Stuart Arthur Spruce (born 3 January 1971) 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 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played as a for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

and the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

, and represented

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 ...

and

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 ...

at international level.

Playing career

Widnes

Stuart Spruce made his début for

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 ...

during the 1989-90 season, under coach

Doug Laughton Charles Douglas Laughton (born 13 May 1944) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain (capt ...

. When regular fullback

Alan Tait Alan Victor Tait (born 2 November 1964) is a former Scottish dual-code rugby footballer, and now coach. He is a Defence Coach at the Super 6 side Southern Knights. He was previously head coach at Newcastle Falcons and a former rugby union ...

quit 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 ...

, Spruce became the permanent fullback.

paid a record £120,000 for a fullback when they signed Spruce in May 1996. The previous record of £90,000 was paid by St Helens to

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

for David Lyon in September 1992.

Bradford Bulls

Spruce played for

at in the

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...

which was lost to St. Helens. He became known as a good defensive player and an excellent offense.

James Lowes James Lowes is a former professional rugby league footballer, and coach. He played for Hunslet and Leeds, but arguably his best years were spent with the Bradford Bulls, where he won many trophies. He played there from 1996 to 2003. Club care ...

, who played with him throughout his time with Bradford, paid this tribute: "Stuart has been one of the best fullbacks of his generation. He is a great talker on the field and a devastating runner." He played for Bradford until the week before the 2001 Rugby League

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 ...

Final, when he announced his retirement due to injury.

Return to Widnes

Spruce came out of retirement to play for Widnes during their inaugural

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 ...

season in 2002. He made a total of 54 appearances before retiring permanently at the end of the 2003 Super League season.

International honours

Spruce 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 Widnes in 1992 against Wales and while at Bradford Bulls in 2000 against Russia (sub) and Fiji, and won

s for

while at Widnes in 1993 against France, and while at Bradford Bulls in 1996 against Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand (3 matches).

Coaching

Stuart served briefly as caretaker head coach after Neil Kelly left.

References

External links

Widnes Vikings ProfileBradford Bulls ProfileBull Masters - Stuart Spruce
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spruce, Stuart 1971 births Living people Bradford Bulls players England national rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Rugby league fullbacks Widnes Vikings coaches Widnes Vikings players