Matt Ian Gilbert (born 10 September 1985) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

footballer currently playing at Flanker and number eight for

Cinderford Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of Cinde ...

. He previously played for Hartpury University, Bath and

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

. As well as

Llanelli Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

in the

Pro 14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

and European Cup. He is the only

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

professional sportsman in England. Mat has worn hearing aids Since he was a child, and now wears Phonak aids. He works as a celebrity ambassador for

Phonak Sonova Holding AG (Phonak Holding AG before 1 August 2007) is an internationally active Swiss group of companies headquartered in Stäfa that specializes in hearing care ( hearing instruments, cochlear implants, wireless communication). The Sono ...

, as well as an ambassador for the charity,

Action on Hearing Loss The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss. History The Royal National I ...

helping to raise awareness of hearing loss.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
He has played 11 times for the England Deaf rugby team
www.englanddeafrugby.com

References

External links

Scarlets Profile

on ESPN Scrum 1985 births Living people Rugby union players from Sidcup English rugby union players Scarlets players Bath Rugby players People educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School Rugby union flankers {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub