Steve Buckingham is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 coach and player. His position of preference is at Halfback. He is currently the head coach of the Mount Albert Lions.

Early years

Steve started his career playing for the Glenora Bears

Glenora Bears

The Glenora Bears are a rugby league football club based in Glen Eden, New Zealand who compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. The club was established in 1931...

. Here he won his first two Fox Memorial

Auckland Rugby League

The Auckland Rugby League 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 and was the owner of Carlaw Park, once the "spiritual home of rugby league in New Zealand".-History:The Auckland Rugby League was...

 titles. A longtime Warriors scholarship player, who playing in the 1995 Lion Red Cup

Lion Red Cup

The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994-1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being accepted into the Winfield Cup. The competition was a...

 Grand Final loss, he played two Super League

Super League (Australia)

Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australasia for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to...

 first grade games under coach John Monie

John Monie

John Monie is a former professional rugby league coach and player. He is probably best known for his coaching career where he won premierships in both Australia and England.-Playing career:...

 in early 1997. However Monie was fired halfway through the season and Steve did not play for the Warriors again.

Bartercard Cup

In the late 1990s Steve left Glenora after a dispute over match payments. He then joined the Mt Albert Lions

Mt Albert Lions

The Mount Albert Lions are a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. The Lions home ground is at Fowlds Park. Their patron is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. In 2008 and 2009 the Lions won the Fox Memorial....

, a club he was to enjoy great success with. In the seven years of the national Bartercard Cup

Bartercard Cup

The Bartercard 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 Zealand Rugby League...

 competition Steve played in four Cup-winning sides, winning with Mt Albert three times and once with the Auckland Lions

Auckland Lions

The Auckland Lions were a rugby league club that had teams in both the New Zealand Bartercard Cup and the NSWRL Premier League. They were mostly based around the Mt Albert Lions Rugby League club...

. 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

Auckland Lions

The Auckland Lions were a rugby league club that had teams in both the New Zealand Bartercard Cup and the NSWRL Premier League. They were mostly based around the Mt Albert Lions Rugby League club...

 in the NSWRL Premier League

NSWRL Premier League

The New South Wales Cup is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales previously known as the NSWRL Premier League. It has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve grade competition. It is now the premier open age competition in the state...

 competition in 2007 Steve 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 clubs 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

Auckland Vulcans

The Auckland Vulcans are an Auckland based rugby league club that participates in the New South Wales Cup. They are administered by the Rugby League Development Foundation. The team is selected from the Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial Competition and also uses Warriors squad members not...

.