John Robert Banham (22 September 1912 – 20 December 1999), was a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who represented the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team () has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the Kiwi (bird), native bird of that name. The team' ...

and New South Wales City.

Playing career

Banham played for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

, scoring five tries between 1936 and 1937. He represented New South Wales City in 1937. In 1938 the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Founded in 1909, the ARL has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of rugby league in Auckland and beyond. ...

signed Banham as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'', 2009. . They decided to place him with teams that would benefit from his playing and coaching. He joined the North Shore Albions initially and played the first half of the 1938 season with them before being moved to the City Rovers club for the remainder of the season. He also made 2 appearances for

Newton Rangers The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers par ...

. The first was on their trip to Christchurch to play a Canterbury XIII, and the second was in a midweek match against the touring Canterbury provincial side. On his return to the City side he helped lead them to the Roope Rooster final which they lost to

Richmond Rovers The Richmond Rovers Rugby League Club is a rugby league club based in Grey Lynn, New Zealand. The premier team is called the Richmond Bulldogs/Richmond Rovers and compete in Auckland Rugby League's first grade Fox Memorial competition. They have ...

by 20 to 8. Banham also played a match for Auckland Pakeha against Auckland Māori on 6 June which was won by the Māori side by 26 points to 21. On 16 July he made his

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

debut against the returning New Zealand side who had been on tour in Australia. The match was played at

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 19 ...

with Auckland winning 21 to 13 and Banham scoring one of their tries. He was named for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1939 but did not play a test, due to the cancellation of the 1939 tour of Great Britain.BANHAM, John Robert – 1939
''nzleague.co.nz'' He returned to Australia in September 1940 with the intention of joining the Australian forces. In 1941 played several games for the

and scored three tries.

References

1912 births 1999 deaths Australian rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Auckland rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players South Sydney Rabbitohs players City Rovers players North Shore Albions players Mount Albert Lions players Rugby league five-eighths Place of birth missing Rugby league players from New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs captains 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub