Steve Diamond (rugby union)

Last updated
Steve Diamond
Birth nameStephen Diamond
Date of birth (1969-02-03) 3 February 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth Partington, Lancashire
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight220 lb (15 st 10 lb)
School Broad Oak Secondary School
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
Trafford MV ()
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1989–2000 Sale Sharks 397 (70)
Coaching career
YearsTeam
2001 Sale Sharks
2001-2004 England Saxons
2004–2006 Saracens
2008-2011 Russia
2011-2020 Sale Sharks
2021–2022 Worcester Warriors
2022–2023 Edinburgh (consultant)
2024–present Newcastle Falcons

Steve Diamond (born 3 February 1969) is an English professional rugby union coach and former player.

Contents

He was appointed consultant director of rugby at Newcastle Falcons in February 2024.

Early life

Diamond is one of six children, brought up by his mother after his father died when he was 15. He often worked at weekends. [1]

Rugby career

Playing career

Diamond played for his local club Trafford MV before joining Sale Sharks as a player in 1989. He played over 390 top class games for Sale. He was also called up to the senior England squad for the 1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia, [2] however he was ultimately not capped at that level. He played in the hooker position.

Coaching career

Diamond became a coach of the Sharks in 2001 with former teammate Jim Mallinder. Diamond then left Sale and began coaching England Saxons for the 2002 and 2003 Churchill Cups again alongside Jim Mallinder.

Diamond joined Saracens in 2004 as a coach and was praised with bringing many successful players to the club, but was sacked after two and half years after failing to qualify for the Heineken Cup. [3]

In 2007 he teamed up again with Jim Mallinder to head up Northampton Saints recruitment process.

He then accepted the Director of Rugby role for the Russian national team, and in 2010, under Diamond's leadership, Russia qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. [4]

Diamond returned to Sale Sharks in January 2011 as Director of Sport [5] before taking over as Director of Rugby in 2012. [6] On 8 December 2020 Sale announced that Diamond had left the club with immediate effect for personal reasons. [7] It was later revealed that several family issues were the reason for his departure. [8]

He was appointed Lead Rugby Consultant at Worcester Warriors in November 2021. [9] On 25 January 2022 it was confirmed he would take charge of the first team with immediate effect following the departure of Jonathan Thomas. It was also confirmed he would take on the role of Director of Rugby from 2022 to 2023 due to the retirement of Alan Solomons. [10]

His contract at Warriors was terminated along with every other employee on 5 October 2022. [11]

Personal life

Diamond's mother died on 19 November 2020. [1] It was later confirmed his brother had died 12 months previously and his sister had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. [8]

Diamond has had an occasionally direct personal approach. [12]

Related Research Articles

Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby union system.

Bryan William Redpath is a former Scotland international rugby union player and former rugby union coach. He is currently the Director of Rugby at London Scottish.

Alexander Sanderson is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the back row during the 1990s and 2000s for Saracens and Sale Sharks. He is the brother of Pat Sanderson who also played rugby for Littleborough RUFC. He is currently Director of Rugby at Sale Sharks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Ashton</span> England dual-code rugby international footballer

Christopher John Ashton is a retired English rugby union and former rugby league footballer, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. Ashton primarily played wing and secondarily played fullback.

David James Mallinder is a rugby union coach and former player currently working with Scottish Rugby as performance director. He is a former head coach of Sale Sharks, England Under 21s, England Saxons and Northampton Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Dickens (rugby union)</span> Rugby player

Alan Dickens is an English rugby union coach and retired professional player who last played at scrum half for Northampton Saints, having previously represented Saracens, Sale Sharks and Leeds Carnegie after experience in the national leagues with Manchester Rugby Club and Stourbridge R.F.C. He also spent a period during his Saracens career, coaching boys from Merchant Taylors School. Dickens is currently the attacking coach at Leicester Tigers, he previously coached at Northampton, where he filled in as the head coach at the Saints following Jim Mallinder’s departure, and for England U20.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wigglesworth (rugby union)</span> England international rugby union player

Richard Eric Peter Wigglesworth is an English rugby union coach and former professional player. He is the record appearance maker for Premiership Rugby, he played for Sale Sharks, Saracens and Leicester Tigers. He has won Seven Premiership titles, one with Sale, five with Saracens, and one with Leicester as well as three European Rugby Champions Cups with Saracens. Between 2008 and 2018 he won 33 caps for England. In his career he has played over 400 club games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gaskell</span> England international rugby union player

James Gaskell is a rugby union player for Shokki Shuttles in the Top League. He plays as a flanker or lock. After making the debut for Sale in 2008, Gaskell was named the club's Breakthrough Player of the Year for the 2009/10 season. Gaskell was named club captain for the 2010/11 season, making him the youngest captain in the history of the Premiership. He was injured for much of the season, and returned in January 2011. The club's coach changed while Gaskell was injured, and a new captain was appointed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sale Sharks</span> Professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England.

Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, it is one of the oldest existing football clubs. It adopted the nickname Sharks in 1999.

Ryan Mills is an English professional rugby union player. He can play at both inside centre and at fly-half.

The history of Sale Sharks dates back to the club's founding in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby. Throughout their history, the Sale Sharks have been one of the leading rugby union clubs in the North of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis Langdon</span> England international rugby union player

Curtis John Langdon is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Premiership Rugby club Northampton Saints.

Jack Corstiaan van Poortvliet is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers and the England national team.

The 2021–22 Premiership Rugby was the 35th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the fourth to be sponsored by Gallagher. It is also the first since 1992–93 to feature thirteen teams. The competition was broadcast by BT Sport for the ninth successive season with four league season games and the final also simulcast free-to-air on ITV. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown on ITV with extended highlights on BT Sport.

Tom Roebuck is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a wing for Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks. Born in Scotland, he represents England at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

References

  1. 1 2 "'A proper matriarch': Steve Diamond's poignant tribute to his late 85-year-old mother who moulded his tough love approach to rugby management".
  2. ↑ "England's 'second string' trounce Argentina". irishtimes.com. 2 June 1997. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Diamond sacked as Saracens coach". BBC Sport. 8 February 2006.
  4. ↑ "Paul handed Russian role". Sky Sports. 7 June 2010.
  5. ↑ "Sale Sharks bring back ex-player & coach Steve Diamond". BBC Sport. 13 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "Bryan Redpath demoted from Sale director of rugby role as Steve Diamond takes control of team for rest of season". The Telegraph Sport. 30 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Club Statement: Steve Diamond". Sale Sharks. 2020-12-08. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  8. 1 2 "Family reasons prompted Diamond to quit". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  9. ↑ "Worcester Warriors | Steve Diamond to join Warriors as Lead Rugby Consultant". warriors.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  10. ↑ "Worcester Warriors | Steve Diamond to become Director of Rugby". warriors.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  11. ↑ "Worcester player and staff contracts terminated after high court ruling | Worcester | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  12. ↑ "I knew Steve Diamond was a bully - and now I know for sure" . 30 December 2018. Archived from the original on 2022-05-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.