Stefanos Bastas (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Στέφανος Μπάστας) is a Greek semi-professional

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 ...

footballer who plays as a for

Rhodes Knights Rhodes Knights Rugby League is an amateur Greek Rugby league club from Rhodes, Greece. Knights compete in the Greek Rugby League Association's 2017 Championship, which are currently in first place. They competed and were declared undefeated cham ...

in Greece. He began playing rugby league at the age of 18 in Greece with the

. As of 2021, he is the most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

player for the Greek National Rugby League Team.

Career

Hemel Stags

Upon returning from Serbia, Bastas moved to England in search of a professional contract. He attended trials and training sessions with the

Hemel Stags Hemel Stags are an amateur rugby league club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. They were semi-professional and played in Betfred League 1 from 2013 until 2018. They withdrew from the professional system when their licence was purchased ...

, where he was successful and signed a one-year contract for the 2018 season. He was the first ever Greek rugby league player to secure a professional contract.

Doncaster RLFC

In 2019, following a series of trial games, Stefanos signed for

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. He then scored his first ever try in

's 46-6

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

win over

Featherstone Lions Featherstone Lions are an amateur rugby league club from Featherstone, West Yorkshire who play in the National Conference League and the Yorkshire Men's League The juniors (U7 - U18) play in the Yorkshire Junior & Youth League. The club also ha ...

Villegailhenc Aragon XIII

Bastas was released by Doncaster at the end of the 2019 season. He joined Villegailhenc-Aragon XIII in the

Elite Two Championship Elite 2 (formerly the Elite Two Championship) is the second tier semi-professional rugby league competition in France below Elite 1, but above the National Division 1. The season runs from September to April. The clubs play each other home ...

on 20 October 2019.

Saint-Gaudens Bears

On 8 Jan 2021 it was announced that Bastas has signed for

Saint-Gaudens Bears The Saint-Gaudens Bears are a professional rugby league club based in the town of Saint-Gaudens, in the Haute-Garonne region of south-western France. They play in the Elite One Championship. The club was formed in 1958. They have won the Fren ...

in the

Elite One Championship Elite 1 is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions wor ...

Coventry Bears

On 7 May 2021 it was reported that he had signed for

Coventry Bears The Midlands Hurricanes are a semi-professional rugby league club jointly based in Birmingham and Coventry, West Midlands, England. They were founded as the Coventry Bears in 1998 and entered the third tier of the British rugby league system, ...

in the

RFL League 1 RFL League One (for sponsorship reasons currently known as the Betfred League One) is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. Part of the British rugby league pyramid, the competition features clubs from England an ...

International

He was selected to represent the Greece national team in 2014 and was part of the squad that played in the European Championship Group C and also in the

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

. In October 2017, at age 23, Bastas was named as captain of the national team ahead of the 2017 Balkans Cup. He was also part of Greece's

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

qualifying campaign, in which they qualified for their first

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

References

External links

Greece profileGreek profile
1993 births Living people Coventry Bears players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players Hemel Stags players Greek rugby league players Greece national rugby league team captains Greece national rugby league team players Rugby league props Saint-Gaudens Bears players Villegailhenc Aragon XIII players Sportspeople from Central Greece People from Karystos Greek expatriate sportspeople in France Greek expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby league players in France Expatriate rugby league players in England {{Rugbyleague-bio-stub