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| 1984–85 Rugby Football League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Slalom Lager Championship |
| Teams | 16 |
| Champions | |
| Premiership winners | |
| Man of Steel | |
| Top point-scorer | |
| Top try-scorer | |
| Promotion and relegation | |
| Promoted from Second Division | |
| Relegated to Second Division | |
| Second Division | |
| Champions | |
| Top try-scorer | |
The1984–85Rugby Football League season was the 90th ever season of professionalrugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams played each other from August 1984 until May 1985 for theSlalom Lager Championship. Also these 16 teams plus several more competed for theChallenge Cup.
Aside from retaining the ChampionshipHull Kingston Rovers won theJohn Player Special Trophy and reached the finals of both thePremiership andYorkshire Cup, they were beaten in the Semi-Final of theChallenge Cup meaning they played in every possible game of the season bar one.
On 21 October 1984Peter Wood kicked a record-equalling fivedrop goals forRuncorn Highfield in a match againstBatley. On 28 October, two tries byMal Meninga inspireSt. Helens, to beatWigan 26–18, and win theLancashireCounty Cup for the first time in 16 years.
The 1985Man of Steel Award went toBradford Northern utilityback,Ellery Hanley. He also became the first man to score more than 50 tries in a season sinceBilly 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 doubleround 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 renamedBridgend Blue Dragons, andKent Invicta relocated and were renamed wereSouthend Invicta,Huddersfield were renamedHuddersfield Barracudas, andMansfield Marksman, andSheffield Eagles joined the Second Division. As of 2025, 11th in the Second Division is the lowest position thatWakefield Trinity have ever finished.
St. Helens beatWigan 26–18 to win theLancashireCounty Cup, andHull F.C. beatHull Kingston Rovers 29–12 to win theYorkshireCounty Cup.
Hull Kingston Rovers finished on top of the First Division table to claim their fifth championship.
Championship final Standings[edit]
| Second Division Final Standings[edit]
|
The 1984–85Silk CutChallenge Cup was won byWigan after defeatingHull F.C. in the final.
The Final was played on 4 May atWembley 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]