Mike Stephenson

For those of a similar name, see Michael Stephenson (rugby union), Mike Stevenson (cricketer), and Michael Stephenson (disambiguation).

Michael Stephenson MBE (born 27 January 1947) is an English rugby league commentator and former player.

Mike Stephenson
MBE

Stephenson in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Michael Stephenson
Born	(1947-01-27) 27 January 1947 Dewsbury, England
Playing information
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1966–73 Dewsbury 219+1 53 0 0 159 1974–78 Penrith Panthers 69 21 0 0 63 Total 289 74 0 0 222 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1971–72 Great Britain 5 2 0 0 6 1969–73 Yorkshire 7+1 1 0 0 3 1969 GB Under 24 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1975 Penrith 16 6 0 10 38
Source:

Stephenson was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire. He is commonly known as "Stevo", the nickname that he is known by in rugby league and on TV, played at club level for Dewsbury, and Australian side Penrith, and also played for Yorkshire and Great Britain, with whom he won the 1972 Rugby League World Cup. Stephenson played in the hooker position for most of his playing career.

Stephenson was responsible for the setting-up of the Rugby League Heritage Centre at the George Hotel in Huddersfield.

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 Great Britain debut in Castleford in 1971 against the touring New Zealand side. His greatest moment in international rugby league was being a member of Great Britain's victorious 1972 World Cup-winning side; Stevo scored a try against Australia in the World Cup Final.

Stephenson won caps for Great Britain while at Dewsbury in 1971 against New Zealand, in 1972 against France, 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 in the 1972–73 Yorkshire Cup Final and scored 2 tries in Dewsbury's 22–13 victory over Leeds in the 1972-73 Championship Final. He left Dewsbury after their championship winning season in 1973 to join Australian Rugby League outfit Penrith. He played 69 games for Penrith between 1974 and 1978, scoring 21 tries. Stevo was also player-coach 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 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 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.

Honours

Club

• RFL Championship: 1972–73

International

• World Cup: 1972

Individual

• Harry Sunderland Trophy: 1973
• Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): 2016

External links

• (archived by web.archive.org) Statistics at stats.rleague.com
• Playing at Smales pace sank champions – article at yorkshirepost.co.uk
• When Great Britain won the World Cup
• Tracking down the heroes of 1972

Stevo: Looking Back, by Mike Stephenson ISBN 978-1-904091-23-3