 |
| Top Try Scorer2: | John Jones 31 |
| Prevseason Link: | 1980–81 Rugby Football League season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1980–81 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1982–83 Rugby Football League season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1982–83 |
The 1981–82 Rugby Football League season was the 87th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1981 until May, 1982 for the Championship.
Leigh finished on top of the First Division table to claim their second and, to date, last championship, but Widnes won the Rugby League Premiership competition. Fulham, Wakefield Trinity, York and Whitehaven were demoted to the Second Division. Oldham, Carlisle, Workington Town and Halifax were promoted to the First Division.
Cardiff City Blue Dragons and Carlisle joined the competition in Division Two.
Leigh beat Widnes 8–3 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Castleford beat Bradford Northern 10–5 to win the Yorkshire County Cup.
Final Standings
| width=20 abbr="Position" | width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Points for" | PF | width=20 abbr="Points against" | PA | width=20 abbr="Points difference" | PD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leigh | 30 | 24 | 1 | 5 | 572 | 343 | +229 | 49 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Hull | 30 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 611 | 273 | +338 | 47 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Widnes | 30 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 551 | 317 | +234 | 47 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 30 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 554 | 319 | +235 | 45 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Bradford Northern | 30 | 20 | 1 | 9 | 425 | 332 | +93 | 41 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Leeds | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 514 | 418 | +96 | 35 | ||||||||||
| 7 | St Helens | 30 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 465 | 415 | +50 | 35 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Warrington | 30 | 14 | 2 | 14 | 403 | 468 | +65 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 9 | 30 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 408 | 445 | -37 | 26 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Featherstone Rovers | 30 | 12 | 1 | 17 | 482 | 493 | -11 | 25 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Wigan | 30 | 12 | 0 | 18 | 424 | 435 | -11 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Castleford | 30 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 486 | 505 | -19 | 21 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Fulham | 30 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 365 | 539 | -174 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Wakefield Trinity | 30 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 341 | 526 | -185 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 15 | York | 30 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 330 | 773 | -443 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Whitehaven | 30 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 224 | 565 | -341 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oldham | 32 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 734 | 276 | 60 | |
| 2 | Carlisle | 32 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 649 | 296 | 56 | |
| 3 | Workington Town | 32 | 24 | 0 | 8 | 777 | 311 | 48 | |
| 4 | Halifax | 32 | 22 | 0 | 10 | 516 | 340 | 44 | |
| 5 | Salford | 32 | 20 | 1 | 11 | 656 | 433 | 41 | |
| 6 | Hunslet | 32 | 18 | 1 | 13 | 481 | 452 | 37 | |
| 7 | Keighley | 32 | 18 | 0 | 14 | 514 | 426 | 36 | |
| 8 | Cardiff | 32 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 566 | 549 | 35 | |
| 9 | 32 | 16 | 0 | 16 | 357 | 464 | 32 | ||
| 10 | Swinton | 32 | 15 | 0 | 17 | 514 | 418 | 30 | |
| 11 | Huddersfield | 32 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 370 | 523 | 27 | |
| - align=center style="background:" | 12 | Bramley | 32 | 13 | 0 | 19 | 381 | 513 | 26 |
| 13 | Rochdale Hornets | 32 | 10 | 1 | 21 | 361 | 484 | 21 | |
| 14 | Batley | 32 | 8 | 0 | 24 | 357 | 596 | 16 | |
| 15 | Blackpool Borough | 32 | 7 | 0 | 25 | 341 | 608 | 14 | |
| 16 | Doncaster | 32 | 5 | 1 | 26 | 319 | 793 | 11 | |
| 17 | Huyton | 32 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 296 | 707 | 10 | |
| Champions | Play-offs | Promoted | Relegated |
See main article: 1981–82 Challenge Cup. The 1981-82 State Express Challenge Cup was won by Hull F.C. after defeating Widnes 18–9 in the final after a replay.
The Final was played at Wembley before a crowd of 92,147 and ended in a 14–14 draw. The replay was played at Elland Road before a crowd of 41,171.
See main article: 1981–82 League Cup (rugby league).
See main article: 1981–82 Rugby League Premiership.