An amateur rugby league player has been convicted of throwing a punch which broke an opposing player’s jaw when a mass brawl broke out during a match in Bradford.

Steven Froggett, 29, was playing for Upton against Victoria Rangers at the Bradford club’s Eccleshill ground on June 13 last year, when fighting broke out towards the end of the fixture.

Yesterday, a jury unanimously found Froggett guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Rangers prop forward James Barraclough after a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Mr Barraclough, who received a broken jaw during the attack, which needed surgery, identified his assailant as a man fitting Froggett’s description and wearing the number six shirt for Upton, as Froggett had been.

The match was described by witnesses as a “niggly” one during which several scuffles broke out.

Giving evidence, Froggett described how a “mass brawl erupted”, during which Barraclough received the punch, but denied it had been thrown by him.

Prosecutor Edward Renvoize told Froggett: “You were angry for some reason, and you punched him in the face in a very unsportsmanlike manner.”

Alan Binns, who had been playing for Victoria Rangers, told the court: “I did see him punch him, I saw quite clearly what was happening.

“I saw the punch and I even commented that it was a cheap shot.”

Photographs taken during the match, which were shown to the jury, showed Froggett with an arm outstretched.

Mr Renvoize said the photograph showed the defendant mid-punch, but Froggett claimed he had been trying to pull other players away from the fighting.

The jury was told he had been sent off the pitch once in 15 years of playing rugby – and about his previous convictions for violence.

Froggett, of Marguerite Gardens, Pontefract, was allowed bail by Recorder Peter Miller, who adjourned the case, to a date to be confirmed, for the production of pre-sentence reports.