Stephen Anthony Rimmer (born 23 May 1979) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. His career in the English Football League was brief but eventful, playing in front of a record low crowd at Maine Road and getting sent off 23 minutes into his

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

debut. In 2000, he ventured into non-league football, and turned out for

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

, Hyde United, and

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...

Career

A product of the

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

youth system, he made one first team appearance for the club on 8 December 1998. City lost 2–1 to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

in the First Round of the Football League Trophy. Rimmer picked up a booking in a match primarily remembered as having Manchester City's lowest ever recorded attendance (just 3,007 turned up). He spent January 1999 at

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side Doncaster Rovers. He left Maine Road at the end of the season and quickly signed up with First Division club

. Handed his Vale debut by manager Brian Horton on 28 December 1999 at

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports development in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used primarily by Barnsley Football Club for playing their home fixtures, and those of their reserves. While the name 'Oakwell' generally refers to the main s ...

, replacing Mark Snijders at half time, he was sent off on 68 minutes for serious foul play. He only one more appearance, on 12 February 2000, replacing

Stewart Talbot Stewart Dean Talbot (born 14 June 1973) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League in an eleven years professional career. Starting his career with non-league Moor Green, he ...

Blundell Park Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9, ...

after just 13 minutes. He was released at the end of the season. He then went into non-league football with

and then joined Hyde United in January 2001. He made 21 appearances for Hyde in the second half of the 2000–01 season, scoring one goal against

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

at Ewen Fields. He returned to Marine in 2001, staying with the club for two years before joining

Post-retirement

After leaving the professional game he began working as a PE teacher at Parklands High School in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rimmer, Steve 1979 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English footballers Association football defenders Manchester City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Marine F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Skelmersdale United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players