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Steve James (rugby)

Australian rugby union footballer, and rugby league coach

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ28857138 ↗
Source-derived summary

Stephen Leslie Keith James (born 23 July 1960 in Darlinghurst, New South Wales) is a former Australian rugby union player and currently, rugby league coach. He played as a fly-half.

Career

Between 1983 and 1989, James was part of the New South Wales representative team, for which he played 10 times.

James debuted for the Wallabies immediately before the 1987 Rugby World Cup against Korea, and then, during the tournament, he disputed only the match against England in the pool stage; later, he disputed the Bledisloe Cup in 1987 and in 1988, his last cap.

After his retirement, James moved to a coaching career: from 2004 to 2006, he coached Carlingford Cougars, a rugby league team from Balmain in New South Wales, and was part of Balmain Tigers' coaching staff.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Steve James (rugby)” as australian rugby union footballer, and rugby league coach. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Steve, James and rugby.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1960, 1983, 1989, 1987—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1960-07-23. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Steve, James and rugby providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Steve James (rugby)”, the useful work is to connect “australian rugby union footballer, and rugby league coach” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28857138. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960, 1983, 1989 and 1987.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Steve James (rugby)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Steve James (rugby) primary sources, Steve James (rugby) archive and Steve research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Steve James (rugby)”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Steve James (rugby)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.