The Steve Prescott Man of Steel Awards is an end-of-season awards dinner for 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 ...

rugby league competition. The event's name is taken from the main award presented, the Man of Steel award for the

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 of the year. In 2014, it was renamed after Steve Prescott.

The Steve Prescott Man of Steel award

Origins

The awards were started in 1977 when David Howes, the Rugby League's public relations officer, organised sponsorship worth £3,000 from Trumanns Steel Limited for awards in six different categories; Trumanns Man of Steel, Division One Player of the Year, Division Two Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Referee of the Year. The awards were voted on by the members of the rugby league press. The first awards were made at the end of the 1976–77 season with the inaugural award winners being: * Trumanns Man of Steel - David Ward,

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 ...

* Division One Player of the Year - Malcolm Reilly,

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

* Division Two Player of the Year - Ged Marsh, Blackpool Borough * Young Player of the Year - David Ward, Leeds * Coach of the Year -

Eric Ashton Eric Ashton MBE (24 January 1935 – 20 March 2008) was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played his whole top flight football ...

, St Helens * Referee of the Year - Billy Thompson In 2008, the voting for the award was changed, with the winner being chosen by the players of the Super League instead. In 2019, in response to criticism that some players were not taking the voting seriously, a panel of former rugby league players was chosen to determine the winner of the award. The voting was changed to a system similar to the Australian

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

, with points being awarded to the best performing players after each game (three points for the man of the match, two points for the runner-up, and one point for the third best player).

Name change

Former

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 ...

player Steve Prescott died of cancer in 2013, aged 39. Following a short campaign, a petition with over 12,000 signatures was sent to the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

, calling for the Man of Steel award to be renamed in Prescott's honour. In March 2014, the RFL officially announced that the award would be called the "Steve Prescott Man of Steel" from the 2014 season onwards.

Man of Steel

Multiple winners

Winners by club

Winners by country

Woman of Steel

In 2018 an additional category for the Woman of Steel from the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

was inaugurated.

Wheels of Steel

In 2023 a new category for Wheels of Steel from the

RFL Wheelchair Super League The RFL Wheelchair Super League is the highest level of wheelchair rugby league in England, Scotland and Wales. The Wheelchair Super League was founded in 2019, whilst the wheelchair competition was played in Great Britain prior to this, 2019 w ...

was inaugurated.

Other awards

Young Player of the Year

Coach of the Year

Top Try Scorer

Top Points Scorer

Top Metre Maker

Hit Man

The player making most tackles in the regular season.

Club of the Year

*The Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award - Both players and non-players are eligible to receive the award, which will be judged by a panel from the governing body. *

Fairplay Index Award The Fair Play Index is used in the Super League and Co-operative Championship rugby league competitions as a measure to determine the fairest team over the regular season. The team with the lowest points total wins. As a result of sponsorship from ...

for Super League *The Community Player of the year

Special awards

*The ‘200 Club’ - retiring players who have played in over 200 games.

References

External links

Man of Steel Award at rlhalloffame.org.ukMan of Steel Award at superleague.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Of Steel Award Rugby league trophies and awards Super League