Sir Wayne Thomas "Buck" Shelford was born on 13 December 1957 and is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and coach who represented and captained New Zealand in the late 1980s.
21 Facts About Buck Shelford
2.
Buck Shelford is credited with revitalising the performance of the All Blacks' traditional "Ka Mate" haka.
3.
Buck Shelford enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Navy as a physical training instructor, and during this time played rugby for the Navy team.
4.
Buck Shelford then joined the unauthorised Cavaliers' tour of South Africa in 1986, which included 28 of the 30 players selected for the original tour.
5.
Buck Shelford was involved in an incident during the semi-final match against Wales that saw Huw Richards become the first player to be sent off in the tournament.
6.
Richards had punched the All Black lock Gary Whetton after a loose scrum and Buck Shelford reacted in defence of his team mate, landing a blow that knocked Richards to the ground.
7.
Buck Shelford took over as All Black captain after the World Cup, first captaining the side during the 1987 tour of Japan.
8.
Buck Shelford has said that the All Blacks had previously done the haka in a way that showed little understanding or training, and with the support of a former All Black, Hika Reid, stressed the importance of correctly learning the tikanga, words and actions, noting that the key was getting the European members of the team to embrace the change.
9.
In 1990, the All Blacks' selectors decided that Buck Shelford was not up to the standard for the team and he was controversially dropped after the test series against Scotland.
10.
Buck Shelford said he had "no hard feelings" about being dropped and that he had spoken with the then selector, Alex Wyllie, who expressed a "few regrets" about his decision.
11.
Buck Shelford had played 48 All Blacks games including 22 tests and had captained the side 31 times, including 14 tests.
12.
Buck Shelford scored 22 tries in total in his All Blacks career.
13.
Buck Shelford moved to England to play for Northampton, helping to revitalise a team languishing at the lower end of the first division and inspiring them to their first Pilkington Cup final.
14.
Buck Shelford retired from playing all rugby in 1995 after a spell at the Rugby Roma in the Italian Championship and coached for some time in Britain, including spells at Saracens and Rugby Lions.
15.
Buck Shelford returned to New Zealand and was the assistant coach of the North Harbour team in 1997 and coach in 1998.
16.
Currently, Buck Shelford is coaching at his former club, North Shore in Devonport.
17.
On 23 June 2007, Buck Shelford revealed that he was receiving treatment for the form of cancer known as lymphoma.
18.
Buck Shelford told Newstalk ZBs Murray Deaker that he wanted his privacy respected as he focused on his recovery and said he would not be making any further personal statements.
19.
In 2011, Buck Shelford was studying at Massey University in Albany, Auckland.
20.
In 2021, Buck Shelford was one of the castaways on TVNZ's original series Celebrity Treasure Island.
21.
Buck Shelford was eliminated by Edna Swart before the grand finale, finishing in fourth place.