Stephen Hampson (born 14 August 1961) is a 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 from Airdrie, Scotland, who played as a in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached rugby league in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Vulcan RUFC (1978–83) in

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows, often shortened informally to Newton, is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census was 24,642. Newton-le-Willows is on the ea ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, and at club level for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On 13 December 1980, they were the ...

, Halifax, Salford Reds and the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

Playing career

Club career

Hampson started his

career with

, joining from

based

club Vulcan RUFC in October 1983. After a promising start during his first season at the club, Hampson broke his leg in a match against

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 ...

in April 1984, and then suffered a broken wrist in a reserve team game during his recovery. The injuries meant that he only played one first team game during the 1984–85 season. Hampson won his first honours with Wigan during the 1985–86 season, appearing as a substitute (replacing Gary Henley-Smith) in Wigan's 34–8 victory over

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in the 1985 Lancashire Cup Final at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, St Helens, on Sunday 13 October 1985. He started at in Wigan's 11–8 victory over

in the 1985–86 John Player Special Trophy Final at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

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 ...

on Saturday 11 January 1986. Hampson was an unused substitute in the 1986 Lancashire Cup final against

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, but played in the 18–4 victory over

in the 1986–87 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1986–87 season at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

on Saturday 10 January 1987. During the 1987–88 season, Hampson played at fullback for defending champions Wigan in their 1987 World Club Challenge victory against the visiting

Manly-Warringah 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 sea ...

. A few days later, he played in the 28–16 victory over

in the 1987 Lancashire Cup Final at

, St Helens, on Sunday 11 October 1987. He played in the 22–17 victory over

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the

1988 Lancashire Cup 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at

, St. Helens on Sunday 23 October 1988, and played in the 12–6 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

in the 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy Final at

on Saturday 7 January 1989. Hampson played (replaced by substitute Neil Cowie) in the 5–4 victory over St Helens in the 1992 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1992–93 season at

, St Helens on Sunday 18 October 1992, and played , and scored a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kick ...

in the 15–8 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1992–93 Regal Trophy Final at

on Saturday 23 January 1993. In 1989, he played alongside fellow import Andy Gregory for the

in the

NSWRL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

. Although the club finished bottom of the league table, they reached the final of the 1989 Panasonic Cup. Hampson played and scored a try in the final, but the match ended in a 20–22 defeat against

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. Hampson played in the club's

1991 World Club Challenge The 1991 World Club Challenge (marketed as the Foster's Lager, Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship from the brewer) was contested by 1990–91 Rugby Football League season, 1990–91 RFL Championship winners, Wigan Warriors, Wigan and ...

victory against the visiting

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 ...

. He spent almost ten years as a player for the club between 1983 and 1993. During his Wigan career, he made 296 starts (plus 8 subs bench appearances), scoring 55 tries, 48 conversions and 3 drop goals, a total of 319 points. Wigan reached the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

Final eight times while Hampson was at the club, but he missed the first three Challenge Cup Finals (in 1984, 1985 and 1988) due to injury. After being released by Wigan in 1993, he went to play for Halifax, Salford Reds and

Representative career

Hampson received his first call-up for

in 1986. He was selected to go on the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match (rugby league), Test match against Papua New Guinea national rugby le ...

, but was forced to withdraw after breaking his arm a few weeks before the tour departed. He was also selected for the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length un ...

. He was capped 12 times for

between 1987 and 1992.

Coaching career

Hampson was coach of Lancashire Lynx between 1998 and 2000. He worked as a personal trainer for other sportsmen such as cricketer

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977), is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

and golfer

Darren Clarke Darren Christopher Clarke (born 14 August 1968) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions and has previously played on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He has won 21 tournaments worldwide on ...

. He has worked as a fitness conditioner for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

, Lancashire CCC, and in

at international level with

. As part of the 2010 Wigan Warriors coaching staff re-structure Hampson became the Assistant Under 18's Coach.

Honours

Wigan *

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 ...

(5): 1986–87, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, *

(5): 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93 *

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. Super League sides have won the c ...

(2):

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

* Lancashire Cup (5): 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93 * Premiership (2): 1986–87, 1991–92 * John Player Special / Regal Trophy (4): 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1992–93

References

External links

Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at wigan-warriors.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
When Britain defeated the Aussies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampson, Steve 1961 births Living people Blackpool Panthers coaches Chorley Lynx coaches English rugby league coaches English rugby league players English rugby union players Great Britain national rugby league team players Halifax Panthers players Illawarra Steelers players Lancashire rugby league team players Place of birth missing (living people) Rugby league fullbacks Salford Red Devils players Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players 20th-century English sportsmen