Steve Bucknor Wiki, Height, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Steve Bucknor is a Jamaican former international cricket umpire and football referee. One of the most experienced umpires in the history of cricket, Bucknor umpired a record 128 Tests, 179 ODIs, and five consecutive World Cups from 1992 to 2007. He was the first umpire to officiate in 100 Test matches.

Wiki/Biography

Stephen Anthony Bucknor was born on Friday, 31 May 1946 (age 78 years; as of 2024) in Montego Bay, St James, Jamaica. His zodiac sign is Gemini. He has been athletic since childhood. Raised by a single mother, Bucknor spent most of his childhood on the playfield while his mother was away at work. He attended Cornwall College in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He played a goalkeeper for Cornwall College’s football team. He also captained the team. He was part of the Cornwall College team that won the DaCosta Cup in 1963. He also represented his college in the long jump. Bucknor relocated from Jamaica to New York around 2017-18.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 6′ 3″

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

Not much is known about Steve Bucknor’s parents and siblings.

Wife & Children

On 10 June 1989, Steve Bucknor got married to Leora Bucknor.

He has six children. He also has a stepdaughter. His daughter’s names are Suzanne Bucknor, Sasheeka Bucknor, Stephanie Bucknor, Andrae Stephenson, and Shari Ri Ri. Sasheeka Bucknor worked at Air Jamaica. His son Sta-Bee British (Sean) is a professional soccer player.

Religion

Steve Bucknor follows Christianity.

Career

After completing his formal education, he worked as a mathematics and physical education teacher at St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).

Football

Steve Bucknor began his career in sports with football. As a football player, he played as a goalkeeper in Jamaican parish leagues during the 1960s. In 1964, he was the goalkeeper for Jamaica in a schoolboy international match against Brazil, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Later, he became a football coach for Cornwall College. Between 1981 and 1991, he won six DaCosta Cup titles.

During the same time, he became a football referee. Bucknor was a referee for FIFA in a CONCACAF and World Cup qualifier match between El Salvador and the Netherlands Antilles in 1988. Bucknor quit his career in football in 1992.

Cricket

Bucknor’s first international cricket match was a One Day International (ODI) between the West Indies and India in Antigua on 18 March 1989. His first Test match was between the West Indies and India at Sabina Park, Kingston, from 28 April to 3 May 1989. He was selected to umpire the 1992 World Cup final after only four Test matches and a few one-day internationals. Bucknor also umpired in the next four World Cup finals in 1996, 1999, 2003, and 2007. In 1994, the ICC introduced a policy for Test matches where one umpire would be independent of the competing nations and would be chosen from an International Panel of Umpires. Bucknor was part of this panel from its start until the ICC changed its umpiring policy in 2002. Bucknor was one of five officials involved in the wrong decision during the 2007 World Cup final, which led to play continuing in poor light conditions. As a result, Bucknor, along with the other four officials, was suspended from the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. His incorrect decisions led to India’s defeat by 122 runs in the second Test in Sydney in January 2008.

After a strong protest from the Board of Control for Cricket, Bucknor was removed by the ICC from umpiring in the third Test between Australia and India in Perth. On 23 February 2009, the ICC announced that Bucknor would retire from umpiring in March 2009. The last Test match he umpired was the 3rd Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town from 19–23 March 2009. His last ODI match was the 4th ODI between the West Indies and England in Barbados on 29 March 2009. Bucknor umpired in a record 128 Test matches between 1989 and 2009, and he also umpired in 181 ODIs during this period.

He stood in 309 matches, and had one of the most distinctive ways of giving a batsman out!

Happy Birthday to Steve Bucknor! pic.twitter.com/bQqrJl1X6Q

— ICC (@ICC) May 30, 2017

After Retirement

After retiring from cricket, he again started serving as a coach for Cornwall College’s DaCosta Cup men’s football team.

Awards, Honours, Achievements

• ICC’s Bronze Bails Awards for umpiring in 100 ODIs

• Order of Jamaica for outstanding contribution to sports (2007)

  Steve Bucknor after receiving the honour of Order of Jamaica in 2007

• Golden Bails Award for umpiring 100 Test matches

Favourites

• All-rounder Cricketer: Conrad Hunte

• Cricket Ground: Lord’s in London

Facts/Trivia

• His nicknames are Sta-Bee and Gabby.

• He is the first official to serve as both, a FIFA referee and an ICC Test cricket empire.

• Bucknor used to play cricket as an all-rounder in Montego Bay. He started umpiring because he was angry with the wrong decisions made during his own games. He wanted to make sure that cricketers were given fair treatment, so he decided to become an umpire.

• He was known for his punctuality. The only time he was late was for a Test at Lord’s when he arrived at the venue at 9:05 for an 11 o’clock start.

• In 2002, Bucknor broke Dickie Bird’s record of umpiring in 66 Tests.

• In March 2005, he became the first umpire to officiate in 100 Tests.

• Steve Bucknor’s relationship with India became bad after the 2008 Sydney Test. Years later, Bucknor said that he committed two mistakes during that match. He said the first mistake allowed an Australian batsman to score a hundred, and the second, on day five, cost India the game. The batsman Bucknor was talking about was Andrew Symonds, who went on to score 162 runs. During an over by Ishant Sharma, Symonds, who was batting on 30, hit the ball with the edge of his bat, and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni caught it. However, Steve Bucknor decided that Symonds was not out. The second mistake might refer to Rahul Dravid‘s wicket on the last day, where replays clearly showed the ball had hit his front knee roll.

• The 2008 Sydney Test was also known for the Monkeygate controversy, where Bucknor was involved in decisions regarding Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. Singh was accused of calling Andrew Symonds a “monkey,” and he received a three-match ban following the incident. Thereafter, Indian cricket fans blamed umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor for India’s defeat in the test match and burned effigies of them.

• Until December 2019, Bucknor held the record for umpiring the most Test matches, but then, Aleem Dar from Pakistan broke the record. Aleem Dar umpired in a record 144 test matches during his career.

• Steve Bucknor was called Slow Death because he took a long time to make decisions on appeals.

• In May 2006, Bucknor accused TV companies of altering images in a such way that made umpires look bad and key players look good.

• In 2007, Bucknor was nominated for the Umpire of the Year award, but Simon Taufel won the award.

• He got down on his knees and prayed on the pitch during his final Test, South Africa v Australia, in Cape Town on 22 March 2009, the end of his 20-year career.

  Steve Bucknor praying on knees during his final Test, South Africa v Australia, in Cape Town on 22 March 2009

• Eleven years after his retirement, Steve Bucknor remembered making several wrong decisions against Sachin Tendulkar in an interview. His decisions caused outrage in India. One mistake happened in Australia (at the Gabba in Brisbane in 2003) when he wrongly declared Tendulkar out lbw, even though the ball was going over the stumps. Another mistake was in a match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2005 when he wrongly thought the batsman had nicked the ball for a catch behind.

• Apart from football and cricket, Bucknor is also into track and field events. In an interview, after retiring from cricket, he said he would participate in track meets. Talking about the same, he said,
  

  I do sprints. From childhood days I was an athlete. Running is a part of me….I do 200 metres, 400 metres, I am part of the relay quartet, 4×50 and 4×100. I also throw discus and shot.”

• In an interview, he said that he liked spending time alone and staying indoors in his free time. He said he liked to watch television and do some writing.