Stefan Guy Ratchford (born 19 July 1988) is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a for the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

and the

England Knights England Knights is the feeder team for the England national rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an international environment and to compete for a place in ...

and England international at international level. He previously played for the Salford City Reds between 2007 and 2011 in the

and

National League One National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

. Throughout his career Ratchford has played as a and .

Background

Stefan Ratchford was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. He started playing

at the age of six, initially playing junior rugby for Wigan St Cuthberts before later switching to Wigan St Patricks.

Club career

Salford Red Devils

Ratchford signed with Salford City Reds in 2005, and made his first team début for the club in 2007 in a fourth round

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

match against

Gateshead Thunder Gateshead Thunder may refer to: * Gateshead Thunder (1999), a rugby league team formed in 1999 and then merged with Hull Sharks * Gateshead Thunder (2000), a rugby league team formed in 2000, which became Newcastle Thunder in 2015 {{Disambigu ...

. In 2008, following the club's relegation to

, Ratchford established himself as a regular first team player. He formed an effective halfback partnership alongside

Richie Myler Richard David Myler (born 21 May 1990) is a retired rugby league footballer, who is currently the director of rugby for Hull FC in the Super League. He is a member of the Ireland squad for the delayed 2021 Rugby League World Cup, having declar ...

, helping the team win the

Northern Rail Cup The Championship Cup (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's British rugby league system, Rugby League Champ ...

, and the Division One Grand Final.

Warrington Wolves

Ratchford played in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final victory over

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Ratchford played in the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

defeat by

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Ratchford played in the

2013 Super League Grand Final The 2013 Super League Grand Final was the 16th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League XVIII. The game was held on Saturday 5 October 2013, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Wigan Warri ...

defeat by

. Ratchford signed a new deal in 2014 keeping him at the Warrington club until 2018. Ratchford played in 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 ...

defeat by

. Ratchford played in the 2018 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

. During Warrington's defeat by

in the

2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves a ...

Ratchford was voted winner of the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy was awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final and its predecessors, the RFL First Division Final and the Premiership Final, between 1965 and 2023. Named after Harry Sunderland, who w ...

making him only the fourth recipient of the award to have played for the losing side. Ratchford played in the

defeat by

. Ratchford played in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final victory over St. Helens at

. In round 8 of the

2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the 2021 Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021 ...

, he scored a try and kicked 11 goals in Warrington's 62–18 victory over Salford. Ratchford played 28 games for Warrington in the 2023 Super League season as Warrington finished sixth on the table and qualified for the playoffs. Ratchford played in the clubs elimination playoff loss against St Helens. On 28 March 2024, Ratchford set a new goal kicking record in the Super League converting his 40th goal in a row. Warrington would win the match 58-4 over the hapless

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

side. In July 2024, Ratchford suffering a fractured eyesocket and jaw during a game against St Helens ruling him out for eight weeks. The injury resulted in him being unable to eat or talk for the first month of his recovery. On 7 June 2025, Ratchford played in Warrington's 8-6 Challenge Cup final loss against Hull Kingston Rovers.

International career

Ratchford was named in the England squad for

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three ...

, but did not appear in any games during the tournament. At the end of the 2011 season, Ratchford rejected a new contract offer from Salford and joined

. He also made two appearances for the

in 2011 and 2012. In October 2017 he was selected in the England squad for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

Personal life

In 2015, Ratchford set up a business with former Salford City Reds teammate Matty Smith called Future Stars, which runs coaching sessions for junior rugby league players.

Honours

**Winners (2):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a trophy awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. This regular portion of the season precedes the playoffs for the eventual Super League Grand Final. The tro ...

**Winners (1):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

Warrington Wolves profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Statistics at rlwc2017.comSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratchford, Stefan 1988 births Living people 21st-century English sportsmen England national rugby league team players England Knights national rugby league team players English rugby league players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Wigan Salford Red Devils players Warrington Wolves captains Warrington Wolves players