| 1982–83 Rugby Football League season | |
| League: | Slalom Lager Championship |
| No Of Teams: | 16 |
| Season Champs: | Hull |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Premiership Win: | Widnes |
| Premiership Win Name: | Premiership winners |
| Mvp: | Allan Agar |
| Mvp Link: | Man of Steel Award |
| Top Try Scorer: | Bob Eccles 37 |
| Promote From: | Second Division |
| Relegate To: | Second Division |
| Season2: | Second Division |
| Season Champs2: | Fulham |
| Season Champ Name2: | Champions |
| Top Scorer2: | Steve Diamond (Fulham) 308 |
| Top Try Scorer2: | John Crossley (Fulham) 27 |
| Prevseason Link: | 1981–82 Rugby Football League season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1981–82 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1983–84 Rugby Football League season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1983–84 |
The 1982–83 Rugby Football League season was the 88th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1982 until May, 1983 for the Slalom Lager Championship.
Hull finished on top of the First Division table to claim their sixth and, to date, last championship, but Widnes won the Rugby League Premiership competition. Fulham, Wakefield Trinity, Salford and Whitehaven were promoted to the First Division.
Warrington beat St. Helens 16–0 to win the Lancashire County Cup, and Hull F.C. beat Bradford Northern 18–7 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 | Hull | 30 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 572 | 293 | +279 | 47 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Hull Kingston Rovers | 30 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 496 | 276 | +220 | 43 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Wigan | 30 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 482 | 270 | +212 | 43 | ||||||||||
| 4 | St. Helens | 30 | 19 | 1 | 10 | 516 | 395 | +121 | 39 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Widnes | 30 | 18 | 2 | 10 | 534 | 357 | +177 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Leeds | 30 | 18 | 2 | 10 | 480 | 443 | +27 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Castleford | 30 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 629 | 458 | +171 | 37 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Oldham | 30 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 346 | 320 | +26 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 9 | 30 | 14 | 2 | 14 | 381 | 314 | +67 | 30 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Leigh | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 488 | 374 | +114 | 29 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Warrington | 30 | 13 | 2 | 15 | 423 | 410 | +13 | 28 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Featherstone Rovers | 30 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 350 | 447 | -97 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Barrow | 30 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 472 | 505 | -33 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Workington Town | 30 | 6 | 2 | 22 | 318 | 696 | -378 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Halifax | 30 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 221 | 651 | -430 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Carlisle | 30 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 251 | 751 | -500 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fulham | 32 | 27 | 1 | 4 | 699 | 294 | 55 | |
| 2 | Wakefield Trinity | 32 | 25 | 2 | 5 | 672 | 381 | 52 | |
| 3 | Salford | 32 | 24 | 0 | 8 | 686 | 363 | 48 | |
| 4 | Whitehaven | 32 | 20 | 3 | 9 | 464 | 298 | 43 | |
| 5 | Bramley | 32 | 20 | 1 | 11 | 560 | 369 | 41 | |
| 6 | Hunslet | 32 | 17 | 5 | 10 | 553 | 448 | 39 | |
| 7 | Swinton | 32 | 19 | 1 | 12 | 549 | 454 | 39 | |
| 8 | Cardiff | 32 | 17 | 2 | 13 | 572 | 444 | 36 | |
| 9 | 32 | 15 | 5 | 12 | 470 | 423 | 35 | ||
| 10 | York | 32 | 15 | 0 | 17 | 516 | 455 | 30 | |
| 11 | Blackpool Borough | 32 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 381 | 433 | 27 | |
| - align=center style="background:" | 12 | Huddersfield | 32 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 397 | 524 | 27 |
| 13 | Rochdale Hornets | 32 | 10 | 5 | 17 | 361 | 469 | 25 | |
| 14 | Dewsbury | 32 | 8 | 1 | 23 | 325 | 507 | 17 | |
| 15 | Batley | 32 | 6 | 1 | 25 | 305 | 719 | 13 | |
| 16 | Huyton | 32 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 250 | 687 | 12 | |
| 17 | Doncaster | 32 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 307 | 799 | 5 | |
| Champions | Play-offs | Promoted | Relegated |
See main article: 1982–83 Challenge Cup. The 1982-83 State Express Challenge Cup was won by underdogs Featherstone Rovers after defeating Hull F.C. 14-12 in the final.[1]
The Final was played at Wembley before a crowd of 84,969.
See main article: 1982–83 Rugby League Premiership.
See main article: 1982 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. The months of October and November also saw the appearance of the Australian team in England on their 1982 Kangaroo Tour. Other than the three test Ashes series against Great Britain (won 3–0 by Australia), The Kangaroos played and won matches against 9 Championship teams (Hull KR, Wigan, Barrow, St Helens, Leeds, Leigh, Bradford Northern, Hull and Widnes), 1 Second Division side (Fulham) and 1 county side (Cumbria).
The 1982 Kangaroos were coached by Balmain Tigers head coach Frank Stanton who had previously toured as a player in 1963–64 and as coach of the 1978 Kangaroos. The team captain was veteran Manly-Warringah hooker Max Krilich who had also toured in 1978.
South Brisbane centre Mal Meninga, making the first of a record 4 Kangaroo Tours as a player, was the leading point scorer on the tour with 166 from 10 tries and 68 goals including 48 points in the three Tests against Great Britain (2 tries, 21 goals). Manly-Warringah's Queensland winger John Ribot was the leading try scorer on the tour with 25.
The 1982 Kangaroos became known as The Invincibles after becoming the first team to go undefeated on a Kangaroo Tour.
| game | Date | Result | Venue | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 October | Australia def. Hull Kingston Rovers 30–10 | 10,742 | ||
| 2 | 13 October | Australia def. Wigan 13–9 | 12,158 | ||
| 3 | 15 October | Australia def. Barrow 29–2 | 6,282 | ||
| 4 | 17 October | Australia def. St Helens 32–0 | 8,190 | ||
| 5 | 20 October | Australia def. Leeds 31–4 | 11,570 | ||
| 6 | 24 October | def. 37–7 | 5,617 | ||
| 7 | 30 October | def. 40–4 | 26,771 | ||
| 8 | 3 November | Australia def. Leigh 44–4 | 7,680 | ||
| 9 | 7 November | Australia def. Bradford Northern 13–6 | 10,506 | ||
| 10 | 9 November | Australia def. Cumbria 41–2 | 5,748 | ||
| 11 | 14 November | Australia def. Fulham 22–5 | 10,432 | ||
| 12 | 16 November | Australia def. Hull F.C. 13–7 | 16,049 | ||
| 13 | 20 November | def. 27–6 | 23,126 | ||
| 14 | 23 November | Australia def. Widnes 19–6 | 9,790 | ||
| 15 | 28 November | def. 32–8 | 17,318 |