Banham played for the
South Sydney Rabbitohs in the
NSWRL Premiership, scoring five tries between 1936 and 1937. He represented
New South Wales City in 1937. 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 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 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 debut against the returning New Zealand side who had been on tour in Australia. The match was played at
Carlaw Park with Auckland winning 21 to 13 and Banham scoring one of their tries. He was named for
New Zealand in 1939 but did not play a test, due to the cancellation of the 1939 tour of Great Britain. He returned to Australia in September 1940 with the intention of joining the Australian forces. In 1941 played several games for the
South Sydney Rabbitohs and scored three tries. ==References==