Great show last night, this man is RL through and through a great player great man, deserves our respect and a big send off from the whole of RL

doubt they will mention it tonight



Stevo has been a great commentator throughout the years and a great RL man, even though him and Wiggy have probably stayed on a few years too long. Wish him all the best.

Yep, whilst he has had his moments you can't bear to listen to him, no one can knock his passion and love for the game. Shame the likes of Eddie and Co. during games and Rod Studd on BackChat were always more interested in drawing out 'Stevo' the animated character rather than letting us hear more of Mike Stephenson.

Wouldn't be surprised if tonight is decided by a 1 pointer and Eddie droans on about it being fate that a drop goal decided Stevo's last match on commentary.

Top bloke, great player and ambassador, but sadly no longer a great commentator.
I don't get the hatred and dislike for him, he is RL through and through.

Good luck to him!

Excellent programme, a good tribute to a man passionate about the game he loves. Probably went on a few years too long but did more for the game than most.

Great show and I am gonna miss him. Yeah it is the right time for him retire but still I will miss his voice and enthusiasm next season.

He is a legend..

Good show and also showed Stuart Barnes for the person he is.

Yeah he couldn't help himself with that back handed comment about rugby league.

All the best to Stevo a true Rl legend on and off the pitch

I don't think it's hatred, it's more bourne out of the fact he has gone on too long and it has left a few long standing fans fed up of the stale old act and clichés.

he will be remembered fondly by most though, certainly one of a kind.

I will admit I will miss his irritating catchphrases.

But he should've retired 2/3 years ago.

All the best to Stevo. Great finish to the first half from hin. Wire in possession,last tackle 3 seconds left and going into half time 4 points up.

'I don't believe it, I thought they would have gone for a little chip over the top'

Classic, he must do it on purpose!

He certainly got all his catchphrases out tonight.

You forgot to put the one in front, 12/13 years ago, the guy has been gash for yonks. As for some calling him a commentator...ffs he never has being one, not ever.
He got owned by Stuart Barnes years ago in a live debate over league v union and sounded like a gibbering old fool then, the man makes Eddie Waring when he was failing with alzheimers seem coherent by comparison.
Good fooking riddance, stealing a wage for far too long and doing the game a dis-service.

The Rugby League community shall always not like itself very much. It's an essential part of its culture... not liking itself very much and not liking outsiders even more. Utterly paranoid and negative about 99% of the game 99% of the time. Explains why it didn't like Eddie Waring, Ray French and Mike Stephenson very much and couldn't wait for all three of them to get lost and/or retire.

Whoever replaces Stevo won't be liked very much either.

No one epitomizes that, more than you.

Yep. All the other presenters were perfectly professional and appeared genuine in their appreciation of Stevo.

That smug, patronising pillock, however, couldn't manage that.

I will go against the grain here & say that I have always enjoyed listening to the Stevo & Eddie double act, all the gaffs & cliché one liners.

For me he has brought much welcomed humour to my TV RL watching & although sometimes finding myself shouting "don't be a nipple Stevo" I will miss his little quips.

As an aside, I met Mike for the first & probably last time last Wednesday while working on Piccadilly Metrolink Station, he was struggling with the ticket machine & I offered to & did help (getting in a little quip about his age & technology into the bargain).

A colleague mentioned to Mike that I was a big Leigh fan, to which he replied "well we can't have it all can we" !!! It was at this point that I got to playfully call him a B@$tard telling him that I was going to be complimentary but had changed my mind.

I have to say that Mike Stephenson was only to keen to chat & tell a couple of stories as he waited for his tram back to the hotel at Media City.

I found Stevo a thoroughly likeable & approachable fella & as a man of a certain age who has done more in & for Rugby League than most of us could ever have hoped to do, I offered him my congratulations on a fantastic career in RL & wished him the very best, this I felt compelled to do out of respect.

"Rugby League, the greatest game of all" - Mike Stephenson.

I don't mind the clichés. I love the passion. What I thought ruined the commentary over the years however was his actual ignorance of the modern game.
He didn't know the rules well, so he would often rant about decisions that were perfectly fine.
He was very tactically unaware so always ranted about player decisions that were good ideas in the long run.
He was also very opinionated about things which he'd not thought through and wouldn't go back on his perception.

I didn't get the chance to watch all of the GF unfortunately as I had to go to a family gathering. The little bit of the build up I watched, I was annoyed that his contribution was to say that Sandow wasn't a team player, he was an individual. That's an incredibly insulting assessment of a player and completely incorrect IMO.

As much as I enjoy the passion and am entertained by the clichés, I'd far rather prefer a commentator that knows what they're bloody on about with some knowledge of how the modern game works!

I'm glad he's going because he's never been a good commentator, he talks too much but I wish him well in retirement as he's a passionate rugby league man.

I just wish Eddie would go too, I can't stand the bloke, he detests the Wire but overall he courts the controversial far too much and ruins games through his stupidity at times.

Good luck Stevo! Think people forget just how bloody good a player he was. One of the best our country has produced. He's done so much more than commentary for our game. Lots of charity work and the RL museum.

As far as his Sky commentary goes, good riddance.

A quality player in his day, and done great things for RL away from his commentating, I wish him well.

Unfortunately it's been to the detriment of the image of the sport having him as the 'face' of RL for the past 26 years. No insight, no real knowledge of the modern game or the rules, his awful catchphrases, his ramblings. It makes the sport look dumb, northern, old-fashioned etc.

Basically, the coverage of RL for 26 years has been dominated by the equivalent of a loud mouthed fan talking garbage down the pub. No other sport feels it needs to inject a 'character' into the mix, they respect their viewer and put knowledgeable professionals in there to enhance their experience.

I'm looking forward to watching Sky with the volume on. Roll on 2017.

I would suggest not having any volume on as long s Eddie trying to be controversial and Cummings the ref is always right are there.

Can you imagine RU having. Ref s a commentator and spending all game dissecting everything te ref did not pick up.

Who should be picking up the mantle & leading the Sky commentary now that Mike Stephenson has gone ?

Promote one of the sideline pundits ?

An Aussie ? *might be refreshing* ?

What say you lot ?

I disliked AP 100%,Keith Swiftcorn 100% and also William Eve 100%