Steve Buckingham is a New Zealand rugby league coach and former player. His position of preference was at Halfback. He is currently the head coach of the Mount Albert Lions.

Early years

Buckingham started his career playing for the Glenora Bears. Here he won his first two

Fox Memorial The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

titles. A longtime Warriors scholarship player, who playing in the 1995 Lion Red Cup Grand Final loss, he played two

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

first grade games under coach John Monie in early 1997. However Monie was fired halfway through the season and Buckingham did not play for the Warriors again.

Bartercard Cup

In the late 1990s Buckingham left Glenora after a dispute over match payments. He then joined the Mt Albert Lions, a club he was to enjoy great success with. In the seven years of the national

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Zeala ...

competition Buckingham played in four Cup-winning sides, winning with Mt Albert three times and once with the Auckland Lions. He also captained the 2004 winning side. During this time he played for several National Residents selections, including the 2003 New Zealand 'A' tour of Great Britain and captaining New Zealand 'A' in 2004.

Later years

With the launch of the Auckland Lions in the NSWRL Premier League competition in 2007 Buckingham once again became involved in a Trans-Tasman competition. In 2008 he returned to playing in the local Auckland competition and was a part of Mt Albert's Fox Memorial winning side. He also received the club's best half award. Buckingham continued to play for Mt Albert in 2009 and came out of retirement as player-coach in 2011.

Coaching career

While still playing in 2009 Buckingham served as an assistant coach under Brett Gemmell. In 2010 Buckingham became the Lions head coach when Gemmell was appointed the coach of the Auckland Vulcans. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 he coached the

Akarana Falcons The Auckland rugby league team is the team which traditionally represents all of the clubs which play in the Auckland Rugby League competition. As well as a senior men's team there are also Auckland representative teams throughout the various a ...

in the National Competition.Akarana Falcons
''nzrl.co.nz''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckingham, Steve Living people New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Auckland rugby league team players Mount Albert Lions players Glenora Bears players Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand rugby league coaches Mount Albert Lions coaches Rugby league five-eighths Junior Kiwis players Auckland rugby league team coaches