Stephen Oliver Knight (born 24 July 1948 in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

) is an Australian former

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 ...

and 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 - a dual code international. He played as a winger or centre.

Rugby union

Knight's rugby union career was with the Manly club in Sydney. He represented the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

on six occasions between 1969 and 1971, once against Scotland and five times against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Knight's international debut was against South Africa on the Wallabies' 1969 tour and he met them again during the tumultuous Springbok tour of 1971 that resulted in a groundswell of anti-apartheid expression by Australian demonstrators. He earned a seventh international rugby union cap as a member of a Presidents XV against England in 1970.

Rugby league

Knight switched to rugby league in 1972, joining the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

. He was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at rugby league for the 1972 World Cup and played in two pool games against Great Britain and New Zealand. His international rugby league debut against Great Britain saw him become Australia's 465th Kangaroo and 36th dual code rugby international behind

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

and

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

and preceding Geoff Richardson. Knight finished his club career with the

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

. He was a member of the 1978 premiership side that drew the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

against the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league compet ...

and won the replay which had to be played just three days later due to the upcoming

1978 Kangaroo tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and capt ...

. Knight graduated from

Sydney Teachers College The Sydney Teachers College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the new Sydney College o ...

in 1972 with a diploma in physical education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Stephen 1948 births Living people Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Australian schoolteachers Balmain Tigers players Dual-code rugby internationals Manly RUFC players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales rugby union team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Sydney Western Suburbs Magpies players 20th-century Australian sportsmen