1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in 1937. As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74-year-old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship (he finished that race in second behind his rival Kenny Carter), Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship.


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting.


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
In Heat 6, Denmark's future triple World Champion Erik Gundersen set the 4 lap record of 66.8 seconds for the 345 metres (377 yards) long track when he defeated eventual 3rd placed rider Tommy Knudsen (Denmark), Jiří Štancl (Czechoslovakia) and Zenon Plech (Poland). As this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, British Qualification, British Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, Intercontinental Round, American Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, Intercontinental Round, Overseas Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, Intercontinental Round, Intercontinental Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1981 Individual Speedway World Championship, World Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


1981 Inner Mongolia student protest
The 1981 Inner Mongolia student protest, which took place in Inner Mongolia from 22 August to 15 November 1981, opposed a package of new policies that would worsen steppe degradation in the Inner Mongolia steppe and worsen the political representation of Chinese Mongols. The new policies included "we shall have 100 million cattle within the next decade", "the influx of rural-to-urban migrants from neighboring provinces shall be settled rather than be blocked" and "placing mongol officials in place in Mongols-majority settlements while Han officials in place in Han-majority settlements".


1981 Inner Mongolia student protest
The protest were mostly organized by the students of Inner Mongolia University. The policies were proposed by then Inner Mongolia Chief party secretary Zhou Hui and sanctioned by the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China at its meeting on 16 July 1981, chaired by then top party secretary Hu Yaobang.


1981 Inner Mongolia student protest, Aftermath
Hu Yaobang, known for his restraint approach towards students, ordered Zhou Hui to not arrest any students. While the students were left unscathed as promised, many bureaucrats, school headmasters and teachers were demoted.


1981 Intercontinental Cup
The 1981 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Flamengo of Brazil on 13 December 1981 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. The annual Intercontinental Cup was contested between the winners of the European Cup and Copa Libertadores. Flamengo qualified for the Intercontinental Cup for the first time following their Copa Libertadores Cup success. Liverpool were also appearing in their first Intercontinental Cup. They had declined to take part in 1977 and 1978 after they won the European Cup. On 27 October 2017, following a meeting held in Kolkata, India, the FIFA Council recognised the winners of Intercontinental Cup as world champions.


1981 Intercontinental Cup
Liverpool qualified for the Intercontinental Cup by winning the primary European cup competition, the European Cup. They won the 1980–81 European Cup defeating Spanish team Real Madrid 1–0 in the final. Flamengo qualified by winning the primary South American cup competition, the Copa Libertadores. They beat Chilean team Cobreloa 2–0 in a playoff after the previous ties finished 2–2 on points to win the 1981 Copa Libertadores.


1981 Intercontinental Cup
Watched by a crowd of 62,000, Flamengo took the lead in the 12th minute when João Batista Nunes scored. They extended their lead in the 34th minute when Adílio added a second. A further goal was scored in the 41st minute by Nunes to give Flamengo a 3–0 lead at half-time. Liverpool were unable to respond in the second half and with no further goals scored, Flamengo won the match to secure their first victory in the Intercontinental Cup. It was the fourth successive victory by a South American team.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Background
Liverpool qualified for the Intercontinental Cup as the reigning European Cup winners. They won the 1980–81 European Cup beating Real Madrid 1–0 in the final. This was their first appearance in the Intercontinental Cup. They had been scheduled to take place in 1977 and 1978 but did not compete. They declined to play in 1977 and were replaced by runners-up Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Liverpool decided against playing Boca Juniors in 1978 due to the brutality of previous Intercontinental Cup matches.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Background
Flamengo qualified for the competition as a result of winning the 1981 Copa Libertadores. They beat Chilean team Cobreloa 2–0 in a playoff after the previous two-legs had resulted in a 2–2 draw on points. The second leg and replay were marred by brutality. Flamengo players Adílio and Lico were cut by a rock brought onto the pitch by Cobreloa defender Mario Soto during the second leg. While four players were sent off in the playoff. It was Flamengo's first appearance in the Intercontinental Cup after winning the Copa Libertadores for the first time.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Background
Liverpool's last match before the Intercontinental Cup was against Arsenal in the fourth round of the 1981–82 Football League Cup. They won 3–0 in extra time courtesy of goals from Craig Johnston, Terry McDermott and Kenny Dalglish. The last match Flamengo played before the Intercontinental Cup was against Vasco de Gama in the final match of the 1981 Campeonato Carioca. Flamengo won 2–1 with goals from Adílio and João Batista Nunes to win the competition. Before the match, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley was informed of the death of goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar's father. It was decided to keep the news of the death from him to maintain his focus on the match.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Match, Summary
The first chance fell to Flamengo in the 12th minute, which they scored from. Zico passed to Nunes, who had run in between Liverpool defenders Phil Neal and Phil Thompson. The pass went over Thompson's head and Nunes placed the ball beyond Grobbelaar with his first touch to give Flamengo the lead. Ian Hargraves, writing in the Liverpool Daily Post stated that the first goal "was a shattering blow and one from which Liverpool never recovered."


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Match, Summary
He also noted that "The Brazilians, playing their 77th game of the season, stroked the ball around with loving care and always had time to spare." The next chance of the match fell to Flamengo defender Júnior. A corner taken by Tita found Júnior, who was 30 yards (27 m) from goal, his volley was just wide of the Liverpool goal. Soon after, Flamengo were awarded a free-kick when Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott brought down Tita. As Zico ran in to take the free-kick, a Flamengo player moved out of the wall in front of the Liverpool goal.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Match, Summary
This left a gap through which Zico's shot went, although Grobbelaar was able to stop the shot, the rebound fell to Adílio, who scored to give Flamengo a 2–0 lead. A third goal followed seven minutes later. Zico's pass put Nunes past the Liverpool defence and his precise shot from the right-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area went past Grobbelaar to give Flamengo a 3–0 lead.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Match, Summary
Flamengo nearly added a fourth goal before half time, but Andrade's shot was saved by Grobbelaar. In the second half, Flamengo were content to protect the lead and played possession football for the most part. Liverpool continued to press for a goal and replaced McDermott with David Johnson early in the half. However, despite two shots on target from striker Craig Johnston, who was playing his first match for Liverpool, they were unable to score a goal. The match finished 3–0 to Flamengo to secure their first victory in the Intercontinental Cup.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Flamengo manager Carpegiani was delighted with his team's performance: "We were magnificent in the first half when I thought Liverpool were very disappointing. We played Zico further back than usual and, though he did not score, he did most of the damage". Reflecting on the match in a later interview, Andrade acknowledged the importance of playmaker Zico: “Zico was the great player in that team, but alongside him there was a lot of quality. It was a doddle in the first half. In the second half we managed the game.”


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Zico felt the Liverpool players had underestimated the ability of Flamengo: “Liverpool were the best team in Europe and they continued being so, they had high-quality players, great technical ability, but Flamengo played much better football and maybe they didn't expect we would be so strong.” Zico was awarded a Toyota Celica as a result of him being named man of the match.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Liverpool manager Paisley was at a loss to describe his team's performance: "I have never seen our team so dull, so lacking in ideas and aggression. I simply cannot understand it". Liverpool captain Thompson was equally unsure about why they had failed to match Flamengo: “We let them dictate the pace of the game. We should have tried to quicken it up instead of attempting to match them at their slower tempo. We never played as we can do, and everyone knows we can do".


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness praised the performance of Zico: “I wanted to see how he would react to a physical challenge, but I couldn't get close enough to him to find out." Looking back years later, Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson admitted the players didn't take the match as seriously as Flamengo: “We simply didn't take the game seriously, the Brazilian boys had been there for ten days, training and acclimatising, and it was a big deal for them. They absolutely battered us. Zico was sensational.”


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Liverpool finished the 1981–82 Football League First Division in first place, four points clear of Ipswich Town in second place. They also won the 1981–82 Football League Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 in the final. Despite their domestic success, Liverpool were unable to retain the European Cup. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals after Bulgarian team CSKA Sofia won 2–1 over two-legs.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
Flamengo won the 1982 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A defeating Grêmio in the finals. However, they were unable to retain the Copa Libertadores in 1982. They reached the semi-finals, but were eliminated by eventual winners Peñarol.


1981 Intercontinental Cup, Post-match
A decision by the FIFA Council in 2017, considered all previous winners of the Intercontinental Cup to be world champions, on the same level as the FIFA Club World Cup. The two teams met each other again in the final of the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup. Liverpool won the final 1–0 in extra time.


1981 Intercontinental Cup (baseball)
The 1981 Intercontinental Cup was held in Canada. Eight teams competed in the tournament which was won by the United States national baseball team.


1981 Intercontinental Final
The 1981 Intercontinental Final was the seventh running of the Intercontinental Final as part of the qualification for the 1981 Speedway World Championship. The 1981 Final was run on 5 July on a wet night at the Speedway Center (owned by triple World Champion Ole Olsen) in Vojens, Denmark, and was the last qualifying stage for riders from Scandinavia, the USA and from the Commonwealth nations for the World Final to be held at the Wembley Stadium in London, England.


1981 Intercontinental Final
American star Bruce Penhall signalled his intentions by dominating the meeting with a 15-point maximum in difficult conditions. Rising Danes Erik Gundersen (Penhall's team mate at Cradley Heath) and Hans Nielsen delighted the home crowd by finishing in second and third with Nielsen defeating Kenny Carter in a runoff for third place.


1981 Intercontinental Final
Considered something of a spent force as he was nearing the end of his career, but racing on the track that he part owns (English television commentator Dave Lanning called it a swamp due to the conditions), Ole Olsen also gave the crowd in Vojens something to cheer as he scored 6 points to claim the final spot in the World Final at Wembley.


1981 Intercontinental Final
In another bonus for Danish speedway, 1980 European Under-21 Champion Tommy Knudsen made it four Danes going to the World Final when he finished in 6th place, while another local Preben Eriksen claimed the World Final reserve spot. The other World Final qualifiers were Dave Jessup, Jan Andersson, Chris Morton, Larry Ross and reigning World Champion Michael Lee.


1981 Intercontinental Final
The meeting was controversial. The notorious weather in Vojens struck and after the first round of heats the riders voted 14-2 not to return to the track due to the wet conditions (only track owner Olsen and Hans Nielsen wanted to continue). After a 90-minute delay the FIM referee threatened the riders with disqualification from the meeting if they did not continue racing.


1981 Intercontinental Final
A compromise was eventually reached and the track was tested by two local junior riders, following which the meeting resumed, though the riders continued to voice their concerns led by Penhall despite he being the one rider who seemed to come to grips with the conditions, and six time World Champion Ivan Mauger.


1981 Intercontinental Final
After the meeting both Penhall and Mauger publicly criticised the Polish referee on British television for not listening to the riders about the condition of the track, with Mauger claiming that the referee feigned not being able to speak English when he refused to speak to the riders (Mauger contended that he had dealt with this particular referee in the past and that he did indeed speak English).


1981 International Open
The 1981 Jameson International was the first staging of the professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 2 and 20 September 1981 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, England. with television coverage on ITV from 14 September right up to the final.


1981 International Open
Steve Davis won the tournament by defeating Dennis Taylor 9–0 in the final.


1981 Intertoto Cup
In the 1981 Intertoto Cup no knock-out rounds were contested, and therefore no winner was declared.


1981 Intertoto Cup, Group stage
The teams were divided into nine groups of four teams each.


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1981 Big Ten Conference football season. The Hawks were 6–2 in conference play and were Big Ten Conference co-champions. Iowa went to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 23 years. Their previous appearance in the 1958 season, when Iowa won the 1959 Rose Bowl. This time Iowa had a more difficult time, shutout by Don James's Washington Huskies, 28–0. It was also Iowa's first winning season since 1961. The Hawkeyes finished the 1981 season at 8–4.


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
Several Iowa players ranked among the Big Ten leaders, including the following:


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Schedule
In 1981, Iowa played eight conference games, missing one opponent. The government of Iowa mandated that they resume their series with Iowa State. Iowa did not play Ohio State in 1981; OSU was also 8-3 and 6-2 in the Big Ten to tie for the conference title. The Buckeyes won their bowl game, the 1981 Liberty Bowl over Navy, and finished at 9-3.


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, at Michigan
The Hawkeyes won 9-7 at #5 Michigan, their third victory over a top ten team during the 1981 season. It was Iowa's first victory over the Wolverines since 1962.


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Purdue
The 33-7 win was Iowa's first over the Boilermakers since 1960, and secured the Hawkeyes' first winning season since 1961.


1981 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Michigan State
Iowa earns first Rose Bowl since 1958 with Michigan's loss to Ohio State, which was announced with 6:14 left in the first quarter.


1981 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The 1981 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State University during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at Cyclone Stadium in Ames, Iowa. They participated as members of the Big Eight Conference. The team was coached by head coach Donnie Duncan. The offensive coordinator was Mack Brown.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
On 29 September 1981, an Iranian Air Force C-130 military cargo aircraft crashed into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran. The plane was flying from Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province to Tehran, while returning from an inspection tour of Iranian military gains in the Iran–Iraq War.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
The crashed killed 80 people, including former Defence Minister Javad Fakoori, then-Defence Minister Mousa Namjoo, then-Chief-of-Staff of the Army Valiollah Fallahi, and then-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Jahanara.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash, Background
In order to break the Siege of Abadan, the Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh was performed from 27 to 29 September 1981. To transfer the report of the Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh to Tehran, it was decided that several Iranian military leaders were to return to Tehran by a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash, Crash
At 19:00 local time (15:30 UTC) on 29 September 1981, the C-130 cargo aircraft crashed into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran. The plane was flying from Ahvaz in southwestern Khuzestan Province to Tehran, while returning from an inspection tour of Iranian military gains in the Iran–Iraq War.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash, Crash, Casualties
The crashed killed all 80 people on board, including former Defence Minister Javad Fakoori, then-Defence Minister Mousa Namjoo, Iranian General Valiollah Fallahi, and then-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Jahanara. The four had played vital roles in the Iran–Iraq War, and the plane was carrying casualties of the war.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash, Crash, Casualties
Initially, there was no official explanation for what caused the crash. The crash caused Iran to lose several military leaders, who were trying to break the Siege of Abadan. An undetermined number of Iranians who were wounded from the war were also in the plane.


1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash, Causes
There was no official explanation given for reasons of the crash, and just one source called it the result of a "technical fault". On the other hand, in a speech following the incident Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini made a reference to Mujahedeen Khalq as the perpetrator without clearly condemning the leftist group.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
The office of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, was bombed on 30 August 1981 by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), killing Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and six other Iranian government officials. The briefcase bombing came two months after the Hafte Tir bombing, which killed over seventy senior Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti, then Iran's second-highest official.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
According to sources, nobody "knew exactly who had been in the room at the time of the detonation." Eventually, there were three participants that had been unaccounted for that included  Masoud Keshmiri, Rajai, and Bahonar. It was later revealed that both Rajai and Bahonar had died in the explosion. According to Albert Benliot, Ayatollah Khomeini charged the MEK with responsibility for the bombing, "however, there has been much speculation among academics and observers that these bombings may have actually been planned by senior IRP leaders, including later Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP."


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
Afterwards, the interim presidential council announced five national days of mourning, and Iran's Parliament selected Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani as the next prime minister.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Bombing
According to the survivors, the bomb exploded when one of the victims opened a briefcase brought by Masoud Keshmiri as an "agent of MEK". Ettela'at reported that the explosion destroyed the first floor and partially damaged the second floor of the Prime Minister's building, located on Pastor Street. Rajai, Bahonar, and military and security officials were killed. The injured were rescued from the rubble and transported to the hospital. Due to their severe burns, the corpses were not easily identified, and some of the victims were identified through their teeth.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Suspects
Although no group claimed responsibility for the bombing, it was nevertheless attributed to the MEK. Ann K. Reed notes that Western observers believe the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) was "most likely to have been responsible for the bomb blasts of June 28 and August 30." However, Van England notes that "the explosions were set off by insiders – the first by an accomplice working in the offices of the IRP, the second by the guard in charge of security at Prime Minister Bahonar's headquarters."


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Suspects
Mangol Bayat also expressed doubts that the MEK would be capable the attacks "since infiltration of the regime at the very high level would have been necessary." The Islamic Republic of Iran later claimed  that the attack was carried out by MEK agent Masoud Keshmiri, secretary of Bahonar's office and of the Supreme National Security Council, who used a fake passport to escape Iran after the attack.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Suspects
More than twenty suspects were identified in the subsequent investigation, including Masoud Keshmiri, Ali Akbar Tehrani, Mohammad Kazem Peiro Razawi, Khosro Ghanbari Tehrani, Javad Ghadiri, Mohsen Sazgara, Taghi Mohammadi, and Habibollah Dadashi.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Suspects, Perpetrator
The Islamic Republic of Iran identified Masoud Keshmiri (who had served as Bahonar's office secretary for a year prior to the bombing) as the perpetrator. An official in the Prosecutor General's office said that Keshmiri had concealed his anti-government activities so well that a corpse mistaken for his was buried on 31 August with full honors as a martyr of the Islamic revolution.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Suspects, Perpetrator
Abdol Hossein Daftarian was stuck in the elevator after the explosion, where he suffocated to death. The MEK bought some time for Keshmiri by spreading the rumor that the man found in the elevator was actually him. Although the Iranian authorities arrested and executed numerous MEK agents, Keshmiri fled the country using a fake passport.


1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing, Aftermath
Following the deaths of Rajai and Bahonar, an interim presidential council was formed, as stipulated by Article 130 of the Iranian Constitution. The interim council consisted of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Parliament's speaker, and Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabili, then president of the Supreme Court. The council announced five national days of mourning and nominated Interior Minister Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani to Parliament as the next prime minister. Parliament held an election on 2 October 1981 to elect Bahonar's successor; Kani won a parliamentary vote of confidence to become prime minister, receiving 178 votes in favor, 10 votes against, and 8 abstentions (out of 196 total votes).


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa
The 1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa was a series of matches played by the Ireland national rugby union team in South Africa in May and June 1981. The Irish team played seven matches, of which they won three. They lost the Test Series 2–0 to the Springboks.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
Ireland embarked on their first tour to South Africa after a twenty-year absence on the back of a five nations championship which they were widely considered to be favourites to win but ended with four defeats having lost all their matches for the first time since 1977. Despite condemnation from political and ecclesiastical sources, the IRFU honoured their promise to undertake a seven match tour against multiracial sides and included twelve uncapped players as well as half a dozen former British and Irish Lions in the touring party. A number of players had resigned their posts when employers declined to grant leave of absence for the tour whilst others had no option but to simply declare their unavailability.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
Of the seven matches played, the majority including both test matches were lost. Injuries to two key players proved difficult to overcome. John Robbie (later to become a non-capped Springbok) injured a shoulder in the first half of the opening fixture and only gained match fitness in the last few days of the tour whilst Ollie Campbell only played twice on tour, his replacement Mick Quinn having last played international rugby in March 1977.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
Ahead of the Gazelles fixture (the SA U-24 side), much had been made of the attacking potential of the Irish three-quarters yet on the day the only points Ireland scored in front of a 35,000 crowd were through the boot of Kevin O'Brien as the tourists were outplayed in the line-out through the work of lock Skinner. There was nothing particularly undersized about the under-24 side featuring a number of future Springboks in their ranks including Jannie Breedt, the 21 stone Flippie van der Merwe and Piet Kruger as props and 6'9" Vleis Visagie at lock. Future Springbok coach Carel du Plessis scored one try from the wing playing alongside SARFF's Wilfred Cupido, one of four coloured players included in the list of the sixty-four trialists ahead of the three test series in New Zealand later on in the year.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
The second fixture played at Olen Park -scene of Mike Slemen's unforgettable try during the 1980 BIRUT tour, saw Ireland take on fairly underwhelming opposition in the guise of the Gold Mining Invitation XV. Solomon Mhlaba, a tourist to the UK with the 1979 SA Baa Baas started at full back for the GMI but he saw little of the ball to demonstrate his attacking prowess as Ireland ran in seven tries with John Murphy contributing a total of eighteen points via his boot from fullback.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
There were first caps for Murphy, Paul Dean and Jerry Holland at Newlands, a game which Ireland could undoubtedly have won, matching the Springbok pack in all phases of the game but they were seriously undermined and derailed by injuries to both Murphy and Campbell, which ultimately ruled both players out for the remainder of the tour.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Matches
The Irish pack simply surpassed themselves throughout the second test at Kings Park with the back row of O'Driscoll, Slattery and Duggan quite magnificent as the bigger Springbok pack were outplayed in every phase of the game. Holding a 7–6 half time lead courtesy of a searing try from full back O'Brien and a Quinn penalty to a Botha drop goal and penalty, another Quinn penalty extended the lead out to 10–6. Yet a further two Botha drop goals were to deprive Ireland of their glory, as he became only the fourth player in history to drop three goals in a test, his final effort being only minutes from the end of the game.


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Touring party, Three-quarters
Freddie McLennan (Wanderers); Keith Crossan* (Instonians); David Irwin (Queen's University); A W Irwin* (Queens' University): J A Hewitt*(NIFC); Michael Kiernan*(Lansdowne); Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College);


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Touring party, Half-backs
Paul Dean* (St.Mary's College); Ollie Campbell(Old Belvedere) [ rep: M A M Quinn(Lansdowne)]; John Robbie (Greystones) [ rep: J B O' Connor*(Palmerston)] Robbie McGrath (Wanderers);


1981 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa, Touring party, Forwards
Phil Orr (Old Wesley); John Cantrell (UCD); Harry Harbison* (UCD); Gerry McLoughlin (Shannon); Des Fitzgerald* (Lansdowne); Brendan Foley (Shannon); J J Holland*(Cork Constitution); G H Wallace* (Old Wesley); John O'Driscoll (London Irish); Fergus Slattery (Blackrock College); R K Kearney* (Wanderers); Willie Duggan (Blackrock College); A F O'Leary* (Cork Constitution)


1981 Irian Jaya earthquake
On January 19, 1981, eastern Indonesia was struck by an earthquake known as the 1981 Irian Jaya earthquake. Registering a moment magnitude of 6.7, it killed more than 300 people, damaging structures and buildings across the Irian Jaya province. Indonesia is highly active in terms of seismicity and volcanic eruptions, with a subduction zone and many faults. It is neighbored by several tectonic plates. Such earthquakes pose a significant threat to life in the area through earthquakes and also tsunamis.


1981 Irian Jaya earthquake, Geology
Indonesia, one of the most seismically active places in the world, hosts hundreds of islands, many with volcanoes. It is an island arc, composed by a subduction zone (in the Sunda Trench) and islands. Unlike most subduction zones, the Sunda Trench is parallel to the chain of islands to which it corresponds, creating strike-slip faulting. Indonesia itself is surrounded by multiple tectonic plates – namely the Pacific, the Southeast Asia lithospheric, and the Indo-Australian Plates – causing it to be a so-called hotspot for both seismic and volcanic activity. The epicenter was in Papua Province, in the Irian Jaya Province. The orientation and type of faulting is uncertain, due to a poorly constrained focal mechanism but is thought to have been a reverse fault.


1981 Irian Jaya earthquake, Damage and casualties
Spawning enormous landslides, the earthquake left at least 305 people dead and more than 1,000 missing. Entire villages were covered by debris. It was described as "strong" by The New York Times. The earthquake caused huge landslides, which cascaded into the villages below the mountains, destroying more than 150 homes. The debris from these flows blocked transportation by road, "cutting off more than 2,000 area residents". Relief efforts took several days.


1981 Irian Jaya earthquake, Future threats
Indonesia is known for deadly earthquakes, primarily the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 227,000 people. Earthquakes along the subduction zone at Sunda and on the Great Sumatran fault pose a serious threat to life, especially in the form of tsunamis. A 2005 study found that stress on at least these two zones was at a heightened level, and both have been active. The Sunda Trench zone has since produced the 2006 Pangandaran earthquake and tsunami, while the Great Sumatran fault has not produced an earthquake since the 2004 event.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 1981 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during June and July with the final being held at Shelbourne Park in Dublin on 25 July 1981.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner Bold Work won £25,000 and was trained by Frank O'Regan, owned by Breda O'Regan and bred by Michael Foley. The competition was sponsored by Carrolls.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
An historic 50th Irish Greyhound Derby event attracted 118 runners. The Irish challenge was headed by Produce Stakes winner Calandra Champ trained by Francie Murray and owned by Eddie Costello. The main English challenge was Upland Tiger trained by George Curtis and both hounds showed their class winning in fast times on opening night of 29.09 and 29.08 respectively.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The second round produced some controversy when Bonifacio won in 31.55, the bookmakers felt the stewards should have declared a no race because of the time and stood down for the next race. Two runners Kool Dude and Millbowe Sam broke 29 seconds winning in 28.88 and 28.96. The third round saw Cooladine Super go best in 29.06 with Upland Tiger and Calandra Champ winning once again. Bold Work was next to show his hand winning his quarter-final in 29.10 with further wins for Cooladine Super, Calandra Champ and Oran Jack.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Calandra Champ continued a faultless run to the final beating Robbie Lad by six lengths in the first semi, Moreen Rocket defeated Bold Work in the second heat and Murlens Blond and Brickyard Gem qualified from the final heat with Upland Tiger being eliminated.


1981 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
In the final Calandra Champ made a poor start and after trouble at the first his challenge had ended. Bold Work led early pursued by Brickyard Gem and Robbie Lad. Bold Work held on well and came home first holding off a late challenge by Calandra Champ who had run a remarkable race to gain considerable ground.


1981 Irish Masters
The 1981 Irish Masters was the seventh edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament, which took place from 18 to 21 February 1981. The tournament was played at Goffs in Kill, County Kildare, and featured ten professional players.


1981 Irish Masters
Terry Griffiths won the title for the second time, beating Ray Reardon 9–7 in the final.


1981 Irish general election
The 1981 Irish general election was held on Thursday, 11 June, three weeks after the dissolution of the Dáil on 21 May. The newly elected 166 members of the 22nd Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 30 June when a new Taoiseach and government were appointed.


1981 Irish general election
The general election took place in 41 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 166 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann. The number of seats in the Dáil was increased by 18 from 148 to 166.


1981 Irish general election, Campaign
The general election of 1981 was the first one of five during the 1980s. The election also saw three new leaders of the three main parties fight their first general election. Charles Haughey had become Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil at the end of 1979, Garret FitzGerald was the new leader of Fine Gael and Frank Cluskey was in charge of the Labour Party.


1981 Irish general election, Campaign
Haughey and Fianna Fáil seemed extremely popular with the electorate in early 1981. He was expected to call the election at the time of the Fianna Fáil ardfheis on 14 February, but the Stardust fire caused the ardfheis to be postponed, and the Republican hunger strike in the Maze Prison began in March. By the dissolution in May, much of the earlier optimism in the party had filtered out. The Anti H-Block movement fielded abstentionist candidates in solidarity with the hunger strikers, undermining the Republican credentials of Fianna Fáil.


1981 Irish general election, Campaign
Fianna Fáil's manifesto promised the electorate more spending programmes and Fine Gael put forward a series of tax-cutting plans.


1981 Irish general election, Result
When the votes were counted the result was inconclusive. Fianna Fáil lost seats as a result of sympathy to the Anti H-Block candidates and the attractive tax proposals of Fine Gael. It was the worst performance for Fianna Fáil in twenty years. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Frank Cluskey lost his seat, necessitating a leadership change with Michael O'Leary succeeding Cluskey. A Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government came to power with Garret FitzGerald becoming Taoiseach.


1981 Irish general election, Dáil membership changes
The following changes took place as a result of the election:


1981 Irish general election, Dáil membership changes
Where more than one change took place in a constituency the concept of successor is an approximation for presentation only. Where a number of related constituency changes took place in an area, such as Cork, the outgoing constituency for retiring TDs and the allocation of new seats are approximations for presentation only. Outgoing TDs re-elected in a new constituency, with no related changes, are not recorded as a change


1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status (prisoner of war rather than criminal status) for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.


1981 Irish hunger strike
The second hunger strike took place in 1981 and was a showdown between the prisoners and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. One hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was elected as a member of parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world. The strike was called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death, including Sands, whose funeral was attended by 100,000 people. The strike radicalised Irish nationalist politics and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background
The use of a hunger strike as a means of protest in Ireland is a tradition dating to pre-Christian times. There had been hunger strikes by Irish republican prisoners since 1917, and twelve men had previously died on hunger strike; Thomas Ashe, Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald, Joe Murphy, Joseph Whitty, Andy O'Sullivan, Denny Barry, Tony D'Arcy, Jack McNeela, Seán McCaughey, Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg. After the introduction of internment in 1971, Long Kesh—later known as HM Prison Maze—was run like a prisoner of war camp. Internees lived in dormitories and disciplined themselves with military-style command structures, drilled with dummy guns made from wood, and held lectures on guerrilla warfare and politics.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background
Convicted prisoners were refused the same rights as internees until July 1972, when Special Category Status was introduced following a hunger strike by 40 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners led by the veteran republican Billy McKee. Special Category, or political status meant prisoners were treated similarly to prisoners of war; for example, not having to wear prison uniforms or do prison work. On 1 March 1976, Merlyn Rees, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Wilson ministry, announced that those people convicted of causing terrorist offences would no longer be entitled to Special Category Status.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background
The policy was not introduced for existing prisoners, but for those convicted of offences after 1 March 1976. The end to Special Category Status was a serious threat to the authority which the paramilitary leaderships inside prison had been able to exercise over their own men, as well as being a propaganda blow.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background, Blanket and dirty protests
On 14 September 1976, newly convicted prisoner Kieran Nugent began the blanket protest, in which IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners refused to wear prison uniforms and either went naked or fashioned garments from prison blankets. In 1978, after a number of clashes between prison officers and prisoners leaving their cells to wash and "slop out" (empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to wash and smeared their excrement on the walls of their cells. These protests aimed to re-establish their political status by securing what were known as the "Five Demands":


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background, Blanket and dirty protests
Initially, this protest did not attract a great deal of attention, and even the IRA regarded it as a side-issue compared to their armed campaign. It began to attract attention when Tomás Ó Fiaich, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, visited the prison and condemned the conditions there. In 1979, former MP Bernadette McAliskey stood in the election for the European Parliament on a platform of support for the protesting prisoners, and won 5.9% of the vote across Northern Ireland, even though Sinn Féin had called for a boycott of the election.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background, Blanket and dirty protests
Shortly after this, the broad-based National H-Block/Armagh Committee was formed, on a platform of support for the "Five Demands", with McAliskey as its main spokesperson. The period leading up to the hunger strike saw assassinations by both republicans and loyalists. The IRA shot and killed a number of prison officers, while loyalist paramilitaries shot and killed a number of activists in the National H-Block/Armagh Committee and badly injured McAliskey and her husband in an attempt on their lives.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background, 1980 hunger strike
On 27 October 1980, republican prisoners in HM Prison Maze began a hunger strike. One hundred and forty-eight prisoners volunteered to be part of the strike, but a total of seven were selected to match the number of men who signed the Easter 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. The group consisted of IRA members Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and INLA member John Nixon.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Background, 1980 hunger strike
On 1 December three prisoners in Armagh Women's Prison joined the strike, including Mairéad Farrell, followed by a short-lived hunger strike by several dozen more prisoners in HM Prison Maze. In a war of nerves between the IRA leadership and the British government, with McKenna lapsing in and out of a coma and on the brink of death, the government appeared to concede the essence of the prisoners' five demands with a thirty-page document detailing a proposed settlement. With the document in transit to Belfast, Hughes took the decision to save McKenna's life and end the strike after 53 days on 18 December.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike
In January 1981, it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not been conceded. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with officially issued civilian clothing, whereas the prisoners demanded the right to wear their own clothing. On 4 February, the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more". The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands, the IRA's former officer commanding (OC) in the prison, refused food. A statement from the prisoners was issued by Danny Morrison:


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike
We have asserted that we are political prisoners and everything about our country, our arrests, interrogations, trials and prison conditions, show that we are politically motivated and not motivated by selfish reasons or for selfish ends. As further demonstration of our selflessness and the justness of our cause a number of our comrades, beginning today with Bobby Sands, will hunger-strike to the death unless the British government abandons its criminalization policy and meets our demand for political status.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike
Unlike the first strike, the prisoners joined one at a time and at staggered intervals, which they believed would arouse maximum public support and exert maximum pressure on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The republican movement initially struggled to generate public support for the second hunger strike. The Sunday before Sands began his strike, 3,500 people marched through west Belfast. During the first hunger strike four months earlier the marchers had numbered 10,000. Five days into the strike, Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Frank Maguire died, resulting in a by-election. There was debate among nationalists and republicans regarding who should contest the election: Austin Currie of the Social Democratic and Labour Party expressed an interest, as did Bernadette McAliskey and Maguire's brother Noel.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike
After negotiations, and implied threats to Noel Maguire, they agreed not to split the nationalist vote by contesting the election and Sands stood as an Anti H-Block candidate against Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West. Following a high-profile campaign the election took place on 9 April, and Sands was elected to the British House of Commons with 30,492 votes to West's 29,046.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike
Sands' election victory raised hopes that a settlement could be negotiated, but Thatcher stood firm in refusing to give concessions to the hunger strikers. She stated "We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political". The world's media descended on Belfast, and several intermediaries visited Sands in an attempt to negotiate an end to the hunger strike, including Síle de Valera, granddaughter of Éamon de Valera, Pope John Paul II's personal envoy John Magee, and European Commission of Human Rights officials. With Sands close to death, the government's position remained unchanged, with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Humphrey Atkins stating "If Mr. Sands persisted in his wish to commit suicide, that was his choice. The Government would not force medical treatment upon him".


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
On 5 May, Sands died in the prison hospital on the 66th day of his hunger strike, prompting rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. Humphrey Atkins issued a statement saying that Sands had committed suicide "under the instructions of those who felt it useful to their cause that he should die". More than 100,000 people lined the route of his funeral, which was conducted with full IRA military honours. Margaret Thatcher showed no sympathy for his death, telling the House of Commons that "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims".


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
In the two weeks following Sands' death, three more hunger strikers died. Francis Hughes died on 12 May, resulting in further rioting in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland, in particular Derry and Belfast. Following the deaths of Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara on 21 May, Tomás Ó Fiaich, by then Primate of All Ireland, criticised the British government's handling of the hunger strike. Despite this, Thatcher continued to refuse to negotiate a settlement, stating "Faced with the failure of their discredited cause, the men of violence have chosen in recent months to play what may well be their last card", during a visit to Belfast in late May.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
Nine protesting prisoners contested the general election in the Republic of Ireland in June. Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew (who was not on hunger strike) were elected in Cavan–Monaghan and Louth respectively, and Joe McDonnell narrowly missed election in Sligo–Leitrim. There were also local elections in Northern Ireland on 20 May, although Sinn Féin did not contest them.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
Some smaller groups and independents who supported the hunger strikers gained seats, such as the Irish Independence Party with 21 seats, while the Irish Republican Socialist Party (the INLA's political wing) and People's Democracy (a Trotskyist group) gained two seats each, and a number of pro-hunger strike independent candidates also won seats. The British government passed the Representation of the People Act 1981 to prevent another prisoner contesting the second by-election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which was due to take place following the death of Sands. On 4 July the prisoners stated they were not asking for preferential treatment, saying "We would warmly welcome the introduction of the Five Demands for all prisoners".


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
Following the deaths of Joe McDonnell and Martin Hurson, the families of some of the hunger strikers attended a meeting on 28 July with Catholic priest Father Denis Faul. The families expressed concern at the lack of a settlement to the priest, and a decision was made to meet with Gerry Adams later that day. At the meeting Father Faul put pressure on Adams to find a way of ending the strike, and Adams agreed to ask the IRA leadership to order the men to end the hunger strike.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
The following day Adams held a meeting with six of the hunger strikers to outline a proposed settlement on offer from the British government should the strike be brought to an end. The six men rejected the settlement, believing that accepting anything less than the "Five Demands" would be a betrayal of the sacrifice made by Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers who had died.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
On 31 July, the hunger strike began to break, when the mother of Paddy Quinn insisted on medical intervention to save his life. The following day Kevin Lynch died, followed by Kieran Doherty on 2 August, Thomas McElwee on 8 August and Michael Devine on 20 August. On the day Devine died, Sands' election agent Owen Carron won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election with an increased number of votes.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
On 6 September, the family of Laurence McKeown became the fourth family to intervene and asked for medical treatment to save his life, and Cahal Daly issued a statement calling on prisoners to end the hunger strike. A week later, James Prior replaced Humphrey Atkins as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and met with prisoners in an attempt to end the strike. Liam McCloskey ended his strike on 26 September after his family said they would ask for medical intervention if he became unconscious, and it became clear that the families of the remaining hunger strikers would also intervene to save their lives.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Deaths and end of strike
The strike was called off at 3:15 pm on 3 October. Three days later, Prior announced partial concessions to the prisoners including the right to wear their own clothes at all times. The only one of the "Five Demands" still outstanding was the right not to do prison work. Following sabotage by the prisoners and the Maze Prison escape in 1983, the prison workshops were closed, effectively granting all of the "Five Demands" but without any formal recognition of political status from the government.


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Participants who died on hunger strike
The original pathologist's report recorded the hunger strikers' cause of death as "self-imposed starvation". This was later amended to simply "starvation", after protests from the dead strikers' families. The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".


1981 Irish hunger strike, 1981 hunger strike, Other participants in the hunger strike
Although ten men died during the course of the hunger strike, thirteen others began refusing food but were taken off hunger strike, either due to medical reasons or after intervention by their families. Many of them still suffer from the effects of the strike, with problems including digestive, visual, physical and neurological disabilities.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
The British press hailed the hunger strike as a triumph for Thatcher, with The Guardian newspaper stating "The Government had overcome the hunger strikes by a show of resolute determination not to be bullied". At the time most thought the hunger strike a crushing defeat for the republicans, a view shared by many within the IRA and Sinn Féin, but Sands' by-election win was a propaganda victory, and the hunger strike became a Pyrrhic victory for Thatcher and the British government. Sands became a martyr to Irish republicans, while Thatcher became a republican hate figure of Cromwellian proportions, with Danny Morrison describing her as "the biggest bastard we have ever known".


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
As with internment in 1971 and Bloody Sunday in 1972, IRA recruitment was boosted, resulting in a new surge of paramilitary activity. There was an upsurge of violence after the comparatively quiet years of the late 1970s, with widespread civil disorder in Northern Ireland and rioting outside the British Embassy in Dublin. Security forces fired 29,695 plastic bullets in 1981, causing seven deaths, compared to a total of around 16,000 bullets and four deaths in the eight years following the hunger strikes.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
The IRA continued its armed campaign during the seven months of the strike, killing 13 policemen, 13 soldiers, including five members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and five civilians. The seven months were one of the bloodiest periods of the Troubles with a total of 61 people killed, 34 of them civilians. Three years later the IRA tried to take their revenge on Thatcher with the Brighton hotel bombing, an attack on the Conservative party conference that killed five people and in which Thatcher herself only narrowly escaped death.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
The hunger strike prompted Sinn Féin to move towards electoral politics. Sands' election victory, combined with that of pro-hunger strike candidates in the Northern Ireland local elections and Dáil elections in the Republic of Ireland, gave birth to the Armalite and ballot box strategy. Gerry Adams remarked that Sands' victory "exposed the lie that the hunger strikers—and by extension the IRA and the whole republican movement—had no popular support". The election victories of Doherty and Agnew also had political impact in the Republic of Ireland, as they denied power to Charles Haughey's outgoing Fianna Fáil government.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
In 1982 Sinn Féin won five seats in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in 1983 Gerry Adams won a seat in the UK general election. As a result of the political base built during the hunger strike, Sinn Féin continued to grow in the following two decades. After the 2001 United Kingdom general election, it became the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Impact of the hunger strike
In 2005, the role of Gerry Adams was questioned by former prisoner Richard O'Rawe, who was the public relations officer inside the prison during the strike. O'Rawe states in his book Blanketmen that Adams prolonged the strike as it was of great political benefit to Sinn Féin and allowed Owen Carron to win Sands' seat. This was denied by several hunger strikers and Brendan McFarlane, who was OC inside the prison during the hunger strike. McFarlane states O'Rawe's version of events is confused and fragmentary, and states "We were desperate for a solution. Any deal that went some way to meeting the five demands would have been taken. If it was confirmed in writing, we'd have grabbed it . . . There was never a deal, there was never a "take it or leave it" option at all".


1981 Irish hunger strike, Commemorations
There are memorials and murals in memory of the hunger strikers in towns and cities across Ireland, including Belfast, Dublin, Derry, Crossmaglen and Camlough. Annual commemorations take place across Ireland for each man who died on the hunger strike, and an annual hunger strike commemoration march is held in Belfast each year, which includes a Bobby Sands memorial lecture. Several towns and cities in France have named streets after Bobby Sands, including Paris and Le Mans.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Commemorations
The government in Tehran, Iran, changed the name of the street on which the British embassy was located to Bobby Sands, from its previous name, Churchill Street. The embassy subsequently changed its mailing address to refer to an entrance door around the corner from the main entrance, to avoid having to use the name of Bobby Sands on their letterhead.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Commemorations
A memorial to the men who died in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Easter Rising and the hunger strike stands in Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, Australia, which is also the burial place of Michael Dwyer of the Society of United Irishmen. In 1997 NORAID's Hartford Unit in the United States dedicated a monument to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers. The monument is a granite Celtic cross standing in a traffic roundabout renamed "Bobby Sands Circle" in 1995. On 3 October 2001—the 20th anniversary of the end of the hunger strike—a  memorial was unveiled by Gerry Adams, Patrick Sheehan and Ahmed Kathrada, on Robben Island, South Africa.


1981 Irish hunger strike, Commemorations
On 20 March 2001 Sinn Féin's national chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin opened the National Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee's exhibition at the Europa Hotel in Belfast, which included three original works of art from Belfast-based artists. A separate exhibition was also launched in Derry the following month. Numerous films have been made based on the events of the hunger strike, including Some Mother's Son starring Helen Mirren, H3 (which was co-written by former hunger striker Laurence McKeown), and Steve McQueen's Hunger.


1981 Isle of Wight County Council election
Local elections of 1981 to the Isle of Wight County Council, a county council in south east England, were held on 7 May 1981. The whole council was up for election, with boundary changes since the last election in 1977, which increasing the number of seats by one. The election resulted in a council with Liberal members holding more than half of the seats.


1981 Isle of Wight County Council election, Election result
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the Council after the elections:


1981 Israel Super Cup
The 1981 Israel Super Cup was the 11th Israel Super Cup (16th, including unofficial matches, as the competition wasn't played within the Israel Football Association in its first 5 editions, until 1969), an annual Israel football match played between the winners of the previous season's Top Division and Israel State Cup.


1981 Israel Super Cup
The match was played between Hapoel Tel Aviv, champions of the 1980–81 Liga Leumit and Bnei Yehuda, winners of the 1980–81 Israel State Cup.


1981 Israel Super Cup
This was Hapoel's 5th Israel Super Cup appearance and Bnei Yehuda's second (both including unofficial matches). At the match, played at Bloomfield Stadium, Hapoel Tel Aviv won 1–0.


1981 Israeli legislative election
Knesset elections were held in Israel on 30 June 1981. The ruling Likud won one more seat than the opposition Alignment, in line with many polls who predicted a tight race. Voter turnout was 78.5%, with Likud receiving around ten thousand more than the Alignment. This elections highlighted the polarization in the country.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Background
Prior to the elections, Menachem Begin's government faced instability due to internal conflict amongst coalition partners and international pressures, as well as issues with corruption, and failure to pass legislation. Discontent with the government was growing, and 40% of people agreed that "the major problems facing the state and the entire political system must be changed and a strong government of leaders and independent of parties should take control". Due to the dissatisfaction with the government, it was expected that Likud would lose the elections.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Parliament factions
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 9th Knesset.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system
The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. This led to numerous parties winning seats and multi-party government coalitions.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Campaign
Since 1965 parties had begun abandoning attempts to frame moral issues in favor of spreading wider nets to catch a bigger range of voters. Rather than focusing on controversial issues that divided them, parties took to forming clusters that resorted to "emotive catchwords" and the lowest common denominator. The party clusters had set aside fundamental ideals in order to work together, which meant that infighting amongst the coalitions was inevitable.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Campaign
Menachem Begin, Likud's most popular candidate, served as a strong factor for the party's resurgence. 40.7 % of the adult Jews responded in favor of seeing Begin as prime minister, with 49% saying Begin would better be able to deal with the country’s problems. The Alignment, whose announcement of potential major ministerial appointments failed to include Yitzhak Rabin, left the impression of a power-hungry group of politicians, with animosity between party leaders Shimon Peres and Rabin.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Campaign
Public perception of the parties became instrumental in the elections; throughout the campaign the Alignment was seen and painted as the establishment party, considered by 48% of Israeli citizens surveyed to be more old-fashioned, despite its opposition to the government for the four years prior. The Alignment was also seen as self-interested by rather than interested in the good of the people, as well as corrupt. Likud, meanwhile, was seen as slightly stronger (50% as compared with the Alignment's 44%), more honest (57%), and more concerned with the fate of the citizens than that of the party (45%). Likud was able to benefit from having only been created 8 years prior, giving it an image of newness and innocence.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Campaign
The 1981 elections also saw a rise in the use of ethnic ideas within the political discourse. While Likud and the Alignment were both led by Ashkenazi politicians, the Alignment was considered the party of the Ashkenazi Jews, with the Sephardic vote lost to  Likud. The likelihood of Sephardim voting for Likud and Ashkenazim voting for the Alignment was more pronounced than ever before. However, Likud enjoyed the advantage of still being able to appeal to a significant amount of Ashkenazi voters, while also maintaining their Sephardi popularity; in contrast, the Alignment was seen as even less Sephardi than in previous years.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Conduct
Police noted before election day that "there hasn’t been an election campaign in Israel as violent as the present one". A reason for the violence may have been that this was the first elections in which the public believed both sides had a chance of winning, causing unrest and agitation.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Results
Scholars attribute the Likud's comeback, from its lowest point six months prior to the 1981 legislative election, to five main factors: incumbency, candidates, images, campaigns, violence, and ethnicity. Likud's role as the ruling party enabled the party to use its incumbency advantage to increase popularity with policy implementation. The party implemented tax programs that lowered prices for consumers, subsidized oil products at a higher rate than ever before, and used foreign policy that made the Alignment seem unpatriotic if they argued against the moves.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath
Menachim Begin (of the Likud) became Prime Minister and in August 1981 included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, the Movement for the Heritage of Israel (Tami) and Tehiya in his coalition to form the nineteenth government. After Begin resigned due to health reasons, Yitzhak Shamir formed the twentieth government in October 1983, with the same coalition parties.


1981 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath
During the Knesset term, two MKs defected from Likud to the Alignment. Haim Drukman left the National Religious Party and sat as an independent MK, whilst two other MKs left the National Religious Party and formed Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre before returning two weeks later. Telem split into Ometz and the Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism, whilst Ratz joined the Alignment but then broke away again.


1981 Italian Athletics Championships
The 1981 Italian Athletics Championships was the 71st edition of the Italian Athletics Championships and were held in Turin (track & field events).


1981 Italian Grand Prix
The 1981 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1981.


1981 Italian Grand Prix
Formula One returned to the Monza circuit after a year's absence; the year previous's Italian Grand Prix had been held at the Imola circuit.


1981 Italian Grand Prix
Coming into Italy, both Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann were tied on points in the Drivers' Championship; Reutemann would eventually leave with the lead. Alain Prost was also becoming a challenger for the world title, having been challenging both leaders in the recent races.


1981 Italian Grand Prix
The race would be known for the first time a Toleman-Hart qualified and finished in a race with Brian Henton qualifying the car in 23rd place.


1981 Italian Grand Prix, Race
Haunted by the trauma of nearly killing mechanic Dave Luckett earlier in the season, Siegfried Stohr crashed his Arrows during the qualifying session. He ultimately decided to stop racing and started a successful motor racing academy.


1981 Italian Grand Prix, Race
When the race started, pole-man René Arnoux fell back to third while Prost and Reutemann battled for the lead. Behind, Didier Pironi was fourth after overtaking four cars on the run up to the first chicane. Pironi continued his charge with Reutemann and Arnoux soon behind him. As his opponents dropped behind, Prost increased his lead and would keep it for the rest of the race. Jacques Laffite also made an excellent start, and was running third when he retired from the race with a puncture on lap 11.


1981 Italian Grand Prix, Race
On Lap 19, John Watson lost control of his car at the Lesmo and smashed into the barriers at high speed, igniting a small fire at the back of the car. His McLaren's engine tub broke off from the car and debris littered the track. Michele Alboreto, who was behind Watson, crashed into the broken off engine, while Carlos Reutemann took to the grass and brushed a barrier whilst avoiding the accident, losing a place and sustaining minor damage. Watson escaped unharmed.


1981 Italian Grand Prix, Race
As the race reached the halfway point, the standings stood as: Prost, Jones, Piquet, Reutemann and de Angelis. In an incredible case of misfortune, Piquet's engine blew on the last lap, promoting Reutemann into third and turning the tables for title hopes of the two. The Brazilian, however, was able to score a point as the sixth driver to have covered the entire race distance. Andrea de Cesaris, suffered a puncture on the last lap.


1981 Italian Open (tennis)
The 1981 Italian Open was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament that was played on outdoor clay courts. For the second time in the history of the tournament the men and women competed in different locations. The men's event was held at the traditional location of Foro Italico in Rome, while the women played in Perugia. It was the 38th edition of the tournament. The men's tournament was part of the 1981 Volvo Grand Prix while the women's tournament was part of the Toyota Series (Category 3).


1981 Italian Open (tennis)
The women's event was played from 4 May through 10 May 1981 while the men's event was organized from 18 May through 24 May 1981. Third-seeded José Luis Clerc won the men's singles title and the accompanying $24,000 first-prize money. The women's singles title was won by first-seeded Chris Evert-Lloyd, her fourth Italian Open title after 1974, 1975 and 1980.


1981 Italian Open (tennis), Finals, Men's doubles
Hans Gildemeister /  Andrés Gómez defeated  Bruce Manson /  Tomáš Šmíd 7–6, 7–6


1981 Italian Open (tennis), Finals, Women's doubles
Candy Reynolds /  Paula Smith defeated  Chris Evert-Lloyd /  Virginia Ruzici 7–5, 6–1


1981 Italian referendums
A five-part referendum was held in Italy on 17 May 1981. The proposals included repealing laws on public order, life sentences, gun licences, abortion. All were rejected by voters, with no proposal receiving more than 32% of the vote.


1981 Italian referendums, Abortion abrogative referendums
Two referendums were held on the new Law 194, which had legalized abortion. The first referendum was called by the Radical Party, which asked more liberalization abolishing all the remaining limits to the free choice of the women. The second was called by Christian Democracy and the Catholic Church and its related movements for life, trying to restore the ban on abortion.


1981 Italian referendums, Abortion abrogative referendums, Results, Prohibiting abortion
Although both referendums were rejected, and the percentages of support of the Catholic question was higher than the percentages of the radical one, the result was generally seen as a victory for the Radical Party, which won at least one referendum in a country considered highly influenced by the Catholic Church.


1981 Italian referendums, Police powers abrogative referendum
A third referendum was held on repealing the Reale Law, which had been the subject of a referendum in 1978. The referendum was called by the Radical Party, but was only partially supported by the Italian Socialist Party.


1981 Italian referendums, Police powers abrogative referendum, Results
The referendum was rejected by the Italian electors, following the positions of all the parties of the so-called Constitutional Arch.


1981 Italian referendums, Life imprisonment abrogative referendum
A fourth referendum was called by the Radical Party asking voters to reject life imprisonment as the highest level of punishment for crimes.


1981 Italian referendums, Gun licence abrogative referendum
The last referendum was called by the Radical Party asking voters to repeal the law on licences to guns, allowing the police to give weapons to some high-risking citizens, thereby banning all citizens from owning guns.


1981 Italy rugby union tour of Australia
The1981 Italy rugby union tour of Australia was a series of matches played between June and August 1981 in Australia by in Australia by Italy national rugby union team. No test matches was played. It was the first visit to Australia by an Italian rugby team, and follow after one year the tour of New Zealand and Pacific.


1981 JSL Cup, Overview
It was contested by 20 teams, and Toshiba and Mitsubishi Motors won the championship.


1981 JSL Cup Final
1981 JSL Cup Final was the 6th final of the JSL Cup competition. The final was played at Utsunomiya Football Stadium in Tochigi on July 19, 1981. Mitsubishi Motors and Toshiba won the championship.


1981 JSL Cup Final, Overview
Mitsubishi Motors and Toshiba won the Championship. Mitsubishi Motors is 2nd title, Toshiba is 1st title.


1981 Jack Kramer Open
The 1981 Jack Kramer Open, also known as the Pacific Southwest Open, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Los Angeles Tennis Club in Los Angeles, California in the United States. The event was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. It was the 55th edition of the Pacific Southwest tournament and was held from April 13 through April 20, 1981. First-seeded John McEnroe won the singles title and the corresponding $15,000 first-prize money. The finals were delayed to Monday, April 20 due to rain.


1981 Jack Kramer Open, Finals, Doubles
John McEnroe /  Ferdi Taygan defeated  Tom Gullikson /  Butch Walts 6–4, 6–4


1981 Jackson State Tigers football team
The 1981 Jackson State Tigers football team represented Jackson State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season.


1981 Jakarta Anniversary Tournament
The 1981 Jakarta Anniversary Tournament was held from August 13 to 21 in Jakarta. Eight teams participated.


1981 Jakarta Anniversary Tournament, Group stage, Group B
Note: Indonesia B was Niac Mitra with 5 additional players.


1981 James Hardie 1000
The 1981 James Hardie 1000 was the 22nd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 4 October 1981 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was open to cars eligible to the locally developed CAMS Group C touring car regulations with three engine configuration based classes, a system used uniquely for this race.


1981 James Hardie 1000
For the first time the race did not go the full race distance as on lap 121, a six car accident blocked the track at McPhillamy Park Corner. The Ford Falcon of Dick Johnson and John French were leading the race at the time of the accident and were declared the winners, becoming the first Queenslanders to win the race. Bob Morris and British endurance racer John Fitzpatrick, also driving a Falcon finished second. A lap down in third was Allan Moffat and British endurance racing great Derek Bell driving a Mazda RX-7, the best ever result to that point for a Japanese built car.


1981 James Hardie 1000
History was made at Bathurst in 1981. For the first (and as of 2020, the only) time in the races history, a reigning Formula One World Drivers' Champion drove in the Bathurst 1000. This honour fell to Australia's own 1980 World Champion Alan Jones who co-drove with Warren Cullen in Cullen's V8 Holden Commodore.


1981 James Hardie 1000
After 8 wins in the race dating back to Bob Jane and Harry Firth's win in a Ford Falcon XL at Phillip Island in 1962, this would prove to be the last Bathurst 1000 win for the Ford Falcon until 1994. It would also be the 5th and last Bathurst win for the 5.8 L 351 Cleveland V8 engine.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Class structure, Class : 8 Cylinder & Over
This class was almost exclusively for V8s; Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons and Chevrolet Camaros. The exception being a V12 Jaguar XJ-S.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Class structure, Class : 6 Cylinder (Includes Rotary Engines)
The class for six-cylinder and rotary-engined cars was contested mostly by Ford Capris, with a single factory supported BMW 635CSi and those Mazda RX7s entered, powered by Rotary engines.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Class structure, Class : 4 Cylinder
The class for cars with four-cylinder engines included Alfa Romeo Alfasud, Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Ford Escort, Isuzu Gemini, Mitsubishi Colt, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Bluebird Turbo, Toyota Celica, Toyota Corolla, Triumph Dolomite and Volkswagen Golf.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Hardies Heroes
* This was the first Top 10 shootout to be held in wet conditions, though conditions were damp for the first ever shootout in 1978. * For the 2nd year running, Kevin Bartlett was fastest qualifier and won Hardies Heroes in his Channel 9 sponsored Chevrolet Camaro. It was also the second year in a row that Dick Johnson would equal Bartlett's time in qualifying, but would be slower in the shootout. Due to the extremely wet conditions, Bartlett's runoff time was almost 16 seconds slower than his time in qualifying.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Hardies Heroes
* This was the first time a car powered by something other than a V8 engine had contested Hardies Heroes. The honor went to the 12A Rotary powered Mazda RX-7 of Allan Moffat who ended up 5th on the grid. * The gap of 2.381 seconds between Bartlett and Johnson broke the 1979 record of 1.966 seconds between Peter Brock and Bob Morris. As of the 2018 race, Bartlett's shootout record remains unbeaten.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Race
The race was stopped on lap 122 because of a multiple-car incident that blocked the track at McPhillamy Park Corner. The accident began with a collision between the Ford Falcons of Bob Morris and Christine Gibson. Garry Rogers and Tony Edmondson (both driving Holden Commodores) and the Isuzu Gemini of David Seldon collided with already crashed cars with the Chevrolet Camaro of Kevin Bartlett being the final car to be involved.


1981 James Hardie 1000, Race
According to the regulations, the race was declared based on the timesheets as the race leader, at the time John French, completed lap 120. This is done so that crashed vehicles can be included in the results. This was particularly significant in this instance as a significant number of the vehicles involved held high race position. Morris was second, Rogers fourth, Edmondson fifth and Christine Gibson sixth.


1981 James Madison Dukes football team
The 1981 James Madison Dukes football team was an American football team that represented James Madison University during the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season as an independent. In their tenth year under head coach Challace McMillin, the team compiled a 3–8 record.


1981 Japan Series
The 1981 Japan Series was the 32nd edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason championship series. It matched the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants against the Pacific League champion Nippon-Ham Fighters. All games in the series were played at Korakuen Stadium, which served as the home ballpark for both teams during the regular season. This was the first time in Japan Series history that all games were played at the same stadium. The Giants defeated the Fighters in six games for their 16th Japan Series title in team history.


1981 Japan Soccer League, First Division
Nippon Steel, one of eight inaugural member of the First Division in 1965 as Yawata Steel, was defeated by Second Division runner-up Nissan in the playout and relegated, never to play top flight football again. Yamaha Motors was relegated in bottom place, having won only two matches.


1981 Japan Soccer League, Second Division
NKK and Nissan returned after two years in the second tier, NKK also grabbing the Emperor's Cup.


1981 Japan Soccer League, Second Division
Kofu Club saved itself from relegation yet again by defeating NTT West Japan Kyoto, who were looking to regain their League place. Nagoya Soccer Club, an amateur outfit who never looked like League material, went back to the Tokai regional league after a single attempt.


1981 Japan national football team
This page records the details of the Japan national football team in 1981.


1981 Japan women's national football team
This page records the details of the Japan women's national football team in 1981.


1981 Japanese Super Cup
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Monkbot (talk | contribs) at 00:22, 8 January 2020 (→top: Task 15:  language icon template(s) replaced (1×);). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


1981 Japanese Super Cup
1981 Japanese Super Cup was the Japanese Super Cup competition. The match was played at National Stadium in Tokyo on April 5, 1981. Yanmar Diesel won the championship.


1981 John Player League
The 1981 John Player League was the thirteenth competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Essex County Cricket Club.


1981 Junior League World Series
The 1981 Junior League World Series (then known as the "Senior Little League World Series for 13-year-olds") took place from August 18–21 in Taylor, Michigan, United States. Boardman, Ohio defeated Richmond, Virginia in the championship game.


1981 Junior Pot Black
The 1981 Junior Pot Black was the first staging of the junior snooker tournament which was held in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. 12 young players were competing in a qualifying round before 6 of the winners go on to the round-robin stage of 2 groups of three. The matches are one-frame shoot-outs and 2 frame aggregate scores in the final.


1981 Junior Pot Black
Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 18:55 on Friday 1 May 1981  Alan Weeks presented the programme with Ted Lowe as commentator and John Williams as referee.


1981 Junior Pot Black
Notable players in the first championship include John Parrott, Neal Foulds and the two finalists Dean Reynolds and Dene O'Kane. Reynolds won the title 151–79 and soon turned professional afterwards.


1981 KFK competitions (Ukraine)
The 1981 KFK competitions in Ukraine were part of the 1981 Soviet KFK competitions that were conducted in the Soviet Union. It was 17th season of the KFK in Ukraine since its introduction in 1964. The winner eventually qualified to the 1982 Soviet Second League.


1981 Kansas City Chiefs season
The 1981 Kansas City Chiefs season was the franchise's 12th season in the National Football League and 22nd overall. They improved from 1980 from an 8-8 record to a 9–7 record but missing the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season.


1981 Kansas City Chiefs season
Bill Kenney began the 1981 season as the club's starting quarterback and directed the Chiefs to a 6–2 start, including a 37–33 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Opening Day. 2nd round draft choice, running back Joe Delaney electrified the club's offense by rushing for 1,121 yards, a team single-season record at the time. He was named the AFC's Rookie of the Year and became the first running back to represent the franchise in the Pro Bowl. Delaney registered a 193-yard performance in a 23–10 victory against the Oilers on November 15, the best single-game total ever amassed by a Kansas City rookie.


1981 Kansas City Chiefs season
Owning an 8–4 record with four games remaining, the Chiefs were poised to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years before hitting a three-game losing skid. Bill Kenney missed the club's final three contests due to injury as Steve Fuller temporarily reclaimed the starting quarterback position and guided the club to a 10–6 win at Minnesota, in the final contest played at Metropolitan Stadium. With the Chiefs winning the game, Vikings fans began dismembering the stadium as early as the second half—taking seats, pieces of the scoreboard and even chunks of sod as souvenirs.


1981 Kansas City Chiefs season
The victory assured the Chiefs of a 9–7 record, the club's first winning mark since 1973 as coach Marv Levy increased the club's victory total for a third consecutive year. Inspired by the Washington Redskins's "Hail to the Redskins," Levy penned a fight song for the Chiefs ("Give a Cheer for Kansas City"), but much like the team's Wing T offense, the concept never really caught on.


1981 Kansas City Royals season
The 1981 Kansas City Royals season was their 13th in Major League Baseball. The 1981 season was interrupted by a players strike from June 12-July 31, and resumed on August 10. Major League Baseball officials decided to split the season, and the division winners of both halves would advance to the playoffs. The Royals were 20-30 and in fifth place in the American League West when the strike began, but won the second half with a 30-23 mark. Dick Howser replaced Jim Frey as manager on August 31. Kansas City's overall 50-53 record made the Royals the first team in MLB history to reach the postseason with a losing mark. Kansas City lost to the first half American League West winner Oakland Athletics 3-0 in the Division Series.


1981 Kansas City Royals season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1981 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 1981 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas in the Big Eight Conference during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their seventh season under head coach Don Fambrough, the Jayhawks compiled an 8–4 record (4–3 against conference opponents), tied for third place in the conference, and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 195 to 188. They played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.


1981 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The team's statistical leaders included Frank Seurer with 1,199 passing yards, Garfield Taylor with 728 rushing yards, and Wayne Capers with 629 receiving yards. David Lawrence and Greg Smith were the team captains.


1981 Kansas State Wildcats football team
The 1981 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head football coach was Jim Dickey. The Wildcats played their home games in KSU Stadium. 1981 saw the wildcats finish with a record of 2–9, and a 1–6 record in Big Eight Conference play.


1981 Kent State Golden Flashes football team
The 1981 Kent State Golden Flashes football team was an American football team that represented Kent State University  in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their first season under head coach Ed Chlebek, the Golden Flashes compiled a 3–8 record (3–6 against MAC opponents), finished in seventh place in the MAC, and were outscored by all opponents by a combined total of 172 to 144.


1981 Kent State Golden Flashes football team
The team's statistical leaders included Ron Pittman with 648 rushing yards, Bill Willows with 913 passing yards, and Todd Feldman with 470 receiving yards. Two Kent State players were selected as first-team All-MAC players: defensive back Charlie Grandjean and linebacker Russ Hedderly.


1981 Kentucky Derby
The 1981 Kentucky Derby was the 107th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 2, 1981, with 139,195 people in attendance.


1981 Kentucky Wildcats football team
The 1981 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their ninth and final season under head coach Fran Curci, the Wildcats compiled a 3–8 record (2–4 against SEC opponents), finished in a tie for sixth place in the SEC, and were outscored by their opponents, 224 to 134. The team played its home games in Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.


1981 Kentucky Wildcats football team
The team's statistical leaders included Randy Jenkins with 1,079 passing yards, Lawrence Lee with 275 rushing yards, and Rick Massie with 448 receiving yards.


1981 Kentucky Wildcats football team
At the end of November 1981, Curci was fired by the University of Kentucky. The decision followed four losing seasons, arrests of 18 players from 1978 to 1981, and recruiting violations that resulted in the program being placed on probation.


1981 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
The 1981 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship was the 87th staging of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Kilkenny County Board.


1981 Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship
James Stephens won the championship after a 2-10 to 0-08 defeat of Fenians in the final. It was their sixth championship title overall and their first title in five championship seasons.


1981 King Cup
The 1981 King Cup was the 23rd season of the knockout competition since its establishment in 1956. Al-Hilal were the defending champions but were defeated by Al-Nassr in the final. Al-Nassr won their 3rd title overall and first since 1976.


1981 King Cup, Round of 32
The matches of the Round of 32 were held on 15, 16 and 17 April 1981.


1981 King Cup, Round of 16
The Round of 16 matches were held on 22, 23 and 24 April 1981.


1981 King Cup, Quarter-finals
The Quarter-final matches were held on 30 April and 1 May 1981.


1981 King Cup, Semi-finals
The four winners of the quarter-finals progressed to the semi-finals. The semi-finals were played on 7 and 8 May 1981. All times are local, AST (UTC+3).


1981 King Cup, Final
The final was played between Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal in the Youth Welfare Stadium in Riyadh. This was Al-Nassr's 6th final and Al-Hilal's 7th final. This was the first meeting between these sides in King Cup finals.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
The 1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes was a horse race held at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 25 July 1981. It was the 31st running of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
The winner was Aga Khan's Shergar, a three-year-old bay colt trained at Newmarket, Suffolk by Michael Stoute and ridden by Walter Swinburn. Shergar's victory was the first in the race for his owner, trainer and jockey.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, The contenders
The race attracted a field of seven runners, all of whom were trained in the United Kingdom. The favourite was Shergar, a three-year-old colt who had won the Epsom Derby by a record ten lengths and the Irish Derby by four. The only other three-year-old in the field was Madam Gay, a filly who had won the Prix de Diane.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, The contenders
Shergar's biggest challenges were expected to come from the four-year-olds Master Willie who had finished second in the 1980 Epsom Derby before winning the International Stakes, Coronation Cup and Eclipse Stakes, Light Cavalry the winner of the 1980 St Leger Stakes and Pelerin, who had defeated Light Cavalry in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot. The other runners were the Cumberland Lodge Stakes winner Fingal's Cave and the five-year-old Cracaval, best known for beating Ile de Bourbon in the September Stakes. Shergar headed the betting at odds of 2/5 ahead of Master Willie (7/1), Pelerin (15/2) and Light Cavalry (12/1).


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, The race
There was no recognised pacemaker in the race and Light Cavalry led the field at a slow pace from Master Willie, who fought against his jockey's attempts to restrain him with Shergar in third. Madam Gay and Pelerin followed, ahead of Fingal's Cave and Cracaval. Master Willie moved past Light Cavalry with half a mile left to run as Madam Gay began a forward move which left Shergar temporarily boxed-in on the rail. Entering the straight, Master Willie held the advantage from Madam Gay as Light Cavalry drifted left.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, The race
allowing Walter Swinburn to drive Shergar through the resulting gap on the inside. Shergar overtook Master Willie approaching the final furlong and drew away to win by four lengths. Madam Gay took second by a short-head from the fast-finishing Fingal's Cave, with the weakening Master Willie four lengths away in fourth. There was a gap of two and a half lengths back to Pelerin who took fifth place, a short head and half a length ahead of Cracaval and Light Cavalry.


1981 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Full result
* Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; shd = head; hd = head; dist = distance; UR = unseated rider


1981 Kuwaiti general election
General elections were held in Kuwait on 23 February 1981. A total of 447 candidates contested the election, which saw pro-government candidates remain the largest bloc in Parliament. Voter turnout was 89.8%.


1981 Kvalserien
The 1981 Kvalserien was the seventh edition of the Kvalserien. It determined which two teams of the participating ones would play in the 1981–82 Elitserien season and which two teams would play in the 1981–82 Swedish Division 1 season.


1981 LFF Lyga
The 1981 LFF Lyga was the 60th season of the LFF Lyga football competition in Lithuania. It was contested by 18 teams, and Granitas Klaipeda won the championship.


1981 LPGA Championship
The 1981 LPGA Championship was the 27th LPGA Championship, played June 11–14 at Jack Nicklaus Golf Center at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, a suburb northeast of Cincinnati.


1981 LPGA Championship
Donna Caponi sank a fifteen-foot (4.5 m) birdie putt on the final green to win her second LPGA Championship, a stroke ahead of runners-up Jerilyn Britz and Pat Meyers. It was Caponi's fourth and final major title.


1981 LPGA Tour
The 1981 LPGA Tour was the 32nd season since the LPGA Tour officially began in 1950. The season ran from January 29 to November 8. The season consisted of 36 official money events. Donna Caponi won the most tournaments, five. Beth Daniel led the money list with earnings of $206,998, becoming the first player to win over $200,000 in a season.


1981 LPGA Tour
The season saw the first tournament with a $50,000 first prize, the World Championship of Women's Golf. There were five first-time winners in 1981: Patty Hayes, Kathy Hite, Cathy Reynolds, Patty Sheehan, and Beth Solomon.


1981 LPGA Tour, Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events for the 1981 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.


1981 LSU Tigers football team
The 1981 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season.


1981 LSU Tigers football team
In its second season under Jerry Stovall, LSU went 3-7-1, its worst record since going 3-7 in Paul Dietzel's second season of 1956. This mark for futility has been surpassed twice, 2-9 in 1992 and 3-8 in 1999.


1981 LSU Tigers football team
The Tigers' second game, a 27-9 loss at Notre Dame, was Gerry Faust's inaugural outing as Fighting Irish coach. Ironically, LSU returned to South Bend four years later and defeated Notre Dame 10-7 in what turned out to be Faust's last game at Notre Dame Stadium.


1981 LSU Tigers football team
LSU's 48-7 loss to in-state rival Tulane was its second largest margin of defeat in the series, eclipsed only by a 46-0 shutout at home in 1948.


1981 La Flèche Wallonne
The 1981 La Flèche Wallonne was the 45th edition of La Flèche Wallonne cycle race and was held on 17 April 1981. The race started in Spa and finished in Mons. The race was won by Daniel Willems of the Capri Sonne team.


1981 Labatt Brier
The 1981 Labatt Brier curling championship was held from March 1 to 8 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.


1981 Labatt Brier
Kerry Burtnyk of Manitoba defeated Al Hackner of Northern Ontario to win his first Brier title. Burtnyk became the youngest skip to win the Brier, at 22 years and 4 months old.


1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election
Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet (more formally, its "Parliamentary Committee") took place on 19 November 1981. There were 15 posts, rather than 12 as in previous years. In addition to the 15 members elected, the Leader (Michael Foot), Deputy Leader (Denis Healey), Labour Chief Whip (Michael Cocks), Labour Leader in the House of Lords (Lord Peart), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Jack Dormand) were automatically members.


1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election
Of the 12 incumbent members, 10 were re-elected. Tony Benn, who was the top loser in 1980 automatically took the William Rodgers when the latter left the party to create the Social Democratic Party. He lost again in this election. It is unclear whether Roy Mason lost re-election or did not stand. The results of the election, though incomplete, are below


1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election
Tony Benn had narrowly failed to defeat Denis Healey for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party a few months earlier. Shortly before the shadow cabinet election, Benn had broken with Michael Foot and the shadow cabinet by committing a future Labour Government to nationalising oil and gas assets without compensation, despite not having authorisation to do so.


1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election
Benn then refused to commit to supporting collective shadow cabinet responsibility, causing Foot to announce  a week prior to the ballot that he was personally opposed to Benn being re-elected to the shadow cabinet  The Glasgow Herald reported Benn planned to use the contest to renew his campaign against Healey, and that Foot believed that Benn ultimately would challenge him for the leadership of the Labour Party.


1981 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election
While Benn failed to be elected to the shadow cabinet, the size of his vote was reported as being a blow to Michael Foot, given that he had withdrawn his support from him and encouraged party colleagues to do likewise. Benn claimed to be pleased with the size of his vote, which represented a quarter of the parliamentary party, which he claimed was twice as great as he had expected.


1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election
The 1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election took place on 27 September 1981 when Tony Benn unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent deputy leader Denis Healey at the party conference. Healey had been elected unopposed as deputy leader in the previous year.