Steve Arneil

Steve Arneil (1934 to 2021) was a South African-born British master of Kyokushin karate. Born in Krugersdorp and raised partly in Northern Rhodesia, he trained in judo, kenpo and karate before travelling to Japan in 1959, where he began studying under Masutatsu Oyama in 1961. In 1965 he became the first person after Oyama himself to complete the 100-man kumite. Sent to Britain that year, he co-founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai with Bob Boulton and from 1968 to 1976 managed and coached the All Styles English and British karate team, which in 1975/76 became the first non-Japanese team to win the karate World Championship. He left the International Karate Organization in 1991, founded the International Federation of Karate and held the rank of 10th dan.