Jon Steel , full name Jonathan Steel (born 14 March 1980), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

s of "Steely" and "Rocket", is a former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer who played professionally from 1996 until 2013. He played in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

for

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

, and in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

for

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

. In rugby union, he represented Scotland at youth level and full international level before switching codes in 2005. He is a treble international having represented Scotland in Rugby Union, Rugby League and Rugby Sevens. Steel was named Player of the Year for Glasgow Caledonians, now called Glasgow Warriors (rugby union) in 2000. He had his first full rugby union international cap for Scotland against USA on 4 November 2000, at the age of 20. At this point he was the 4th youngest capped player in Scottish rugby union history. The rest of the international season was heavily disrupted due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001, but Steel played in the delayed

2001 Six Nations Championship The 2001 Six Nations Championship was the second series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 107th international championship overall. The tournament was affected by an outbreak of the highly infectious livestock disease foot-and- ...

match against Ireland at Murrayfield in September 2001, in which Scotland beat Ireland 32–10. He had a further 3 international rugby union caps against Australia, All Blacks and Tonga. After switching codes, he was also named Scotland Rugby League Player of the Year in 2005. Steel played a huge role in Hull Kingston Rovers' promotion (to Super League) season in 2006. Following the promotion, Steel made a big impact in the initial stages of their first Super League season but was unfortunate to suffer a badly broken leg after only a handful of games. He was ruled out for most of the year as a result. He developed an ability to dodge rounds during his injury break.

Background

Steel was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, though qualified to play for Scotland through his Glaswegian father.

Career

Steel formerly played for in

. Signed to Hull KR in 2005 from the Borders RU club, 'Steely' as he was known made a real impact scoring 5 tries away from home against

London Skolars The London Skolars are a professional rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in north London. They were founded in 1995 and have been professional since 2003, operating in the Betfred League 1. They also run an ...

. He played in the Scotland squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, scoring a try against Fiji in their winning pool B match on 5 November.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Jon 1980 births Living people English people of Scottish descent English rugby league players English rugby union players Featherstone Rovers players Glasgow Warriors players Hull Kingston Rovers players Jed-Forest RFC players Rugby league players from Yorkshire Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Middlesbrough Scotland international rugby union players Scotland national rugby league team players