Stephen Pitchford (born 6 February 1952) is an English former 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 played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, and at club level for

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and Bramley as a .

Background

Pitchford was born in

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

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 ...

. He was a pupil at Foxwood School,

Seacroft Seacroft is an outer-city suburb/township consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the LS14 Leeds postcode area, around east of Leeds city centre. It sits in th ...

, Leeds.Foxwood School’s Jubilee Brochure, 1980

Playing career

International honours

Pitchford won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for

while at Leeds in the

1977 Rugby League World Cup The 1977 Rugby League World Cup was the eighth Rugby League World Cup tournament and was held in Australasia, with games played during May and June in both Australia and New Zealand. It featured four teams: Great Britain and France in addition t ...

against France, New Zealand, and Australia (2 matches).

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Pitchford played right- and was voted ''Man of the Match'' winning the

Lance Todd Trophy The Lance Todd Trophy is a trophy in rugby league, awarded to the annual Challenge Cup Final's man of the match. Introduced in 1945–46, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in ...

' 16-7 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

in the 1977 Challenge Cup Final during the 1976–77 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on Saturday 7 May 1977, in front of a crowd of 80,871, and played right- in the 14-12 victory over St. Helens in the

1978 Challenge Cup Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

Final during the 1977–78 season at

on Saturday 13 May 1978, in front of a crowd of 96,000.

County Cup Final appearances

Pitchford played right- (replaced by substitute Roy Dickinson) in

' 15-11 victory over

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 ...

in the 1975 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1975–76 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

on Saturday 15 November 1975, played right- in the 15-6 victory over

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 the 1976 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1976–77 season at

on Saturday 16 October 1976, played right- in the 15-6 victory over Halifax in the 1979 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1979–80 season at

on Saturday 27 October 1979, and played right- in the 8-7 victory over

in the 1980 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1980–81 season at

Fartown Ground The Fartown Ground or just simply Fartown is a sports ground located in the Huddersfield suburb of Fartown in West Yorkshire, England and is predominantly famous for being the home ground of Huddersfield Rugby League Club from 1878 to 1992. T ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

on Saturday 8 November 1980.

Open Rugby inaugural World XIII

The Open Rugby inaugural World XIII was revealed in June 1978, it was;

Graham Eadie Graham "Wombat" Eadie (born 25 November 1953), is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been named amongst Australia's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian ...

, John Atkinson, Steve Rogers, Jean-Marc Bourret

Green Vigo Green Vigo is a South African former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Proteas, and at club level for Saldanha Tigers, as a centre, and representative l ...

Roger Millward Roger Millward (16 September 1947 – 2 May 2016) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. A goal-kicking , he gained a high level of prominence in the sport in England by p ...

Steve Nash Stephen John Nash (born 7 February 1974) is a Canadian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 18 seasons in the NBA, ...

, Jim Mills,

Keith Elwell Keith Elwell (12 February 1950), also known by the nicknames of "The Mole", "Chiefy", and "The Ubiquitous Elwell", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level fo ...

, Steve Pitchford,

Terry Randall Terry William "Igor" Randall (born 5 February 1951 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played for the Manly-Warringah club in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. He is regularly n ...

, George Nicholls and

Greg Pierce Gregory Stuart Pierce (4 March 1950 – 24 June 2016) was an Australian rugby league player, coach and administrator. He played as a for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League competition and for Australia. He captained hi ...

Work life

During the period that Pitchford played for the Leeds side, the players were not full-time professionals. Pitchford worked as a highly skilled

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

in several Engineering companies in Leeds and was held in high regard at Crabtree Vickers, the Printing Press manufacturers on Water Lane in the City, and, after the closure of that company, at the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) at

Barnbow Barnbow was a small settlement situated near the city of Leeds in the township and parish of Barwick in Elmet. The site is noted as the location of a munitions factory founded during the First World War. It was officially known as National Filling ...

in East Leeds, where he was renowned for his good nature. He also ran a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, in

Eastfield, North Yorkshire Eastfield is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It was often considered a suburb of the town of Scarborough, and is located next to the town's boundaries. It was granted town status in January 2016. According to the 2011 UK c ...

for many years.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby.dnsupdate.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitchford, Stephen 1952 births Living people Bramley RLFC players English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lance Todd Trophy winners Leeds Rhinos players People from Seacroft Publicans Rugby league players from Leeds Rugby league props