Paul Sculthorpe (born 22 September 1977 in Burnley, Lancashire), is an English retired rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. A Great Britain international representative Stand-off/Five-eighth, and Loose forward/Lock, he played club football for St. Helens, with whom he won a total of four Grand Finals, three Challenge Cups and two World Club Challenges. He is the older brother of Widnes Vikings player Danny Sculthorpe.
[edit] Early years
Sculthorpe grew up in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Educated at Counthill School, he started his professional career with Warrington Wolves as a 20 year-old, and shortly after that made his debut for England.
In 1996 he was named in the Super League Dream Team.[1]
St. Helens paid £300,000[2] for Paul Sculthorpe when he moved from Warrington Wolves in 1997 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £469,000 in 2009).[3]
In the 1997 post season, Sculthorpe was selected to play for Great Britain at loose forward in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia.
[edit] St. Helens
In 2001 Sculthorpe was named man-of-the-match in the first test against Australia.[4]
He was named as Man of Steel in 2001 and 2002, becoming the first player to retain the award.[citation needed] He was Saints’ sole representative in the 2002 Super League Dream Team, a feat he repeated in 2004.[citation needed]
In 2004, his first season as captain, he lifted the Challenge Cup after Saints’ 32-16 win over Wigan Warriors at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. He also joined a select band of players to have scored 100 tries and 100 goals in Super League, and in 2005 scored his 1000th point for Saints.[citation needed] Paul has been one of Great Britain’s leading performers in recent years, and it was no surprise when he was named as captain in 2005.
Having been ruled out for the most of the 2005 season and prevented him from leading the side in the Gillette Tri-Nations tournament.
He is one of the stars of the world game and also the face of Gillette. Sculthorpe's deal with razor giants Gillette is the most lucrative sponsorship deal made by any rugby league player world wide.[citation needed]
In March 2006, Sculthorpe signed a deal with Random House to publish his autobiography, Man of Steel, which was published in August 2007 .[citation needed]
Having been named Great Britain captain he only ever captained the side for 18 minutes. This came in the one off test game at Knowsley road in 2006, between Great Britain and New Zealand. He was forced off after injuring his knee.
Sculthorpe was named man-of-the-match in St. Helens' win over the Brisbane Broncos in the 2007 World Club Challenge. In September 2007 he signed a new 12-month contract with St Helens which saw him celebrate his Testimonial Season at the club.
Paul's final game for St. Helens was in the 2008 Challenge Cup final, where he injured his shoulder in the opening minutes.
After an injury hit 2008 campaign with only a handful of games played, St. Helens announced they would release Sculthorpe at the end of the season. He was being touted as a potential signing for Salford City Reds, or join up with brother Danny at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in time for the 2009 Super League season.[5] However, Sculthorpe announced his retirement from the game on 19 September 2008.[6]
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[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Sculthorpe, Paul |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
22 September 1977 |
| Place of birth |
Burnley |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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