Ryan Stig (born 7 November 1989) is an Australian 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. He plays for the

Western Suburbs Rosellas The Western Suburbs Rosellas, Western Suburbs, Wests, The Rosellas are a Rugby league club based in the Newcastle, NSW region of Australia. It was a foundation member of the Newcastle Rugby League in 1909 and has been one of the most successf ...

in the local Newcastle competition as a and . He previously played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

Limoux Grizzlies XIII Limouxin, also known as Limoux Grizzlies, are a semi-professional rugby league club from the town of Limoux in the Aude area in southern France. They play in the Super XIII. The club was formed in 1951. They have won the French rugby league ...

Background

Born in

Macksville, New South Wales Macksville is a small town on the Nambucca River in the Nambucca Valley Council, Nambucca Valley, New South Wales, Australia. It is halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, along the Pacific Highway, Australia, Pacific Highway, approximately 40 minu ...

, Stig played his junior football for the Morpeth Bulls and

Nambucca Heads Nambucca Heads is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Nambucca Valley. It is located on a ridge, north of the estuary of the Nambucca River near the Pacific Highway. Its population at the was 6,668 (6,314 in t ...

while attending St Philips Christian College, before being signed by the

Playing career

In 2007, Stig played for the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

. In 2008 and 2009, Stig played for the

' NYC team. In 2010, Stig joined the Northern Pride in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

. He was injured one game before the Grand Final. In 2011, Stig returned to the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

club signing a one-year contract. In Round 15 of the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The ...

, Stig made his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut for the Newcastle side against the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

after training with the team as 18th man all week. On 4 August 2011, Stig re-signed with the Novocastrians on a two-year contract. In April 2012, Stig developed a blood clot in his eye which ruled him out for the rest of the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

and eventually the

2013 NRL season The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixt ...

. This resulted in Stig not being offered a new contract for the 2014 season. In 2018, Stig played for Newcastle's NSW Cup team. After a stint with Limoux in France, Stig returned to Australia and signed for Western Suburbs in the local Newcastle competition. In 2024, Stig played two games for Newcastle's

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

side.

Same-sex marriage controversy

In October 2013, Stig was at the centre of a controversy when he made public comments on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

expressing opposition towards

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. The

distanced themselves from the issue, claiming "these comments are the personal opinion of Stig, based on his own beliefs and do not reflect those of the Club". A range of past players and others associated with the game publicly spoke out against Stig on his comments.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stig, Ryan 1989 births Living people Australian rugby league players Central Coast Centurions players Limoux Grizzlies players Newcastle Knights players Maitland Pickers players Northern Pride RLFC players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen