Remembering David Stephenson
It is with great sadness that Wigan Warriors learned of the passing of former player David Stephenson. Club Historian Keith Sutch writes…
David Stephenson was born in Lytham St Annes, Blackpool on 3rd December 1958, he was educated at Arnold School in Blackpool, and began his rugby career at Fylde RU.
Stephenson made his mark in Rugby Union at Fylde and gained England international honours at Under-19 level.
He switched codes and began his Rugby League career with Salford, making his debut in 1978. Having played just 97 first team games he left Salford for Wigan in 1982 for a then club-record fee of £60,000.
Salford had apparently rejected an earlier offer from Hull Kingston Rovers of around £40,000, plus test forward Phil Hogan which overall exceeded Wigan’s fee.
When Stephenson signed for Wigan he became reunited with a former Salford teammate Colin Whitfield and Alex Murphy the then Wigan Coach who had ironically signed him from Fylde for Salford.
Stephenson made a memorable debut for Wigan on 13th February 1982 in a Challenge Cup game at Knowsley Road against arch-rivals St Helens, scoring a brace of tries and a drop goal in a 20-12 win. He earned the Heritage Number 784.
His first major honour in a Wigan shirt came in 1983 via the now defunct John Player Trophy defeating Leeds in their own backyard by 15-4 at Elland Road.
Stephenson established himself as Wigan’s regular goal kicker during the mid-eighties playing and scoring points in many major finals. In fact, Stephenson has a total of 12 winners medals to his collection – two further winners medals in the John Player Trophy, three Lancashire Cups, one Premiership Trophy, one League Championship, one Challenge Cup, two Charity Shield’s and finally the World Club Challenge in 1987.
He made his Great Britain debut whilst a Wigan player on 20th November 1982 at Central Park in an Ashes series v Australia, losing the first test heavily by 27 points to 6 in front of a 23,126 crowd. Stephenson would eventually make a further 10 appearances for GB including the 1988 Tour to the Antipodes with his penultimate match being a 26-12 victory over Australia at the Sydney Football stadium. Stephenson also gained county recognition with Lancashire.
Stephenson played his last game for Wigan at the old Burnden Park ground, Bolton in a Semi Final defeat, 6-19 v Leeds in the John Player Trophy on 12th December 1987.
During his seven seasons at Wigan, Stephenson played 214 games, scoring 71 tries and converting 286 goals.
Several weeks later after his final game, Stephenson requested a transfer which led to him joining Leeds in a deal worth around £75,000 in January 1988. Whilst at Leeds he won his last major honour helping the club to the Yorkshire Cup beating Castleford by 33-12.
Having played 36 games for Leeds in his two-year stint, Stephenson left Yorkshire and returned to Lancashire signing for local neighbours Leigh in September 1989 for a reported fee of £55,000.
Stephenson was awarded the Heritage Number 1005 at Leigh following his debut – ironically v Salford on 7th October 1989. Having made a mere 22 appearances for Leigh, Stephenson left the club to re-join Salford.
Stephenson’s final competitive game of Rugby League was again in a Salford shirt in March 1991 – a solitary try-scoring appearance from the subs bench v Chorley.
He received the Wigan Player of the Year award in 1986, along with the accolade of representing Great Britain and Lancashire however, no matter what achievements he has in Rugby League, to a generation of Wigan supporters over the age of 40 he will always be remembered for the four goal kicks which secured the World Club Challenge trophy v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles on 7th October 1987.
The Wigan team v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles on that famous night contained all English born players all of which stood up to the formidable Australian superstars, with our very own Shaun Wane named the Man of the Match.
Following his retirement from the game, Stephenson coached Fylde RU Under-19s, of which his son Mark was a member and later offered the first team coaching role vacated by Mark Nelson.
Stephenson rejected the board’s overtures because he considered he would be unable to devote enough time to the demanding responsibility of trying to maintain the club’s National League status as well as fitting it in with his job working in Lytham.
Wigan Warriors send on their deepest condolences to David’s family and friends.
