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Widnes RLFC
The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. Their historic nickname is "The Chemics" after the main industry in Widnes, but now they use their modern nickname, "The Vikings". The club enjoyed a period of success in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, and were frequently described as "Cup Kings" reaching the Challenge Cup Final 7 times in 10 years between 1975 and 1984. In 1989, after winning their third Rugby League Premiership, Widnes became the first official World Club Champions by beating the Australian champions Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford. They have a strong local rivalry with Warrington Wolves. Widnes are the last team other than Wigan, St Helens, Leeds or Bradford to win the top division which occurred i ...
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Widnes Vikings Logo
Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap#Runcorn Gap, Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn. Upstream to the east is Warrington, and 4 miles downstream to the west is Speke, a suburb of Liverpool. Before the Industrial Revolution, Widnes was a small settlement on marsh and moorland. In 1847, the chemist and industrialist John Hutchinson (industrialist), John Hutchinson established a chemical factory at Spike Island, Widnes, Spike Island. The town grew in population and rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry. The demand for labour was met by large-scale immigration from Ireland, Poland, Lithuania and Wales. The town continues to be ...
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1981 Challenge Cup
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán Department, Morazán and Chalatenango Department, Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican City, Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DMC DeLorean, DeLorean automobile, ...
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Warrington Wolves
Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warrington are the only British-based club to have played every season in the top flight. They have won the List of British rugby league champions, League Championship three times and the Challenge Cup nine times. The club's traditional home colours are white, primrose and blue. Warrington have local rivalries with Widnes Vikings, Widnes, St Helens R.F.C., St Helens and Wigan Warriors, Wigan. History Early years: 1876–1895 Although the official foundation date for the club is given as 1876, rugby football was certainly played in the town before that date and there was an earlier club bearing the name of Warrington Football Club. Under the heading 'Outdoor Sports – Football' the Widnes Guardian of 25 January 1873 reports on a recent game betwee ...
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Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembley Stadium) in the United Kingdom, and the twelfth-largest in Europe. It is about from Old Trafford Cricket Ground and the adjacent tram stop. Nicknamed "The Theatre of Dreams" by Bobby Charlton, Old Trafford has been United's home ground since 1910, although from 1941 to 1949 the club shared Maine Road with local rivals Manchester City as a result of Second World War bomb damage. Old Trafford underwent several expansions in the 1990s and 2000s, including the addition of extra tiers to the North, West and East Stands, almost returning the stadium to its original capacity of 80,000. Should further expansion occur, it is likely to involve the addition of a second tier to the South Stand, which would raise the capacity to around 8 ...
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Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership since 1982. Over this period the club has won three premierships out of six Grand Finals, the last one played being the 2019 NRL Grand Final, resulting in a 14-8 loss to the Sydney Roosters. Canberra currently have the second longest active premiership drought in the NRL totalling 30 years. The Raiders' current home ground is Canberra Stadium in Bruce. Previously, the team played home matches at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, with the move to the Canberra Stadium in Bruce taking place in 1990. The official symbol for the Canberra Raiders is the Viking. The Viking, also a mascot at Raiders' games, is known as Victor the Viking. As part of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership's ...
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World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. Super League sides have won the competition 15 times with National Rugby League sides having 14 wins. The first such match was played in 1976, although this was not an official competitive game. The first official World Club Challenge saw Widnes Vikings beat Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford on 4 October 1989, after which it became a semi-regular fixture, thought was paused in the 1990s due to the Super League war. The competition has been held every year since 2000 (excluding 2020–2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Sydney Roosters and Wigan Warriors have both won the competition 5 times, the joint highest in all formats since the competition began. Wigan Warriors are the most recent champions after winning the 2024 event, defeating the Penrith Panthers 16– ...
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Rugby League Premiership
The Rugby League Premiership was a competition for British rugby league clubs between 1973 and 1995. As the Super League Premiership the competition continued until 1997. History From 1909 until 1973 (except for 1962–64) the Rugby Football League Championship used a play-off format to determine the league champions. For the 1973–74 season the league was split into two divisions, and a play-off system was no longer used. In order to maintain interest towards the end of the season a new competition, the Club Championship, was introduced to replace the play-offs. The Harry Sunderland Trophy, which had until then been awarded to the man of the match in the championship final, was instead awarded in the premiership final. The first season saw 16 teams take part: the top 12 of the first division and the top four from the second division. The following season saw the title change to "Premiership", and the format was altered so that only the top eight teams in the first division ...
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Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Football League. Based at Sportcity in Manchester, it is responsible for organising professional competitions and, in association with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA), the community game. It also provides RFL match officials, match officials for every level as well as administering the England national rugby league team, England national team The Rugby Football League has been a member of the International Rugby League (IRL) since 1948 and European Rugby League (ERL) since its foundation in 2003. History Formation On Tuesday 27 August 1895, as a result of an emergency meeting in Manchester, prominent Lancashire rugby clubs Broughton Rangers, Leigh, Oldham, Rochdale Hornets, St Helens, Tyldesley, Warrington, Widnes and ...
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RFL Championship
The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) after the Super League. Introduced in 2003 as National League One, it replaced the existing Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, Second Division. It was rebranded as the Championship in 2009. The league consists of 14 teams, with the winner decided by a Championship Grand Final, playoff and relegation to RFL League One, League One. The current champions are Wakefield Trinity, winners of the 2024 season after beating Toulouse Olympique in the Championship Grand Final. History 1902–1973: Establishment and regular competition Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, Second division rugby league competitions have been played at various times since 1902, and have been in place annually since 1973. When Super Leag ...
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Rugby League
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playing field, field measuring wide and long with H-shaped posts at both ends. It is one of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two major codes of rugby football, the other being rugby union. It originated in 1895 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, as the result of a History of rugby league#The schism in England, split from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) over the issue of payments to players.Tony Collins, ''Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain'' (2006), p.3 The rules of the game governed by the new Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union progressively changed from those of the RFU with the specific aim of producing a faster and more entertaining game to appeal to paying spectators, on whose income the new ...
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Ray Dutton
Raymond "Ray" F. Dutton (born c. 1946) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Runcorn ARLFC, Widnes Rovers ARLFC, Widnes and Whitehaven, as a right-footed toe-end style (rather than round the corner style) goal-kicking , and coached at club level for Whitehaven and Widnes Tigers ARLFC (1981 – ). Background Ray Dutton's birth was registered in Runcorn district, Cheshire, England, he worked as a painter and decorator , as of he worked at the North West Ambulance Service in Widnes, Cheshire, England. Playing career International honours Ray Dutton won caps for England while at Widnes in 1970 against Wales, and France, in the 1975 Rugby League World Cup against Australia, and won caps for Great Britain while at Widnes in 1970 against New Zealand (2 matches), and in the 1970 Rugby League Worl ...
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