Jon Steel , full name Jonathan Steel , also known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

s of "Steely" and "Old Boy", is a former

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 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who played professionally from 1996 until 2013. He played 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 ...

for

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

, and in the

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 sys ...

for

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

. In rugby union, he represented Scotland at youth level and full international level before switching codes in 2005. He is a treble international having represented Scotland in Rugby Union, Rugby League and Rugby Sevens. Steel was named Player of the Year for Glasgow Caledonians, now called Glasgow Warriors (rugby union) in 2000. He had his first full rugby union international cap for Scotland against USA on 4 November 2000, at the age of 20. At this point he was the 4th youngest capped player in Scottish rugby union history. The rest of the international season was heavily disrupted due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001, but Steel played in the delayed

2001 Six Nations Championship The 2001 Six Nations Championship was the second series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 107th international championship overall. The tournament was affected by an outbreak of the highly infectious livestock disease foot-and ...

match against Ireland at Murrayfield in September 2001, in which Scotland beat Ireland 32–10. He had a further 3 international rugby union caps against Australia, All Blacks and Tonga. After switching codes, he was also named Scotland Rugby League Player of the Year in 2005. Steel played a huge role in Hull Kingston Rovers' promotion (to Super League) season in 2006. Following the promotion, Steel made a big impact in the initial stages of their first Super League season but was unfortunate to suffer a badly broken leg after only a handful of games. He was ruled out for most of the year as a result. He developed an ability to dodge rounds during his injury break.

Background

Steel was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, though qualified to play for Scotland through his Glaswegian father.

Career

Steel formerly played for in

. Signed to Hull KR in 2005 from the Borders RU club, 'Steely' as he was known made a real impact scoring 5 tries away from home against

London Skolars The London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre, New River Stadium in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, North London. Founded in 1995, the club operated as a semi-professional team ...

. He played in the Scotland squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

, scoring a try against Fiji in their winning pool B match on 5 November.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Jon 1980 births Living people 21st-century English sportsmen English people of Scottish descent English rugby league players English rugby union players Featherstone Rovers players Glasgow Warriors players Hull Kingston Rovers players Jed-Forest RFC players Rugby league players from North Yorkshire Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Middlesbrough Rugby union wings Scotland international rugby union players Scotland national rugby league team players Scottish rugby union players