Michael Stephenson (born 27 January 1947) is an English

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 ...

commentator and former player. Stephenson was born in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudd ...

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 ...

. He is commonly known as "Stevo", the nickname that he is known by in rugby league and on TV, played at club level for

, and Australian side Penrith, and also played for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

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 ...

, with whom he won the

1972 Rugby League World Cup The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 an ...

. Stephenson played in the position for most of his playing career. Stephenson was responsible for the setting-up of the

Rugby League Heritage Centre The Rugby League Heritage Centre was formerly located in the basement of the George Hotel, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the first rugby league heritage museum and was significantly influenced by Sky Sports presenter and former ...

at the George Hotel in

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 i ...

. He was appointed an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent order of the British Empire'')'', for his services to rugby league and sports broadcasting in the New Year Honours List 2017.

Playing career

Stephenson began his professional playing career at his hometown club Dewsbury in 1966, after being signed from local amateur club Shaw Cross RLFC. He went on to make his

debut in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

in 1971 against the touring

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

side. His greatest moment in international rugby league was being a member of Great Britain's victorious

1972 World Cup The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 an ...

-winning side; Stevo scored a try against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Final. Stephenson 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 Dewsbury in 1971 against New Zealand, in 1972 against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and in the 1972 World Cup against France, New Zealand and Australia. Stephenson's time in the Dewsbury first team coincided with an upturn in the club's fortunes on the pitch. He played in Dewsbury's 9–36 defeat by

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 popul ...

in the

1972–73 Yorkshire Cup The 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup was the sixty-fifth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. Leeds winning the trophy by beating Dewsbury by the score of 36-9 in what would be Dewsbury's last appearance in a Yorkshire Cup final ...

Final and scored 2 tries in Dewsbury's 22-13 victory over Leeds in the 1972-73

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 ...

Final. He left Dewsbury after their championship winning season in 1973 to join

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

outfit Penrith. He played 69 games for Penrith between 1974 and 1978, scoring 21 tries. Stevo was also

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the side for a brief, unsuccessful spell. He ended his playing career in 1978 and settled in Sydney.

Broadcasting career

Stevo began his broadcasting career in Australia with brief spells at radio and television stations in Sydney. He first appeared on British airwaves in 1988, when he was invited to co-commentate on the rugby league Ashes series in Australia for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

with Eddie Hemmings. In 1990, Stevo joined the new British satellite television broadcaster BSB as a match summariser for its Rugby League coverage. At BSB, he joined up again with Hemmings, who had also been signed up by the broadcaster. The pairing were kept together when BSB and Sky Television merged to form

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

in 1991; the combined satellite TV network inherited BSB's rugby league TV contract. Stephenson announced at the start of the 2016 season that he would be retiring from commentating at the end of the season after 26 years. His last game on the microphone was the

2016 Super League Grand Final The 2016 Super League Grand Final was the 19th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XXI season. It was held on Saturday 8 October 2016, at Old Trafford, Manchester, with a 6pm kick-off time. Bri ...

Honours

Club

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, a ...

: 1972–73

International

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Individual

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Troph ...

: 1973 *

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE): 2016

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)
*(archived by web.archive.org
''Playing at Smales pace sank champions'' – article at yorkshirepost.co.ukWhen Great Britain won the World Cup
Stevo: Looking Back, by Mike Stephenson {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Mike 1947 births Living people British sports broadcasters Dewsbury Rams captains Dewsbury Rams players English rugby league coaches English rugby league commentators English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Members of the Order of the British Empire Penrith Panthers coaches Penrith Panthers captains Penrith Panthers players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Dewsbury Yorkshire rugby league team players