Paul Sterling (born 2 August 1964) is an English former professional

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 played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played at representative level for

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 ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and at club level for

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the t ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

and the

Hunslet Hawks Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. They play home games at South Leeds Stadium and compete in Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club was formed as a Pho ...

as a .

Background

Sterling was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

Staffordshire, England Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands cou ...

Career

Sterling started his rugby league career in 1993, joining Hull F.C. from

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 ...

club

Bradford & Bingley Bradford & Bingley plc was a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley. The bank was formed in December 2000 by demutualisation of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society following a vote of the building society's me ...

. After spending the 1996 season on loan at

, he joined

. Sterling was the top try scorer for Leeds Rhinos during

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Super League II Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

. Sterling won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for England while at Leeds in 1999 against France, and won

s for Wales in the

2000 Rugby League World Cup The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth Rugby League World Cup, World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams, held between 28 October and 25 November and hosted between the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland and France. ...

against Cook Islands, Lebanon, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, at 36 years of age, he was the oldest player in the tournament. In September 2000, Sterling took Leeds to an employment tribunal, claiming that he had been discriminated against by head coach

Dean Lance Dean Lance (born 4 April 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach, and current football manager at the North Queensland Cowboys of the NRL. He played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in ...

earlier in the year. In December 2000, Leeds were ordered to pay Sterling £16,000 as compensation and to offer him a new one-year contract. Leeds intended to appeal against this ruling, but in April 2001, Sterling announced his retirement, stating that he had lost the desire to play the sport due to the incident.

References

External links

The Teams: Wales
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby
*(archived by web.archive.org
England battle to French wins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Paul 1964 births Living people Black British sportsmen Bradford RFC players England Knights national rugby league team players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Hull F.C. players Hunslet R.L.F.C. players Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league players from Wolverhampton Rugby league wingers Wales national rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen